Australia's wet El Niño gives ABC a weather puzzle
Meteorologist Tom Saunders explains why a combination associated with severe drought is producing an unusually rainy year.
ABC News (Australia)
Story of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
Why this year’s El Niño will be the wettest on record | ABC NEWS
El Niño usually brings an increased risk of dry conditions to Australia. Tom Saunders has a different forecast to explain: the country is on track for its wettest El Niño year on record, despite a particularly strong Pacific event and an Indian Ocean pattern associated with drier weather.
That apparent contradiction gives ABC News (Australia) its most-watched new upload of the week. "Why this year's El Niño will be the wettest on record | ABC NEWS" reached about 83,000 views in its first day. Saunders examines why the familiar drought-producing combination is behaving differently, with national winter-spring rainfall heading above average for the first time in an El Niño year, according to the report.
The broadcaster published fifteen videos across the week. Another practical Australian story, "Victoria's new auction laws require reserve prices to be published | ABC NEWS," explains a change requiring sellers to disclose their reserve before auction day. It and the report on Katie Zacharia's departure as White House press secretary are the other uploads drawing the strongest daily viewing right now, though the weather explainer has a substantially larger audience.
Across the channel, weekly viewing totaled nearly eight million views, while subscribers stayed unchanged. Daily viewing is currently below its usual pace, a contrast with nearby broadcasters euronews and The Guardian, both drawing more daily views than usual. For ABC, the week's clearest point of interest is closer to home: rain arriving when the ocean patterns would normally suggest otherwise.
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The videos drawing views on ABC News (Australia) right now
Victoria's new auction laws require reserve prices to be published | …18,595 views · 2026-10-17
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- Channel
- ABC News (Australia)
- Subscribers
- 2,630,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,907,968
- Videos published this week
- 15
- Video published
- October 17, 2026
- Video views so far
- 83,193
- Views on its first day
- 82,763
The numbers
Here is how ABC News (Australia)'s week looks in views and subscribers.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which Australian state has introduced the auction reserve-price rules covered by ABC?
ABC's report says Victoria now requires sellers to publish reserve prices before auction day.