SPORT was again the most popular genre on pay-TV in 2013, with the biggest audience of the 12 months being the 550,000 viewers who watched the Australia-Iraq World Cup football qualifier in June. Politics also became a spectator sport, with coverage of Kevin Rudd's successful challenge against Julia Gillard on June 26 pulling three of the year's highest-rating non-sport hours for Sky News, peaking at almost 207,000 viewers between 10pm and 11pm. The highest-rating non-sport programs were two episodes of reality series Selling Houses Australia, which drew a top audience of about 241,000 viewers. The 50 most-watched sport broadcasts included soccer, cricket, AFL, rugby union and NRL matches, predominantly played in the winter months. The most-watched non-sport shows were dominated by lifestyle programs and movies, about two-thirds of them Australian made. "Australians love local content and in 2013 they have used their remote controls to vote overwhelmingly for locally produced content," said Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association chief executive Andrew Maiden. In 2012-13 the subscription television industry responded by investing $700 million in local television productions, creating 6600 Australian jobs and adding $1.6 billion to the local economy. Subscription TV providers were focused on building overall subscriber numbers as well as audiences for particular broadcasts, Mr Maiden said. "Unlike free-to-air networks, which must attract advertisers to mass audiences watching a single program, the business model for subscription television is based on aggregating subscribers across scores of targeted channels," he said. Top 10 Non-Sports Programs 1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) 241,561 2. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) 237,840 3. Men In Black 3 (Foxtel Movies Premiere) 225,202 4. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) 217,450 5. Grand Designs Australia (LifeStyle) 217,102 6. Oprah Winfrey and Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) 216,856 7. Australia's Next Top Model (FOX8) 216,429 8. Skyfall (Foxtel Movies Premiere) 216,268 9. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) 214,140 10. The Avengers (Foxtel Movies Premiere) 209,879 Top 10 Sports Programs 1. Live Football World Cup Qualifier: Australia v Iraq (Fox Sports) 550,036 2. Live Cricket: The Ashes, first test day five, series one (Fox Sports 2) 495,860 3. Live AFL: Hawthorn v Geelong (Fox Footy) 465,413 4. Live Rugby Union: Lions Tour Australia v Lions (Fox Sports 2) 439,567 5. Live Cricket: The Ashes, first test day two, series one (Fox Sports 2) 430,015 6. Live Cricket: The Ashes, second test day one, series one (Fox Sports 2) 426,876 7. Live Cricket: The Ashes, first test day one, series one (Fox Sports 2) 425,419 8. Live Rugby Union: Lions Tour Australia v Lions (Fox Sports 2) 422,648 9. Live AFL: Sydney v Carlton (Fox Footy) 422,217 10. Live AFL: Fremantle v Sydney (Fox Footy) 422,047