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Numbers war in brekkie telly

Claims the Today show has only grown its audience with older viewers are denied by Channel Nine.

todaylwksA war of words, or at least figures, has broken out between the Today show and Sunrise.

At a function for media on Wednesday night, Seven’s Adam Boland said Nine’s show had increased its over-60’s demographics.

But yesterday, Nine spokesman David Hurley said Today had been building its year-on-year share in every demographic except the 0ver 55’s.

Comparing weeks 7-24 (excluding Easter) in 2008 v 2009, Nine says it has actually grown 10% in both 16-39 & 25-54 and 15.9% in 18-49 but lost 3.9% in the over 55 demos. Meanwhile, it claims Sunrise had lost ground in all four demo groups over the same period.

Nine poured cold water on Seven’s celebrations this week, claiming its media and advertiser event was to detract from the resurgence of Today.

Nine News exec Mark Calvert, told news.com.au:

“The hosts (Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson) are fun to watch but it also covers the news, as well as gives viewers really useful stuff in the morning. Whereas Sunrise is pretty inane and vacuous,” he said.

Sunrise continues to remain in front nationally.

25 Responses

  1. I must say I love Sunrise and think the presenters are great, Kochie is informative and Mel is a bright and happy which is great to see first thing.
    Karl is good but acts like a silly schoolboy and Lisa acts like his mother.
    I think Geogie Parker is gorgeous and would be great hosting the Today show she is so professional, maybe it’s time for a change.

  2. Lisa is good but Georgie Gardner would be much better, she is very professional and always looks lovely, maybe they should reconsider.. Lisa has a crooked mouth which can be annoying to watch at times..

  3. Your version of The Today Show is freakin’ Awesomne!!!! Love karl and Lisa – you should see the junk we are force fed state side. Good Morning America and Today are just staged and we in Los Angeles get it 3 hours delayed due to time difference – what’s the point, right?

  4. Agree with Lex and gerry. Lisa and Karl are great together whereas I can’t stand Kochie or natalie barr reading the news. Sunrise is too loud and bright. ABC 2 News breakfast is ok, but Today offers more variety and non-news content. Richard Reid’s good too.

  5. abc2 breakfast is great all i want in the morning is news sport weather none of the other garbage on 7 an 9 waking up seeing karl makes me want to loss my breakfast

  6. The two most annoying things about the Today Show are Karl Stefanovic and Richard Wilkins. Lame. Uninteresting. Cringe-worthy.

    David Koch continually says things before thinking about them and has to have the rest of the Sunrise Team help him talk his way out of some inappropriate comment.

    It is true that Sunrise can be too chaotic at times but I do prefer the format much better than Today.

    I doubt that Today will ever be number one on a national scale though.

  7. Karl fun to watch? Is that a joke. gags in shock! Karl is a complete tool.

    I am a Sunrise fan always have been always will be because the times i have watched Today it isnt appealing to me like Sunrise is. I hate Today. As for the article claiming they are up, since when? I mean i know they have been closing the gap but Sunrise is still #1. I prefer Sunrise and i stick to that.

  8. Georgie Gardener will make 9’s ratings skyrocket if she is the hostess and not simply the newsreader. She is absolutely sensational and i can’t undersand why 9’s executives can’t see this. My family and friends just think she is a true professional in every sense of the word.

  9. I don’t agree Lex, I think Sunrise will hit a flat spot but ultimately Sunrise is the better produced show – evidence is in the fact that Today have ripped every idea from the Sunrise format … can’t be that bad then.

  10. I agree with Lex 100%

    Today Show is awesome. I disagree that it needs new hosts; Karl and Lisa are fantastic together, and they are not tools like Elmo and Mr Finance on Seven.

    However, Today Weekend Edition certainly needs new hosts. However, I doubt Leila will get replaced, she is afterall married to the boss!

    I do agree that ABC2 Breakfast has more news, but it is so dull and lifeless: all they talk about is news. ABC2 Breakfast is too heavy to watch straight after you get up.

    Sunrise is also too loud and bold to watch first thing in the morning.

  11. Today is the best breakfast show hands down – Karl and Lisa have great chemistry and are both very likeable.

    The show was way more personality than ABC News Breakfast.

    Won’t be too long before Today’s beating Sunrise again – we should start to see more national wins emerging over the year like we did earlier this year.

  12. The fact that Mr Boland needs to mention Today’s figures at a Seven function proves that they are concerned about what the opposition are doing.

    Concentrate on your own show and your own network.

    @Ellie: both shows are not the same. They both have good and bad sides to them. I do prefer Today, as it is a little less chaotic to watch first thing in the morning and Georgie Gardner is a breath of fresh air…. Sunrise is very bright and loud, and it has Kochie on it.

  13. Agree, ABC2 news breakfast is much better morning viewing than Today/ Sunrise. While it’s not perfect at least they tell the news. It should be on ABC1 so it can get a wider audience.

  14. Did anyone watch Kerri-Ann this morning? They were doing a makeover for one of the viewers and she went in to the makeup room and they had sunrise on! LOL She even said she was upset they were not watching her.

    LOL!

  15. The Nine guy is right when he says Sunrise is ” inane and vacuous”… Today isn’t exactly much better.

    Frankly both shows are a waste of time… Why are you watching TV at that hour of the morning ffs?

  16. Tony
    Wow, that is interesting – so Sunrise is clearly Australia’s most watched morning show.
    I agree – the ratings system only reporting ratings from 5 markets and 60% of the country is just so odd.
    Box Office takings, magazine sales, music download charts etc are all national samples. It’s odd that the ratings system chooses to ignore 40% of Australians.
    As FTA auds shrink, it’s a wonder they are not moving to a national system to make their numbers look larger.

  17. Russell — add the regionals and there’s no competition. Today Show is hardly watched in the bush. For example – on Wednesday this week, it was 602,000 to 438,000 when you combine metro with regional. Problem is, ratings are only ever a metro race (which Sunrise wins anyway). People outside the big cities apparently don’t matter. Stupid system.

  18. LOL this stuff makes me laugh…. if you do sit down and watch them both you realise besides having different hosts the shows are exactly the same

  19. The figures we see for these two shows are always just the top 5 markets.
    If we knew ratings for Sunrise & Today in Qld, NNSW, SNSW, Vic, WA, TAS and NT markets – it would be interesting to see which show can really lay claim to being the most watched breakfast show.

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