Channel 9’s Today show catches up to Sunrise in successful ratings week

After months of consistently low ratings and trouble catching up with powerhouse Sunrise, the Today show has finally experienced a win.

After months of disappointing ratings, Nine’s Today show has finally experienced a win — but it’s still not quite number one.

The long-embattled program hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon seems to be making inroads to closing the gap with Seven’s Sunrise, fronted by Sam Armytage and David Koch.

While the program was still behind Sunrise for the week in the all-important five-city metro market, it beat the powerhouse program in viewership along the combined East Coast capitals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with an average audience of 191,000 to Sunrise’s 189,000.

Across the five-city metro, the margin between Today (231,000) and Sunrise (267,000) was just 36,000 viewers – the smallest margin of the ratings survey year.

Today is also now back in second place after falling behind ABC News Breakfast and placing third in the ratings for 14 out of 28 weeks this year.

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The Today show seems to be catching up to Sunrise in the ratings battle. Picture: Channel 9.

It comes after months of struggle for the program.

Despite bringing golden boy Karl Stefanovic back just 12 months after he was booted, Today showed little sign of returning to its former glory.

While the revamped panel had a promising debut in January, it has consistently trailed behind in the following months.

In March, the morning show recorded its lowest audience for the year with a meagre 155,000 metro viewers tuning in. In the same survey, Seven’s Sunrise experienced its second lowest rating episode of the year.

It followed on from a slump in February for Today, with the show similarly bringing in just 173,000 viewers behind both Sunrise and ABC News Breakfast.

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Karl Stefanovic on the Today show. Picture: Today/Channel 9

At the time, industry pundits said consistently falling below the crucial 200,000 audience figure should worry executives at Channel 9.

But Darren Wick, head of news and current affairs at the network, insisted he wasn’t worried about the show’s future, ensuring The Australian it would reach the top spot in good time.

“Karl and Ally are absolutely the right team,” Wick told The Australian’s Media Diary in February.

“The chemistry is right and they’re in a good headspace.”

Wick predicted “results would come” once the hosts found their feet.

“What we’re doing now is trying to get Australians to watch it again. The results will come. But the show is still finding its rhythm; we’re not even two months in.

“And it would be naive for us not to ­imagine it will be a tough journey to win viewers back.”

Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon’s Today debut was brought forward in January to cover the devastating bushfires. Picture: Channel 9.

March’s low Today numbers mirrored those of November 2019, when Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight were at the helm.

At the time, the 155,000 figure saw the show’s worst ratings ever. That same month, it was announced Gardner and Knight would be given the flick to make way for Stefanovic’s return.

“Yes, I am as shocked about this as everyone else. It’s not something that I thought would come up again,” Stefanovic told The Sydney Morning Herald in November of the backflip.

Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner were dropped in November 2019. Picture: Supplied.

Stefanovic was dumped at the end of 2018 after an extended run of bad press over the breakdown of his marriage, new relationship and ritzy Mexican wedding, which came after the leaking of his back seat Uber slagging-off of then-colleague Georgie Gardner.

Wick, who helped orchestrate Stefanovic’s return, was convinced that his pairing with Langdon would eventually lead the flailing show to ratings glory against leaders of the pack Sunrise.

Sam Armytage and David Koch have been number one every day and every week this year. Picture: Channel 7.

In July, Nine’s director of morning television, Steven Burling, said he wouldn’t be happy until they were number one overall, tweeting: “I won’t be happy with the ratings till we’re #1, but I’m certainly satisfied with a 10 per cent lift in numbers this year.

“We have world-class hosts and a committed and dynamic production team – I’m extraordinarily proud of all of them.”

Sunrise has remained most-watched breakfast TV show nationally, winning every day of 2020 so far.