The breakfast ratings battle continues: Sunrise extends lead over Today as the gap between the two shows widens – despite Karl Stefanovic’s huge return
Sunrise have continued their win over Today in the breakfast show ratings battle.
Despite Karl Stefanovic’s return to Today giving Nine a boost earlier this month, Sunrise extended its lead last week, as interest appears to drop in the host.
According to TV Tonight, Sunrise won the five-cities by 71,000 last week, compared to 57,000 the week before, when Karl made his debut with co-host Allison Langdon.
The battle continues: Seven’s Sunrise have continued their win over Nine’s Today in the breakfast show ratings. Pictured: Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch
The website reports that Sunrise averaged 269,000 viewers last week across the five major cities, compared to Today’s 198,000.
Nationally, Sunrise peaked with 483,000 viewers on Thursday morning.
Today’s largest national audience also came on Thursday, peaking with 306,000.
Fickle: Despite Karl Stefanovic’s (pictured) return to Today giving Nine a boost earlier this month, Sunrise extended its lead last week, as interest appears to drop in the host
Widening: According to TV Tonight , Sunrise won the five-cities by 71,000 last week, compared to 57,000 the week before, when Karl made his debut with co-host Allison Langdon (pictured)
Despite this, Karl’s return to Today has seen a spike in viewers on Nine.
In a statement to Daily Mail Australia earlier this month, Nine’s director of morning television Steven Burling said the team was ensuring viewers were up-to-date.
‘The bushfire crisis is affecting all Australians, and Today’s special coverage has been widespread, thorough and at times confronting, with our new lineup ensuring viewers are kept up-to-date with the latest news.
‘We’re happy with our new line-up and the feedback has been positive.’
Winners: TV Tonight reports that Sunrise averaged 269,000 viewers last week across the five major cities, compared to Today’s 198,000
Nine is hoping that returning host Karl’s cheeky sense of humour and unpredictability will bring its audience back in 2020.
The ratings suffered greatly with Deborah Knight and Georgie Gardner as co-anchors last year, reaching unprecedented lows of 167,000 metro viewers in March 2019.
The female journalists were drafted in at the start of 2019 to replace Karl, who had been sacked the previous December due to his tumultuous personal life.
When it became clear the audience hadn’t warmed to Deborah and Georgie, Nine bosses swallowed their pride and asked Karl to return.
He now hosts the Today show with former 60 Minutes reporter Allison Langdon.
Slowly growing: Despite this, Karl’s return to Today has seen a spike in viewers on Nine