Today ends Sunrise’s 12 year breakfast TV reign, but Seven says the statistics put them ahead

CHANNEL Nine is crowing about the Today Show’s victory over Sunrise, but Seven has sour grapes and claims it’s in front.

THE Nine Network’s Today Show has claimed victory over Channel Seven’s Sunrise, but the Seven Network has hit back saying it’s really in front and celebrations are premature.

In the most fiercely fought ratings war on Australian television, Nine issued a triumphant media release saying that Today, fronted by Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson, has “regained the crown as Australia’s favourite breakfast program”.

The network said that winning 21 of the year’s 35 rating weeks across five mainland capitals put Today “in an unbeatable position”.

A huge thank you to all our fabulous, loyal viewers who have just made @TheTodayShow the No1 breakfast show in the country. #WeLoveAustralia

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) October 22, 2016

“It marks the first time Today has won the yearly breakfast battle since 2003,” Nine’s crowing release read.

“Today has averaged 317,000 viewers each morning in 2016 (up 5 per cent year-on-year), compared to Sunrise which has an average morning audience of 310,000 (down 5 per cent year-on-year.”

But Seven has been quick to carp that it’s too soon for Stefanovic and Wilkinson to crack open the champagne.

Nine claims its Today team (above) Richard Wilkins, Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Sylvia Jeffreys, have won the ratings war over Sunrise for the first time in 12 years. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis.

Seven has sniped that it’s too soon for Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson (above) to break open the champagne, saying “regional audiences” count for a Sunrise win. Picture: Today.

Citing regional audience statistics and claiming that average annual audiences beat weekly wins, Seven’s spokesperson told Fairfax that Nine’s jubilance was “a bit like a half-time victory lap”.

The network claimed that Sunrise, hosted by David “Kochie” Koch and Samantha Armytage, is still number one when regional audiences are included in the ratings.

And Today’s week-in, week-out figures are trumped by Sunrise’s average yearly audience.

That’s unlikely to douse the air of victory over at Nine, which said in its media release that not only was Today the clear winner, Weekend Today “was on the cusp of claiming ratings supremacy over Weekend Sunrise”.

Nine’s Director of News & Current Affairs, Darren Wick, thanked the Today team and viewers “for helping Today reclaim the mantle as Australia’s most watched breakfast program”.

“My personal congratulations and admiration goes to our hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic, along with the best team at breakfast — Sylvia Jeffreys, Tim Gilbert, Dickie Wilkins, Steve Jacobs and Ross Greenwood, along with all our friends and colleagues who contribute to make it a great show on air,” Mr Wick said.

Seven said its Sunrise team headed by Samantha Armytage and David Koch (above) is the real winner when you count average annual figures: Picture: Seven Network.

Behind the scenes, the Today v Sunrise war has been so hard-fought and long-awaited that Nine had remained largely silent until it made it across the line.

What was certain was it had been the closest ratings race in the breakfast TV wars since 2004, and a hard-fought milestone for the 10-year partnership of Stefanovic and Wilkinson as hosts.

Today paved the way to a successful year with a barnstorming start to 2016 which by May had seen the Channel Nine breakfast show having back-to-back winning weeks, for the first time in years.

Sunrise was boosted to a swag of wins during Seven’s Olympics coverage, but the two shows recommenced their seesawing game of dominance ever since.

Previous years had seen Sunrise with a winning buffer of up to 100,000 viewers nationally, but by the end of last year that gap had almost vanished: in Sydney, Today led Sunrise by just 5000 viewers (99,000 to 94,000), while In Melbourne, Sunrise has its neck in front, 90,000 to Today’s 87,000.

Today show team (from left) Sylvia Jeffreys, Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson, Richard Wilkins and Tim Gilbert on the set of the Channel 9 show which has now won the ratings. Picture: Nine Network.

The win for Today is especially good news for Stefanovic after a mixed year of personal fortunes.

He re-signed with Today after protracted negotiations late last year in a deal rumoured to be up to $2 million a year, making him Australia’s highest paid face on TV, but has reportedly split with his wife Cassandra Thorburn recently.

Sunrise reset its offerings at the start of the year, bringing former on-the-road weather presenter Edwina Bartholomew into a studio-based role, adding weatherman Sam Mac to its line-up and revamping its set.

Today went into the year with its central hosting personnel intact, but Channel Nine opted to rebrand its Mornings show, which follows Today, renaming it Today Extra.

Originally published as Today ends Sunrise’s 12 year breakfast TV reign, but Seven says the statistics put them ahead