TV morning battle remains deadlocked while leadership contest draws news audiences
The neck-and-neck battle of morning television continued on Thursday with Nine’s Today beating Seven’s Sunrise by 349,000 metro viewers to 347,000, before Nine’s Mornings beat Seven’s The Morning Show by 131,000 to 130,000.
It is the third day running that just one or two thousand viewers separated the shows. Last year, Seven had a comfortable lead with both shows.
Meanwhile, coverage of yesterday’s Labour leadership dramas saw Seven News the most watched program of the night with 1.074m viewers according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTAM. Nine News was second with 1.024m viewers.
ABC News 24 had one if its largest ever audiences with an average of 133,000 tuned in during the afternoon. Sky News’ Paul Murray Live special on the battle was subscription television’s top rating show of the night, with an average audience of 83,000. Sky News had five of the top ten STV shows of the day.
How is the biggest loser going? It does seem to have lost its appeal.
I am now convinced more than ever, that Ten should look seriously to basic television skills and grass roots free to air delivery.
The mood, the time and the undetectable swing are all ready for (as Monty Python’s Flying Circus would have it) “something completely different.”
A clean approach to morning television with a strong focus on excellence in style, content, presenters and delivery could produce a surprising turn around. A similar approach to news and current affairs could lift the game considerably, and even reduce the costs.
Gimmicks are a luxury “add on” that take up time and invariably cost money; excellence in content and presentation is hard work, but it’s a cost effective essential.