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News Breakfast closing the gap on Today

Ratings: Seven News, ACA, MAFS & Travel Guides all win primetime slots.

ABC’s News Breakfast is closing in on Nine’s Today show.

Yesterday Sunrise easily won the battle at 291,000 with Today trailing at 181,000.

News Breakfast pulled a total of 162,000 viewers, albeit across two channels ABC (125,000) and ABC News (37,000).

Yesterday Nine’s  Head of Content Production & Development Adrian Swift told TV Tonight the network has patience for a long term results.

“The reality is when you change your line-up it takes a long time to bed in. We’re not concerned. We are absolutely convinced we will get there,” he said.

Meanwhile there was much better news where it counts most, in primetime.

Married at First Sight was #1 and topped the demos with 1.28m ahead of My Kitchen Rules on 753,000.

7:30 (529,000) and Foreign Correspondent (380,000) took a combined third place with Ambulance Australia in fourth on 366,000.

Nine network won Tuesday with 35.0% then Seven 29.1%, ABC 15.9%, 10 14.0% and SBS 6.0%.

Nine News drew 869,000 / 852,000 for Nine then A Current Affair (775,000), Travel Guides (758,000), Hot Seat (437,000 / 284,000) and True Story with Hamish & Andy (267,000).

Seven News won its slot with 949,000 / 913,000. Home & Away drew (585,000) then The Good Doctor (563,000), The Chase 501,000 / 328,000, and The Resident (261,000).

ABC News was best for ABC at 727,000. RBG was 316,000 then The Drum (195,000) and Forces of Nature with Brian Cox (119,000).

The Project (434,000 / 260,000) topped 10’s night. 10 News First was 390,000. NCIS was 239,000 then Pointless (184000) and NCIS: LA (142,000).

On SBS it was Michael Portillo’s Abandoned Britain (185,000), Insight (128,000), SBS World News (125,000) and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (113,000).

Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom ruled multichannels at 199,000.

OzTAM Overnights: Tuesday 5 March 2019

28 Responses

  1. You all talk about chemistry.
    Julia & Chris have chemistry on Sunday Takeaway. They don’t rate.
    So all this talk on chemistry on a show is a load of crap.

  2. Its frustrating seeing Ambulance Australia rate so poorly when it was doing so well last year. I guess you can’t compete with reality trash which is a shame really because people seem to think shows like MAFS and MKR is quality television when its not. Maybe Ten could move Ambulance to Thursdays away from the big two.

    As for The Today Show i watched that during the Australian Open and there is zero chemistry and they really don’t gel. It was awkward to watch. Tony Jones is such a turnoff and the other guy is useless but the problem i see is there is no chemistry between Georgie and Deb.

  3. Only 120k seeing the incredible acting and quality production on Neighbours last night makes me almost as sad as I was watching it last night.

    1. Agree, shame it’s basically made for the UK market. Like every show it has some weak stories or a guest character you can’t wait to leave (Delany), but it also has some great storylines some of which they’ve been able to tell over the course of many months rather than rushed over a few weeks.
      10 should consider moving the news to 6pm, and have Neighbours at 5:30pm on 10 then use the existing timeslot on 11 for the replay.

      1. Or simply put Neighbours at 6pm on Ten then the next episode on 10Peach in the 6.30 slot. That’s a strategy both Hollyoaks and Home and Away have had in the UK for nearly 15 years.

  4. Interesting that the Breaky shows are coming closer together. Personally, I am less engaged with News Breakfast at the moment without Virginia (although some of the subs are nice) and an overemphasis on women’s issues.

    I wonder if there will be a little spike when Virginia returns?

      1. Vaguely recall from Weekend Reads which is emailed to me on Saturday mornings…her last one mentioned March…I am thinking mid?!?…I did not keep it.

  5. Ten’s stocks will improve when MAFS is finished for the year, and the Masterchef & Bachelor franchises have returned to air, but yes, at present it’s not great for them that they’re coming 4th and being beaten by the ABC most nights of the week.
    Julia Morris and Chris Brown are a total turnoff for me, they’ve been overexposed far too much, that goes for Grant Denyer too.
    My Kitchen Rules looks old and tired to me, and this attempt in recent seasons to emphasise personalities and nastiness over celebrating cooking ability has hurt it big time.
    Then again, nothing can stop MAFS, so maybe Seven and Ten ought to just run a test pattern for 2 hours on a week night, and save up their good content for later in the ratings year.

  6. Whilst the headlines are about Nine and the Today Show, the real story is how badly Ten stinks at the moment. When your peak shows are pulling 400-450,000 – less than what the game shows are getting on the other networks and you are getting beaten consistently by the ABC you have a major problem. Regurgitating old tired ideas like Dancing With The Stars and Sunday Night Take Away both with annoying over exposed talent has failed and is only going to repel viewers further. This is the 7th year of stinkers for Ten. CBS wont be as forgiving as Lachie was. The clock is ticking for Paul Anderson and Beverley Macgarvie…….

    1. No question the numbers are unsustainable, as previous headlines and stories have also indicated. It’s a shame given DWTS in particular is well made. Even other network execs told me we need more Live back on TV and 10 has offered two big bets. Who’d be a programmer?

      1. Agreed we need more live but many people are saying it’s more to do with the presenters. They need to listen to what people want and don’t want.

  7. Travel Guides in India last night was gold. The show and the teams seem to be getting better and better. Having been to India previously, last night was a great advertisement and should see people packing their bags to go.

  8. I am constantly amazed, Channel 10 has good shows in DWTS and Ambulance and yet few people seem to watch them, they prefer the garbage that is MAFS and MKR….I must be getting old….

  9. Shame about Ambulance getting low ratings, but hopefully it will succeed in time shift ratings. I have recorded it to watch later in the week.
    With My Kitchen Rules having two seasons this year, I wonder if the second season will sink lower than the current? Might be time to consider an alternative show for Seven next year. Bringing forward House Rules to Jan\Feb\March might be an option. Being summer, people might be inclined to watch and get ideas for their own homes while the days are longer and warmer.

  10. I feel like 9 should be starting to worry, I know it’s only been a couple of months (not even) since the new team took over but given the show is still not making any ground in the ratings you’d think it was time to think of something else to do. Maybe move to a new studio at street level like Sunrise (and nine news here in Adelaide). Maybe even take the show on the road and travel around Australia, getting back in touch with the viewers.

        1. Changing studios probably wouldn’t do much. However a rooftop studio mightn’t be so bad as a point of difference. Worked well on Studio 10 last week..

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