Today Show claims breakfast TV win but Sunrise won’t give up its ‘most watched’ crown

IT’S like an awkward tussle by pageant queens over who gets to wear the crown, but Nine’s Today is claiming the breakfast TV title for 2016.

IT’S like an awkward tussle between rival pageant queens over who gets to wear the crown, but Nine’s Today show has laid claim to winning the breakfast TV title for 2016 - sparking a new words with rival Sunrise.

Ratings figures crunched by Nine have seen it claim the year on weekly wins for Today, after it clocked up 21 weeks ahead of Sunrise, with five weeks to go of the 40-week official survey.

But their Channel 7 rivals argue the figures only account for the five mainland capitals, excluding regional viewers and the standard industry measure averaging audiences.

Nine’s news boss Darren Wick paid tribute to the show’s staff, including star hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson, in a jubilant press statement reclaiming “the mantle as Australia’s most watched breakfast program.”

The release stated Today had averaged 317,000 viewers for the five-city metro markets, excluding Easter and the leg up Seven received as Rio Olympics broadcaster.

Today Show hosts Sylvia Jeffreys, Karl Stefanovic, Lisa Wilkinson and Richard Wilkins. Picture: Lachie Millard

It then compared its performance to Sunrise, which it said averaged an audience of 310,000 people, “down 5% year-on-year” with an asterixed footnote clarifying that figure had been taken for weeks 7-43 and excluded Easter last year.

But a Seven spokesman challenged Nine’s crown claims, stating a five-city-only measure did not make it “Australia’s no. 1.”

“Sunrise is clearly Australia’s most-watched breakfast television program, taking in the entire country not just a market here and there,” Seven’s Simon Francis said.

Channel 7's Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch.

“The year is defined by an audience average not weekly wins. It remains a tight competitive race on average audiences in breakfast television in across the five metropolitan markets and way too early to be making any claims of victory. The one indisputable fact is that more Australians watch Sunrise than any other breakfast television program.

Citing its own figures for the metro markets, Seven claimed Sunrise [with 318,000 viewers] held a narrow lead of just 2000 viewers to Today’s 316,000 people in the survey period, excluding summer and Easter programming.

When combined with regional numbers in the same survey period, Sunrise claims it retains its 12-year leadership 545,000 to Today’s 475,000 people.

There is no dispute the race between the two programs is at its most competitive, with Today and Sunrise almost stalking each other around the country, during regular road trips by the usually studio-bound stars used to woo more viewers.

Mark Calvert, Today’s executive producer has taken the ratings challenge right up to Sunrise reigning EP Michael Pell, who tried to fight off a resurgent Today by redesigning the show’s set and tweaking staff and content.

In celebrating their ratings win, Mr Calvert said: “it’s so incredibly humbling to think how many people wake up with Today. We do it for our amazing viewers, and we’ll keep on working hard to inform and entertain all of Australia.”

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