Free-to-air news defies industry slump as Aussies turn to TV amid rise in artificial clips online

Nine and Seven have experienced a ratings surge as the battle for eyeballs intensifies between the rival prime-time news bulletins, and even Ten’s numbers are on the rise.

Seven’s newly installed national news chief Ray Kuka. Picture: The West Australian

The nation’s leading television networks are locked in a fierce battle for ratings supremacy after defying expectations and recording dramatic growth across their prime-time bulletins, with ­audiences returning to trusted sources amid the unchecked rise of artificial vision online.

Official OzTAM data revealed the Nine Network experienced double-digit growth for its average audience numbers in almost every single one of the country’s five-city metro markets, year on year, for the first half of 2025, while rival Seven Network was also up.

The surge in audience numbers follows a trying year for the commercial outlets, with Seven’s news department heavily knocked about by the short-lived reign of former news boss Anthony De Ceglie, while Nine fought to recover from a brutal review into its workplace culture.

Under De Ceglie’s watch at Seven, the network saw its once-healthy 10,000-viewer lead over its fierce rival, Nine, for its prime-time 6pm news offering across the five-city metro markets dissipate over the course of little more than a year following brutal cost-­cutting and the axing of the channel’s critical Gold Coast bulletin.

Nine, meanwhile, has managed to capitalise on the turmoil at Seven in its key capital city news offerings.

The network’s loyal viewership in Sydney grew by 10 per cent for its 6pm bulletin, hosted by long-serving anchor Peter Overton, with almost 250,000 people tuning in.

Its Brisbane bulletin, with ­Melissa Downes, was up 18 per cent, with an audience of more than 205,000.

Nine’s 6pm news was similarly up 18 per cent in Adelaide, with average nightly audience of 72,000 and up by 21 per cent in Perth, where it was slowly closing the gap on long-time market leader and rival Seven.

The only capital city where Nine’s nightly news bulletin didn’t experience double-digit growth was Melbourne, though even then its prime-time offering with anchors Alicia Loxley and Tom Steinfort was still up a healthy 7 per cent.

Seven’s nightly news audience was also up almost entirely across the board over the same time­frame, with its Melbourne offering, anchored by Peter Mitchell, leading the charge, up 14 per cent, and narrowing the gap against leaders Nine to just 15,000.

Elsewhere, Seven’s increases weren’t quite as pronounced but its numbers were still up, with its Sydney bulletin, with Mark Ferguson, up 4 per cent, while­Brisbane and Perth experienced 1 per cent and 2 per cent growth respectively.

Seven’s Adelaide bulletin – which dropped by just 1 per cent – was the only 6pm capital city news bullet to lose viewers between the country’s two big commercial broadcasters.

The ratings success was similarly repeated across the network’s 4pm afternoon programs.

Although the nation’s third-placed commercial network’s new 6pm news offering, 10 News+, has proved a ratings disaster in its first week on air, the Ten Network’s earlier 5pm bulletin had already experienced substantial growth and was up 18 per cent year on year.

Nine’s national news boss, Fiona Dear, said the importance of trusted and reliable news bulletins was being partly driven by the unfettered growth of artificial ­intelligence.

“It’s phenomenal and we don’t take those audience numbers for granted,” she said. “In the era of social media and generative AI, it is getting harder, not easier, for Australians to trust what they read and see.”

Her counterpart at Seven, newly installed national news chief Ray Kuka, agreed.

Australians continued to tune in to television news in the internet era because they knew they could rely on the network’s professional news team to vet the disinformation that proliferated on the internet, Kuka argued.

“Audiences are growing because they’ve looked elsewhere and realised the facts still start here, with TV news journalists,” he said.

“The truth has never mattered more.

“And nothing beats the detail and credibility that comes from reporters in the thick of it.

“Not making calls from behind a desk, not guessing from Google – out there, front and centre, connecting viewers with the facts.”