The boss of Channel Nine’s Today show has come out swinging against a ‘fabricated’ newspaper article claiming the ‘beleaguered’ breakfast program is in crisis due to ‘diving’ ratings and viewers supposedly not warming to new co-host Sarah Abo.
The Daily Telegraph published a story on Friday quoting an unnamed TV executive as saying: ‘Nine bosses are seriously worried and since MAFS ended, there have been daily meetings trying to figure out what to do with Today… The Karl/Sarah combination clearly isn’t connecting with viewers.’
But in an extraordinary statement to Daily Mail Australia, Nine’s director of morning television Steve ‘Burlo’ Burling called the report a ‘fabrication’ based on an outmoded method of TV ratings measurement.
The Telegraph’s article said ‘all is not right’ behind the scenes at Today as it falls behind Channel Seven’s Sunrise, which has won every week of the ratings year so far in the five-city metro market – though Today is more dominant on the east coast.
Sunrise has an eighteen per cent lead with an average metro audience of 213,000 viewers compared to Today’s 181,000, according to OzTAM overnight figures.
Nine has come out swinging against a ‘fabricated’ article claiming the Today show is in crisis due to falling ratings and viewers not warming to Karl Stefanovic’s new co-host Sarah Abo
The story also alleged there have been tensions among the Today show’s presenters, after newsreader Alex Cullen was relegated to the sports desk while entertainment reporter Brooke Boney stepped up to the news desk.
This reshuffle at the start of the year – which coincided with Abo replacing Allison Langdon as co-anchor – is said to have culminated in Cullen making his displeasure known on air by ‘deadpanning’ Stefanovic and Abo.
This incident reportedly resulted in Burling holding a ‘closed-door meeting’ with Cullen.
But Burling has hit back at this damning report, telling Daily Mail Australia: ‘The story published today is total fabrication and a distortion of the old-fashioned and out of date overnight ratings system.
‘We are in a good position with Today and Today Extra in metropolitan and east coast audiences, and in the all-important younger demographics.
‘Our team is working brilliantly together and our audience response to the line-up couldn’t be more positive.’
In an extraordinary move, Burling’s statement was later posted in full on the Today show’s Instagram account, with the comments switched off.
An unnamed executive was quoted in The Daily Telegraph as saying, ‘Nine bosses are seriously worried and since MAFS ended, there have been daily meetings trying to figure out what to do with Today… The Karl/Sarah combination clearly isn’t connecting with viewers’
A Channel Seven spokesperson responded to Burlo’s blow-up on Friday afternoon with a statement emphasising Sunrise’s position as Australia’s No. 1 breakfast show.
‘The numbers don’t lie. Sunrise has been number one for 19 years and is number one again this year, across the capital cities and nationally,’ they said.
‘Sunrise wins in Sydney, NSW, Victoria, Adelaide, South Australia, Perth, WA, Tasmania and Queensland. It is growing well in Melbourne. Today is ahead in Brisbane.’
Meanwhile, sources tell Daily Mail Australia there are ‘no daily meetings’ taking place to discuss the future of the Today show, contrary to The Daily Telegraph’s report.
They also say Cullen is not dissatisfied with his new role at Today because sport has always been his ‘passion’.
Nine’s morning TV boss Steve Burling hit back in a statement to Daily Mail Australia, saying the Telegraph’s numbers are based on an outmoded method of TV ratings measurement
In an extraordinary move, Burling’s statement was later posted in full on the Today show’s Instagram account, with the comments switched off
This year saw the introduction of a new ratings system, Virtual Australia (VOZ), that properly integrates traditional broadcast viewing on TV sets and streaming audiences on connected devices – giving advertisers, journalists and media agencies a better picture of how many people are watching television programs.
This is in contrast to the old system of audience measurement, which was overnight figures collected from people watching live TV in the five most populous cities.
The media stoush between The Daily Telegraph and Channel Nine is driven in part by the Telegraph’s parent company News Corporation being a commercial rival of Nine Entertainment Co. in the newspaper game.
The Telegraph is known for its negative coverage of Nine shows, which intensified when the television giant merged with Fairfax Media in 2018 and became owners of The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review – going head-to-head with the News Corp papers in the process.
Sunrise (co-hosted by Natalie Barr, left, and David Koch, right) has an eighteen per cent lead with an average metro audience of 213,000 viewers compared to Today’s 181,000
What is ‘VOZ’? The new TV ratings system explained
Virtual Australia (VOZ) is a new metric that aims to provide a more comprehensive and accurate representation of television audiences by combining traditional broadcast TV ratings with data from subscription TV and digital platforms.
Before the introduction of VOZ, the industry relied on two separate measurement systems: OzTAM for free-to-air television and Regional TAM for regional areas. These systems measured the viewership of traditional broadcast television separately.
However, they did not capture the audiences watching TV content through subscription services or online platforms.
With VOZ, the television industry aimed to address this limitation by incorporating the viewership data from subscription TV providers, such as Foxtel, and digital platforms like streaming services and catch-up TV.
The new measurement system was developed through a collaborative effort between OzTAM, Regional TAM and the market research company Nielsen.
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