Today relaunch improves Nine numbers
Sunrise won the week but is Today's lift the Karl factor or mere curiosity?
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories
The relaunch of Today with Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon has started well for Nine, with improved ratings and positive social media feedback.
Sunrise won the week at 277,000 over Today‘s 220,000. That’s good news for Nine which was coming off a low base.
It’s hard to know if that’s the Karl factor or initial curiosity in a week full of news with bushfires, Harry & Meghan and US / Iran conflict. Nevertheless, Nine should be encouraged by a fresh start and by the fact nobody made any gaffes anywhere along the way (the genre is notorious for it).
Sunrise | Sunrise | Today | Today | |
National | Metro | National | Metro | |
Saturday 4/1/20 | 505,000 | 312,000 | 332,000 | 231,000 |
Sunday 5/1/20 | 499,000 | 289,000 | 316,000 | 211,000 |
Monday 6/1/20 | 485,000 | 293,000 | 335,000 | 225,000 |
Tuesday 7/1/20 | 467,000 | 266,000 | 318,000 | 220,000 |
Wednesday 8/1/20 | 439,000 | 251,000 | 334,000 | 235,000 |
Thursday 9/1/20 | 479,000 | 275,000 | 315,000 | 219,000 |
Friday 10/1/20 | 485,000 | 299,000 | 297,000 | 202,000 |
Today won the week in Sydney at 75,000 viewers, a mere 1,000 ahead of Sunrise at 74,000. It also claimed some individual wins in Brisbane. For Nine it was their highest weekly average since December 2018.
Sunrise won the week in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth. By Friday Seven had widened the gap, which may suggest early figures were a curiosity factor. It also bagged the demos and a national win.
Both shows are citing improved numbers for the same week in 2019, with Sunrise up 14% year on year and Today up 5%. But neither network had their anchors on air this early in 2019 and the bushfire news cannot be discounted.
Last week Sunrise Executive Produce Michael Pell told news.com.au, “We are the market leaders for a reason, and I mean that with humility and respect to the audience. We like to work from our own template and then often you’ll find other people borrowing from that. I also think one of the strengths of Sunrise is that it’s a family-friendly show.”
Today Executive Producer Steve Burling told the Daily Mail, “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.”
Meanwhile News Breakfast on ABC ran a steady ship with numbers around the 175,000 mark over two channels.
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10 Responses
I reckon the only presenter or executive on either Sunrise or Today with humility is the Cash Cow. Both these shows are just cartoons for attention deficient adults with a taste for junk brain food.
I’m enjoying the new line up. Hope Today can get back to it’s glory days & start beating Sunrise again.
I like Karl and Alison, however I think the production is letting them down. I watch in the morning to get a hit of news, however it’s far from a comprehensive coverage, they seem to cover about 4 items from primarily Melbourne and Sydney and bang on about it for 3 hours. Surely there is more news around that they could cover without having to resort to the latest you tube clip doing the rounds. I’m from Perth, we’ve had bushfires, we’ve had shark attacks, we’ve had Claremont serial killer murder trial etc etc none of which is being covered by sunrise or today, these programs need to up their game if they want to stay relevant as at this point the news on Facebook is more informative
I hope Today catch up on Sunrise. The new crew have something its a good start.
I saw a clip of them lobbing Pauline Hanson softballs. No thanks.
I think people love to hate Karl and others hate to love him. I think nine went a little over board culling the entire cast at the end of 2018, hopefully they have learned their lesson.
Allison makes it better in my view. Loads of personality that girl
Also liking Tracy, Alex and Tim too. The chemistry seems to be there unlike last year.
Michael Pell claiming to have humility is the laugh Australia needs right now.
It’s times like this I wish we had a like button.