Seven v Nine News Ratings Comparisons

7NEWS Melbourne takes the ratings crown

Peter Mitchell triumphs in 2022 6pm bulletin battle

The Seven Network’s 7NEWS Melbourne – led by anchor Peter Mitchell – has delivered its best result in more than a decade to seize the TV ratings crown at 6.00pm.

Mitchell, alongside sports presenter Tim Watson and respected meteorologist Jane Bunn, triumphed in 2022 to win the weekday news hour for a staggering 32 out of 39 consolidated ratings weeks.

It marks a historic changing of the guard on Melbourne television, with Seven dominating the survey year and taking the number one 6.00pm news spot for the first time since 2011.

Seven Network Director of News and Public Affairs, Craig McPherson, said: “It’s been a watershed year for 7NEWS Melbourne. We have dominated the news market in Australia’s biggest viewing city, with the best result in 11 years. It’s a phenomenal effort by our team superbly led by Shaun Menegola.

“With our presenting team across the full week of Peter Mitchell, Tim Watson, Jane Bunn, Rebecca Maddern, Mike Amor and Abby Gelmi, complemented by a quality team of reporters and a vibrant production desk, 7NEWS Melbourne offers the people of Victoria the very best choice to turn to for everything they need to know, every day of the year.”

7NEWS Melbourne Director, Shaun Menegola, paid tribute to his team, on and off air.

“We’re thrilled to be recognised as Melbourne’s number one news service. As a team, we put a hard focus on the news and issues that impact directly on Victorians,” he said.

“Every member of the team sets out every day to make sure we deliver the full picture at 6.00pm. Our objective each night is to not just cover every aspect of the news of the day, but to cover it better than everyone else.

“It’s fantastic that Melburnians have turned to our bulletin in 2022 and trusted us to deliver coverage of everything that happened – floods, Federal and State elections, and conflict in Ukraine, as well as the outpouring of grief following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

“We see this result as the beginning, not the finish line. We understand we have to work hard to maintain the trust of the audience. We look forward to building on that in 2023.”

Peter Mitchell said: “These results show the hard work of the entire crew here at Seven and I am so incredibly proud and humbled to be a part of the team. There is always something happening in Melbourne and we are so honoured to be the number one news service, keeping the city informed.”

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I would expect an on air acknowledgment on Seven Melbourne soon though. It’s a clean win… and really the first time Seven News have taken the Melbourne market since 2010.

I’m also aware of 2019 where Nine and Seven drew equal in different measurements

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2011 was the last time Seven News won in Melbourne I think (26/40 weeks won that year). 2009 remains their best year on record (34/40).

In 2019 according to my records for Melbourne Nine won the 6pm half hour 21-19 weeks while Seven won 6.30pm 22-18. Across the hour Seven won 22-19 (includes tie). Nine won the calendar year 29-23.

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Is there any chance 9 makes a change next year in Melb

As in retire Hitch early? No way. That will only make the gap larger.

Would it be early?

Why wouldn’t you go for someone who could beat 7?

Who do you think eventually replaces him?

I think its Hitch’s decision when he retires. Wouldn’t be surprised if he goes down to 3 days next year.

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Nine would only replace Hitch is he wanted to retire. If he was fired or forced to retire there would be many unhappy people in Melbourne and the ratings for Nine News would go down into the ground past ABC.

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So are you saying there’s no option to replace him?

The current one is Alicia Loxley, the current weekend presenter. Nine would be silly to fire him and replace him so early.

Early? He’s 76

Yes, but the point I am trying to make is Nine wouldn’t replace Hitch unless he decided to retire. If he could stay forever he probably would.

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It’s quite the turnaround for Seven News Melbourne considering there have been several times over the last few years where it seemed like the news operation was in disrepair (e.g., rumoured infighting in the newsroom).

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It would be interesting to know (internally) if or how they have fixed some of these problems.

Week 48 2022 - Preliminary

Ratings weeks won - 2022

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Weeks won - 2022

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Week 48 2021

Numbers are in for the final week of the ratings survey and for the third consecutive week Seven wins all markets. Additionally for the second week in a row Seven wins all 6pm and all 6.30pm segments. This is a turn around for Brisbane and especially Sydney.

For the survey period, Seven was dominant in Melbourne winning 33 weeks to Nine’s 7.it was the first time Seven had won the market since 2011.

Adelaide and Perth bulletins both delivered clean sweeps, winning all weeks. That was nothing new for Perth but an improvement for Adelaide where Nine had drawn closer in 2021 and grabbed one weekly win.

The overall Sydney result was equal with 2021 with Nine’s 33 weekly wins well ahead of Seven that won 7.

Brisbane saw another win for Nine but with Seven drawing closer. The market again gave the closest result in the country with many weekly wins seeing the bulletins separated by just a few thousand views.

Despite Nine’s win Seven has stated running promos claiming to be number one in Brisbane at 6pm. This is based on the average audience across the survey period with Seven ahead by approximately 5,000. It is deceiving, though, because Nine is 8,000 ahead in the 6.30pm segment so over the hour has the highest rated news bulletin in addition to having won more weeks this year. Perhaps Seven should insert an * in their promos.

2021’s survey results.

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Did Seven not claim 2019 pre covid in Melbourne? Though not sure what metric, maybe weeks won and 6pm, perhaps Nine pipped at the very end on average audience?

They could lean on regional (7QLD) and say “Queensland’s No. 1” which I think they’ve done in the past? Thanks to Rob Brough’s massive audiences with 7LocalNews there.

Week 49 2022 - Preliminary

Ratings weeks won - 2022

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Weeks won - 2022

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Week 48 2021

No surprise to see Nine up in all markets after winning on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Sydney was up 11k, Melbourne 2k, Brisbane +20k, Adelaide 5k and Perth 4k.

For Seven, Perth was steady while Sydney was down 14k, Melbourne by 24k, Brisbane by 10k and Adelaide by 15k.

With Nine up 42,000 nationally and Seven down 62,000 that was a 104,000 turnaround for the first week of summer. It highlights the importance of the lead into the news.

The result means Nine not only claimed the Brisbane news battle during official ratings, but also ratings year in terms of weeks won.

Yes, Nine can’t be beaten in weeks won for the calendar year. Nine are also ahead in the average audeicne across the year - though Seven is numbe rone at 6pm.

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