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2020’s breakfast battles officially begin with 225,000 metro viewers for Today and 293,000 for Sunrise

The first official match-up between Today and Sunrise has seen a slightly smaller gap between the two morning programs than was seen throughout the majority of 2019. Nine’s Today was back with its new line-up of Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon and drew 225,000 metro viewers, while and Sunrise pulled 293,000.

With regional figures added in, Sunrise drew an audience of 485,000 and Today 335,000.

So far, so good for Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon as their 2020 season begins on Today

Today had a dry run on the weekend, returning early on Saturday to 231,000 metro viewers.

Today has had a tough time over the past 18 months, going through a variety of line-ups and seeing its ratings plummet. Stefanovic, who left at the end of 2018, was announced to be returning a couple of months ago, resulting in Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner moving to other roles with the Nine Network.

Shortly after Lisa Wilkinson left the program, defecting to Ten after contract negotiations broke down, 301,000 metro viewers were tuning in to Today. But over its time with Knight and Gardner at the helm the viewership dropped to 191,000.

Comparatively, Sunrise has regularly sat between 250,000 and 350,000 metro viewers, with its hosting duo of Samantha Armytage and David Koch remaining steady since 2013 (Koch joined in 2002, Armytage in 2013).

Elsewhere on Monday, Ten’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here delivered 825,000 for its second outing, after premiering to 980,000 on Sunday. Monday’s episode saw Billy Brownless and Dale Thomas join the celebrities who entered the jungle on Sunday, including Tanya Hennessy and Rhonda Burchmore.

I’m A Celebrity was the top program in all three of the key advertising demographics – 16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s – followed by Seven News. Ten was the most-watched channel with metro audiences 25-54, holding a 22.1% share, and 16-39s with 22.1% also.

Seven’s sport offering saw 618,000 tune in for session three of day four of the third test between Australia and New Zealand, and 429,000 for session two.

453,000 tuned in for the second session of the Big Bash League match between the Sydney Thunder and the Brisbane Heat, which was rained out until just before 9pm.

Seven News was still the most-watched program of the night, drawing 1.06m viewers, while Nine News drew 919,000 and ABC News 715,000.

The win for the night went to Seven with a primary channel audience share of 17.4% and a network share of 27.6%. Nine held 15.7% and 23.7%, Ten 15.2% and 22.7%, and ABC 11.4% and 17.4%. SBS held 4.5% and 8.7%, and the most-watched multi-channel was 10 Bold with 5.2%.

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