News

Sky News posts best half-yearly results on record ahead of Alan Jones show’s debut

Ahead of the launch of Alan Jones’ new show tonight, Sky News has posted its best half-yearly results on record, becoming Foxtel’s number one channel for 22 consecutive weeks.

The channel’s average all day audience is up by 31%, for a share of 2.9%, up 0.7 share points year on year. Primetime average audience, meanwhile, increased by 22%, an increase of 0.6 share points to 2.5% share.

Jones’ new weeknight show, which will air at 8pm four nights a week, was announced last month soon after he retired from talkback radio, citing medical reasons. The former host of 2GB’s breakfast show was already a Sky News host – featuring on programs including Richo & Jones and Jones & Credlin – but has now signed an exclusive agreement with the channel.

Sky News said the first half results are “driven by its global coronavirus crisis coverage, top performing primetime line-up, exclusive interviews, investigative specials and documentary programming”.

“Following record ratings during the 2019 election year, we have continued to build our audience, achieving record year-on-year ratings growth for the first half of 2020,” chief executive Paul Whittaker said.

“Our rolling COVID-19 coverage, exclusive interviews, documentaries and specials, breaking political news and our evening programming have resonated strongly with our audience.

“As we move into the second half of the year, we have a new line-up with the introduction of Alan Jones four nights a week joining our unbeatable primetime program offering including The Kenny Report, Credlin, The Bolt Report and Paul Murray Live. And, we’ll be providing viewers with unrivalled political coverage of the Federal Budget, Queensland Election and US Presidential Election.”

The MH370: The Untold Story series, which aired in February, was the best performing individual program for the first half, followed by Andrew Bolt’s George Pell interview on the 14 April episode of The Bolt Report.

The station launched a dedicated 24/7 COVID-19 channel in March, previously Sky News Extra, which has pulled more than 2.1m unique viewers. The COVID-19 specials fronted each Sunday night in April by Peter Stefanovic lifted the timeslot average by 304%.

Laura Jayes’ and Peter Stefanovic’s First Edition has increased its average audience by 44%, with an average of 213,000 viewers across the week.

Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert has grown by 63% year on year, reaching an average of 252,000 viewers per week. Credlin, which airs every weeknight at 6pm, reaches an average of 252,000 weekly viewers, while The Bolt Report pulls an average of 327,000 viewers in total for the week’s five episodes.

Chris Kenny’s The Kenny Report has an average reach of 219,000 across the week’s four episodes, and Paul Murray Live now gets an average of 300,000 weekly viewers.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.