Michael Pell maintains a steady keel as Sunrise weathers media storms

On any given Friday night, you will find Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell horizontal on the couch.

After starting his day at 3.30am, the 37-year-old – who insists his partying days are behind him – just wants to kick back and watch TV.

Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell.Credit: Jacky Ghossein

Only, the TV he is watching is TV he made earlier that day.

Such is his obsession with breakfast television, specifically his own show, that he re-watches the show in the evenings on his big screen so he can experience what the viewer at home experiences.

His passion spilt into a messy Twitter stoush earlier this year, as he took exception to something said by Nine's director of news and current affairs, Darren Wick, about Today's ratings.

“I have been biting my tongue for years, probably,” he says. “There’s something to be said for being gracious, but attempts to change the narrative need to be called out. Some people thought I was being ungracious in replying, but it was about getting the facts straight. I am passionate about the numbers because you work really hard to get them and of course, I am protective of that.”

Pell on the Sunrise set with Natalie Barr, Samantha Armytage, David Koch and Ryan Phelan.Credit: Jacky Ghossein

Despite being one of the Seven Network’s most senior television executives and sitting at the helm of arguably their most precious program, Pell is rarely inclined to speak on the record or sit down for wide-ranging interviews.

For most of the past decade, Pell has sailed the Sunrise ship through the highs of ratings wins and TV success, such as broadcasting live from five cities in five days, and through lows, like slaps from the broadcasting watchdog for inciting contempt based on someone’s race for a widely condemned segment about Indigenous children last year.

He becomes visibly uncomfortable when the conversation turns to that shameful episode.

Weathering the media storms

“What upset me was people thinking Sunrise was mean or intentionally trying to promote anything other than love because that’s not what we are as a show,” he says.

“There was a lot of anger and of all the hours we do of TV a year, two minutes created so much division.”

Pell is acutely aware of the mistakes made that day but also knows in a live-TV environment, they will inevitably happen again.

The Sunrise set.Credit: Jacky Ghossein

“Live TV is tricky; you can never predict what is going to happen, and that’s a good thing because anything can happen and that is exciting and what makes breakfast television exciting, but it also means people can say whatever they want and sometimes they say something you fiercely disagree with but it is out there and as the broadcaster we are responsible for it," he says.

“When we make those mistakes, we put our hand up and we apologise.”

One accusation he rejects is that Sunrise is single-handedly responsible for the renovation of Pauline Hanson’s public image.

“The criticism from certain quarters when we had her on was so fierce and so vehement,” he says.

“In a democracy, on a national platform, we need to engage in debate. The intention was to talk to her, and [she was] always countered with someone from the other side of politics, she was never left on there alone to espouse her views.

“We were [also] criticised by both sides of politics when we had her on straight after Christchurch and people considered Kochie was unreasonably harsh on her.

“Since then she has left us and now she is on the Today show. I don’t hear much criticism of the Today show having Pauline Hanson on; maybe that speaks to their current relevance.”

The TV ratings war

Pell mostly speaks diplomatically of the rival show. Any criticisms of the show are usually countered with praise for a different element.

But one thing he can’t find anything nice to say about is the decision by Nine, the owner of this masthead, to “blow up the show” at the start of the year.

“I wouldn’t be so arrogant to sit on the sidelines and say, 'This is what I would have done and it would have worked’, but I think they made some very strange decisions at the start of the year," he says.

“I felt really bad for a lot of the people who were cast aside, some for absolutely no reason. A really good newsreader in Sylvia [Jeffreys], a really good sports reader in Tim [Gilbert]. They were cast aside and viewers punished them for that.”

Today hit a ten-year low in February and while the show is clawing its way back up – it has won one week over Sunrise in Brisbane, one week in Sydney and one week in Melbourne this year – Pell isn’t concerned that the ratings wars of years gone by are upon him again.

“Not that I don’t wish them well, I am just talking numbers as they are… they are winning weeks here and there… it doesn’t concern me,” he says.

The future of breakfast television

As viewers gradually move away from traditional broadcast television, Pell is concerned about how the show will remain successful when people consume television differently.

While Pell believes breakfast TV is insulated from the bulk of the issues faced by traditional broadcasting, he thinks the way people watch Sunrise will change in the future including through digital platforms such as social media and catch-up services.

Sunrise isn't just a breakfast TV show, it's a brand.

Michael Pell

“There’s a whole generation of people that have never watched Sunrise on television. In the future it will be a much less linear prospect, it will be much more broad in terms of how people are reached," he says.

“Sunrise isn’t just a breakfast TV show, it’s a brand. I don’t mind how people get it as long as they get a bit of it.”

And for now, the numbers show that people are getting a bit of it.

Sunrise has won each of the 33 ratings weeks this year over both Today and ABC News Breakfast. Earlier this year, the two commercial shows saw the widest margin between their audience with an average of 299,000 people watching Sunrise and 169, 000 watching Today on Monday, September 23.

For the first time since 2006, Sunrise is also the number-one show in all five major capital cities.

For the year as a whole, Sunrise's average audience is 276,000 while Today trails behind with 196,000.

Pell insists the numbers aren't going to make him or his team complacent, but they can rest easy in the knowledge that there is a long way for Today to go before the show is going to be a threat.