Planet Earth II featuring Sir David Attenborough premiered on Channel Nine on Wednesday night.

But the episode, which included the famous scene of a pack of snakes hunting down a baby iguana, failed to nab the top spot in the ratings war, with only 734,000 viewers tuning in across five capital cities.

Despite only debuting on Australian free to air TV last night, the thrilling scene had already been viewed by millions of people when it went viral in November.

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Ratings fail: Planet Earth II premiered on Channel Nine on Wednesday night at a disappointing ninth place in the ratings war

The clip has already amassed 3.4 million views on YouTube when it was shared on BBC's channel three months ago.

Meanwhile, the DVD containing the entire series had been available for purchase since December.

In November, TV Tonight reported that ABC's Virginia Trioli flagged that the long wait might turn some viewers off.

Lost interest? The ratings flop suggests audiences had already seen the famous, much-hyped scene of a pack of snakes chasing a baby iguana, which went viral three months ago

'How long are you going to make us wait for Planet Earth II? Because I know friends who are already illegally streaming it from the UK because you guys are making us wait,' Virginia asked Channel Nine CEO Mark Hughs.

At the time, Mark admitted the long wait might 'lose some people,' but insisted that '85% of viewing is still Live linear television'.

The TV exec. said: 'Yes there will be some people at the margin …and we all know those people because we're in the business.'

Seen it? The entire documentary series has also been available to view on DVD since December

Narrator: The six-part series, featuring David Attenborough, premiered on the BBC network in the UK in November

He added: 'But the great bulk of the population are still watching Live linear television. So we might lose some people.'

Meanwhile, Channel Seven's My Kitchen Rules reclaimed the number one spot with 1.08 million fans tuning in.

834,000 people watched Channel Ten's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, putting the reality show in sixth place.