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Breakfast TV trends too early to call

Media debate whether numbers are changing in breakfast TV, but trends take longer to identify.

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2013-07-12_0037Media attention to Sunrise since Melissa Doyle’s announcement has peaked this week with ongoing speculation about whether she was pushed to leave the show, whether there is chemistry between David Koch and Samantha Armytage, whether Doyle has been demoted to a role as an entertainment reporter and various “insider” contributions.

Yesterday there were opposing articles about whether ratings have fallen since Armytage has been filling in. It even made front page news.

Armytage has been filling in since June 24th while Doyle has been on holidays and assignment.

The Daily Telegraph suggested 40,000 viewers switched off nationally in a negative backlash following the departure of Melissa Doyle.

But The Age reminds us losses and gains of this size happen every day in breakfast television. The day Doyle announced her departure, she had 30,000 fewer viewers than the day before.

Meanwhile the Courier Mail noted, this week Sunrise attracted 92,000 viewers in Brisbane on Monday and 65,000 on Tuesday. In comparison to a month ago, when Doyle was in the co-chair, the same weekdays drew 75,000 and 61,000 – equating to about an 8 per cent increase this week.

Seven claims the numbers this week are indicative of school holiday trends and that numbers are down all round.

As this weekday graph shows, since Armytage’s fill-in on June 24, both Sunrise and Today rose for the Labor Leadership spill (June 26 / 27) and began to drop when school holidays started  (July 1).

On the day Doyle announced her news Sunrise averaged 365,000.

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20 Responses

  1. My comment referred to Ann Curry’s departure from Today- according to some thanks to Matt Lauer. Just a joke. I thought the two situations were a little similar.

  2. I’ve read that Koch – as part of his contract renewal – told producers he wanted Mel ousted from the show. Whether that’s true or not?

  4. Honestly people! Look at the graph. The scale on the left is in 000,000s and the line hovers at 350. That’s 350,000,000. Do I have to explain everything?

  5. I don’t think the show has 350 million views @Col. Mustard.

    That is more that the population of Australia!!

    I think he meant 350 thousand.

  6. Sorry but I have as much respect for Network Seven as they have for current and their growing numbers of ex-viewers, and only hope that Network 10 kicks theirs and others ‘ butts’ with their new breakfast format.
    That is of course if Network 10 kicks Joe Hilderbrand’s ‘butt’ off their morning programme and all the way back to Network Seven where he belongs, so he can return to Seven’s growing stable of biased right wingers, where what better viewer insulting pairing could they insult us with, than Joe Hilderbrand, and the one who immediately appeared on Kochie’s Angel’s??, after the resurgence of Mr Kevin Rudd, none other than the star of the new Media Watch format “Ms Prue McSween”, who also ironically seems to me, is just an older version of Melissa Doyle’s initial replacement and who she may eventually become.

    It’s strange how so many who hang on every “News Corp.” front page and every word of every editorial of every anti Labor Government rant, suddenly decry “News Corp’s” credibility??, which leads me to hang on a few of other words “But, Only, When, It, Suits, “

  9. Really? This is front page news?

    It’s no surprise that the Tele has such a poor grasp of statistics and latches onto any drop in numbers as “proof” that Mel leaving was a bad thing. No understanding that the variation is within the limits of random noise, no consideration that school holidays will have an effect, and apparently no attempt to look at any data other than for Mon and Tue this week.

    Sharp’s article was written yesterday yet she failed to notice that Sunrise’s numbers jumped back up again on Wednesday. No mention of a similar drop and recovery in Today’s ratings for July 2? And the Tele wonders why its readership is in freefall.

  10. Since Mel announced she was leaving Sunrise, News.com.au have had a daily dose of rot regarding reasons for her leaving and a feud with Sam. It is trashy stuff from this organisation and starting to mirror British websites. And they now want you to pay for it. Well good luck with that as we can make our own stories up.

  11. The Daily Tele article was pathetic and failed to look at things in context nor provide any actual evidence. At least Michael Lallo at The Age did some research and showed that the shows both fluctuate daily. Both have had wins this year. Both gain/lose viewers daily. Means nothing. Was stupid to equate one days loss of 40,000 viewers to outrage at Mel leaving. Can bet anything Today probably lost viewers the same day which just shows how ridiculous her claims were. This is why I get my tv news from here and not News Ltd.

  14. Thanks for this clarity David, the ratings for breakfast TV do fluctuate and especally now with school holidays. I never used to watch any breakfast TV, but now I work from home 2-3 days a week I often have time to catch about 20-30 mins of morning TV before I start work. Even then I flick between Sunrise and Today, and really it is mainly background noise.
    I feel sorry for Samantha Armytage having to put up with all this attention, mainly negative. People liked her on the weekend version of the show, so why all the negativity now? Its not her fault that Melissa left the couch, if Sam didn’t take the job someone else would have.

  15. Why does Annette Sharp at The Daily Telegraph have a vendetta against the female co-hosts? And female journalists in general, based on her past comments?

  16. I noticed pretty much every story about this has been written by the same person in Annette Sharp. I’m starting to think she’s got some sort of vendetta against anything to do with Sunrise.

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