Seven declares victory over Nine in yearly breakfast TV war

Channel 7 has taken the unusual step this week in Sunrise’s breakfast TV ratings battle with Today.

The Seven network has this week taken the unusual step of announcing that flagship morning show Sunrise is Australia’s top-rated breakfast show for the year – despite it only being August.

In a press release issued to media titled “Sunrise wins 2022”, Seven revealed that the David Koch and Natalie Barr-hosted breakfast TV mainstay has at this point in the year taken an “unbeatable lead over its rivals” in the ratings, and is declaring victory.

Seven says Sunrise has an ‘unbeatable lead’ against its rivals for the year.

This marks the 19th year in a row that Sunrise has rated first in its timeslot for the year. So far in 2022, Sunrise has won every week in the ratings, both nationally and in the capital cities.

“We are proud that more than 1.01 million people start with Sunrise every morning across Australia, and we never take it for granted,” Seven Network director of morning television Sarah Stinson said in the media release.

“As the world bounces back from the past few years, Australians continue to turn to Kochie, Nat and the team for breaking news, a sense of community and the light and laughs we all need to start the day feeling great and well-informed.”

Sunrise has this year had an average national daily audience of 397,000 viewers, which Seven trumpets is “31 per cent bigger than its nearest competitor”.

Today made headlines this year when it dropped to third in the breakfast ratings race. Picture: Channel 9

That nearest competitor had a surprise change-up earlier this year, when Seven’s traditional close rival, Nine’s Today show, dropped to third in the ratings behind ABC News Breakfast every day for a week.

Spare a thought, though, for Ten’s fledgling entry to the breakfast show market, Ten News Breakfast, which launched in June and has suffered some headline-making low ratings.

According to OzTAM TV ratings, as reported by The Australian, the program had zero viewers in Perth last Wednesday.

Channel 7 CEO James Warburton waxed lyrical about Sunrise’s ongoing success in an interview with news.com.au late last year, praising former Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr for stepping up as co-host after Sam Armytage left the show.

“Natalie Barr is a superstar, we knew her research, we’ve seen her … fill in pretty much any time,” he said.

“It wasn’t a surprise that she’s as strong in terms of research in the market compared to any other host in that breakfast television area. We knew that refreshing from that perspective would achieve that result.”

News.com.au has today contacted Nine for comment.