Channel Nine
Channel Nine’s breakfast show Today is just weeks away from losing the ratings war to its rival show, Channel Seven’s Sunrise.
And it seems Nine’s own measure for success has lead to its own undoing.
According to Channel Nine, the ‘winner’ of the ratings occurs when a show reaches 21 out of 40 ratings weeks across the five major cities in Australia.
Sunrise has already beat Today in ratings for 15 weeks, meaning it needs just another six to cement its status as number one breakfast show for the year – according to Nine’s measure.
Sunrise is hosted by David Koch and Sam Armytage while Today is hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson.
The drop in Today‘s ratings has coincided with negative headlines concerning Karl’s divorce from his wife, Cassandra Thorburn, and coverage of his new relationship with Jasmine Yarbrough.
“Nine are trying to mitigate the fact that the way this new relationship has played out could be a very bad look [for Karl] and could, in fact, turn off some of their viewers,” media analyst Steve Allen, CEO of Fusion Strategy, said to Fairfax.
“It fractures that whole family man image and puts a stick in the spokes to the strategy that Karl, Today and Nine have had around his whole career. It really does have potential to do damage to the viewership of Today and any other program he is involved in.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
