Nine stops of ARIAs notes collapse. For the moment

"It was a time when you did not remember that sort of thing," Geldof said of his previous hosting project. "They come and go."

"Like tonight?" Urban asked.

"Judging by your performance, yes," answered Geldof.

If it was supposed to be a joke, the public would not buy it. Many criticized the exchange on Twitter, while others wondered why ARIAs had invited international musicians to attend. Things kept spoiling when Geldof presented the nominees for the song of the year, admitting that he could not read the code and dropping the F bomb.

The clumsy joke did not prevent Nines from ranking. Wednesday's awards attracted an average audience of 672,000, the show being better than Nine's other programs Bolster and 10 The project.

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The ceremony last year was the first time ARIA was broadcast on Nine's main channel. The show has attracted an average audience of 708,000 people nationwide, which is welcome in recent years when it was broadcast on Network 10.

In 2016, about 593,000 people watched the ARIAs, of which less than half a million tuned in the previous year. With free TV audiences steadily declining over the years, the numbers are far from 2002: 1.2 million viewers watched TV to watch Kasey Chambers win the album title of the year.

Nine have claimed that the broadcast of Wednesday night was a success, since it was the most popular issue among 16 to 39 year olds.

Hamish Turner, director of Nine's programming, said he was "thrilled" with the public's reaction.

"It was a fantastic production, featuring so many unique voices from the Australian music industry that resonate here and abroad," he said.