With Nine News unbeatable in the market (at least in the number of weeks won) for their 8th year in a row…remind me who Sydney’s #1 newsman is again, @antonio1987?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. But I do seriously think Seven News Sydney needs to move on from Fergo & McLaughlin when viewers clearly prefer watching Peter Overton (+ Deborah Knight) and Cameron Williams more often than not.
I also wonder if Emma Dallimore (the current deputy) would make a better director of Seven News Sydney than Jason Morrison…
Nine are an absolute basket case in Perth! Good God without a doubt unacceptable. Shame more isn’t made of it only because it’s a smaller market.
At least for Seven in Sydney, numbers are a hell of a lot closer and they’ve grown in recent years, as Nine has plunged in the market (just look what the difference was in 2013).
If members from Perth want to add to the discussion about the ratings of their market, it’d be great to see some posts. But I personally thought that Seven News absolutely smashing the competition and Nine being dead last on a nightly basis has been a fairly consistent trend in Perth for many years?
Until Seven’s iconic duos in Perth & Adelaide retire (when I’m sure Nine will make an aggressive push in both cities), Nine News is probably better off spending most of their time/money focusing on the East Coast markets where they win or are at least competitive against Seven.
Even though the gap has closed somewhat, haven’t both Seven and Nine lost 6pm news viewers in the Sydney market since 2013?
Also, I’m not sure that it’s fair to compare what the Sydney news ratings are like now compared to what they were in the final full ratings year before the analogue switchoff (2013 ratings year ended on November 30, Sydney analogue was switched off on December 3) and both networks expanding their bulletins to run for a full hour. That’s without mentioning the various other factors which have seen audiences fragment over the last half a decade, so maybe 2015 would be a fairer comparison?
I heard that the last time Nine News won over seven in Perth was back in 1990. Since 1991, Seven News has taken the lead over Nine. It was a very long time when Channel 9 had a win over Seven in ratings year.
With Jennifer Keyte all but the latest in a string of high profile presenters to depart Seven News Melbourne in recent years, you really have to wonder what their succession plan for Peter Mitchell is when the time comes. Would someone like Jacqueline Felgate or Blake Johnson really be strong enough to lead Seven News Melbourne to #1 ratings in the post-Mitchell era? At the moment, I’m not so sure about that.
I’ll spare everyone a repeat of my opinion about the ratings situation of the Sydney 6pm news bulletins for now, because I’m sure everyone could guess what I would say this week!
Blake Johnson could take over from Peter Mitchell in say 8-10 years, but he needs to be groomed for the role. He’s still an unknown face to most Melbourne viewers. Seven need to build his profile, reputation and trust to audiences.
Melbourne (along with Sydney) also like their main presenters to be a certain age (40 plus). Age usually comes with experience.
But the lose of Jennifer Keyte is having an effect on the bulletin.
One wonders if the overly tabloid content and a number of high profile reporters departing the QTQ newsroom are among the factors that have lead to their reduction in ratings this year. Aside from that, I guess Max Futcher is paying off for Seven News Queensland.
Probably the most positive thing I can say about the ratings for Seven News Sydney in 2018: I’m sure they’re really looking forward to the end of the NRL season and are hoping for flow-on effects from sports coverage during October & November to help their 6pm news over Nine’s during the final eight weeks or so during the year. If they can win those eight weeks, Jason Morrison and co might get away with hanging onto the current strategy for one more year. If Nine News Sydney is #1 in some or all post-NRL season weeks (particularly those in November), then Seven News Sydney will need to do in 2019 what Seven News Queensland did in 2018.
This week is also quite notable for being the one that Nine News Melbourne takes out 2018 in the number of weeks won - they cannot be beaten at 6pm, 6.30pm or overall now.
Perhaps Brisbane viewers are deciding to watch the first half of Seven News but flick over at 6.30pm for the very important “Special Reports” on Nine?
15 survey weeks won by Seven News Brisbane, shouldn’t be long before they claim the year, impressive turn around in 2018 would you say? Not what Nine would’ve expected or wanted up there.
