I also reckon the reason why Nine is closing the gap on Seven in Adelaide might be because John Riddell, long-time Seven News anchor, retired at the end of 2019, thus leaving Jane Doyle on her own.
Even though Seven had a comfortable win in Adelaide last year, I dare say this is quite similar to what happened in Sydney, whereby after Ian Ross retired from the Seven newsdesk towards the end of 2009, Nine News (led by Peter Overton) started to close the gap, before reclaiming its mantle as that marketās most-watched news bulletin by the end of 2011.
But of course this is Adelaide that weāre talking about - one of two markets thatās doing the heavy lifting for Seven while Nine continues to dominate the east coast.
Adelaide was very close in week 5 with Seven just 100 ahead across the hour in preliminary number. However with the final numbers for the week Nine won the hour in Adelaide.
5 cities: Seven News was back well ahead of Nine in week six after Nineās win the previous week. While much of that could be attributed to Perth numbers, Seven was up 75,000 on the previous week while Nine lost 6,000.
Sydney: Despite a drop of 18,000 from the previous week Nine had an easy harbour city win as Seven saw its numbers also drop, down 11,000 week-on-week.
Melbourne: Seven made up some ground in Melbourne, recording 300k on two nights and winning on Thursday. Nine dropped 23,000 and Seven was up 12,000 a turn around of 35,000.
Brisbane: Nine pulled further ahead of Seven in Brisbane with a win on every night. Compared to week 6 of 2020, Seven is down 19% while Nine is up 8% in SEQ.
Adelaide: Seven picked up an average of 5,000 extra viewers each night and had a narrow win over Nine. Nineās audience is up 53% on 2020 week 6.
Perth: Big numbers for both Perth bulletins (as well as for 10 and ABC). Seven was up 67,000 on the previous week with Nine up 29,000.
5 cities: The first week of the āofficialā ratings period and the Australian Open tennis saw a big shift in results in some markets, potentially due to the tennis as a lead in for Nine. The previous week was also boosted by big Perth numbers that fell this week. Overall, Seven dropped 13,000 week-on-week with Nine down 44,0000.
Sydney: Seven took out the week with a narrow win up 21,000 from week 6 while Nine dropped 15,000 and was down 8% from week 7 of 2020 to its lowest result of the year.
Melbourne: Nine had a big win in the home of the AO improving 9,000 from week 6 while Seven lost 26,000.
Brisbane: A big turnaround in Brisbane with a lower lead in and viewers watching tennis at 6pm on Nine that saw Seven post its highest audience of the year up 22,000 from the previous week. Nine lost 15,000 from week 6 and was down 17% from week 7 of 2020.
Adelaide: Seven improved its narrow lead over Nine in week 7, up 5,000. Nine continues to do well up 53% from the first week of ratings in 2020.
Perth: Perth results were closer to normal, though still elevated. Seven slipped 35,000 and Nine 24,000 from week 6. Seven is still up 14% from 2020 and Nine 6%.
I reckon Seven News Sydney will also win next week too, just like how last year they won both Australian Open weeks.
Seven would also be happy that the AO is in the ratings period this year, and the week theyāve just won against Nine Sydney counts in the official ratings period.
Iāve had a quick look on TV Tonight for the first week of survey in 2011 and 2012, and found that Nine News Sydney won both weeks, with Seven News Sydney winning only the Monday of both years.
I know the first week of the 2010 was tie (thanks to Nine having the Cricket and Winter Olympics), so this would make the Seven Sydneyās first week of survey win since 2009 (which coincidence, was the week of Black Saturday).
We saw Seven News Sydney win both Australian Open weeks last year, so personally I donāt think Nine are overly worried at the moment even if this is the first time they havenāt won Week 1 of the ratings year in over a decade.
If the trend of a switch away continues post-tennis and especially during MAFS/NRL season, different story.
5 cities: While there were some drops in a couple of markets, overall Seven improved its position and won week 2 of the survey with an average of 16,000 extra viewers while Nine was steady. Both services had more viewers than in week 8 of 2020.
Sydney: A second consecutive weekly win to Seven in the market, as Nine recorded its lowest audience of the year on Friday.
Melbourne: Nine continues to dominate though both bulletins are up about 20% year-on-year.
Brisbane: Seven had another victory in SEQ though the margin was closer than the previous week.
Adelaide: Seven starting to pull away from Nineās bulletin as the tennis continued. Will the 5pm news lead in help Nine next week?
Perth: Numbers in Perth were down for the second consecutive week as Seven was totally dominant. Nine was beaten by 10ās 5pm bulletin on every night of the week.
There are two aspects to that. Nineās numbers will probably rebound next week without the tennis as a lead in and potential competition at 6pm. But perhaps you could also interpret the results to suggest that a big reason that Nine wins in Sydney is Hot Seat. Same could be said for Brisbane as well (plus Gold Cost News - which has been on 9 SD only for the last 2 weeks).
Always worth remembering that Seven beat Nine in the Sydney ratings during both Australian Open weeks last year, the difference in 2021 is that they fell during the official ratings period.
The news battle in Brisbane is just heating up. Nothing separated Seven and Nine in weeks won, while Seven claimed the week despite a drop in its audience.
will also be interesting to see how Seven News in Sydney fares during the two weeks in which Seven has the Olympics.
Nonetheless, this is the first time since 2016 that Seven News has won more than one week in the Sydney market (that year they won seven weeks, two of which were the Olympic weeks).
So with all things being fair and equal, Seven News Sydney should be able to win at least four or five ratings weeks (if the Olympics go ahead) during 2021.
Picking up a few weeks here and there still wonāt change my questioning of Sevenās content selection or the suitability of Mark Ferguson to be their main 6pm presenter if the long term trends remain in Nineās favour though!
