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The gap between Today and Sunrise begins to close, as just 46,000 metro viewers separate the morning shows

Nine’s gamble on bringing back Karl Stefanovic seems to be paying off in the early days, with the gap between Today and Seven’s Sunrise appearing to close. Today managed 220,000 metro viewers on Tuesday morning while Sunrise drew 266,000.

The gap remains sizable in total people however, with regional figures driving Sunrise to 467,000 above Today’s 318,000.

The morning show wars are heating up between Nine and Seven, with Today slowly beginning to close the gap

Comparatively, ABC’s News Breakfast brought in 122,000 metro viewers and 193,000 nationally.

The gap between Sunrise and Today has been in the 100,000s in the past year, as Today struggled with a new lineup that didn’t seem to click with viewers. Sunrise, however, has maintained a steady hosting lineup and fairly consistent ratings.

Each of the capital cities tells a different story for Today and Sunrise. In Sydney, Today beat Sunrise with 74,000 to 71,000, but in Melbourne Sunrise was the clear winner with 64,000 to 57,000. Brisbane’s win went to Today on 58,000 to 53,000, Adelaide to Sunrise 34,000 to 13,000 and Perth also with 45,000 to 18,000.

Beyond the morning programs, Seven News was the most-watched program of the night with 924,000 metro viewers above Nine News’ 810,000 and ABC News 655,000. The most-watched entertainment program of the night was Ten’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here which drew 737,000.

Seven’s Big Bash League coverage continued with the Melbourne Renegades taking on the Perth Scorchers. Session two was the most-watched portion of the match, 442,000 metro viewers tuned in, while 402,000 watched session one.

For another night, Ten’s I’m A Celebrity topped the key advertising demographics – 16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s – followed by the BBL in the 16-39s, Seven News in the 25-54s and The Project in 18-49s. The Project drew 311,000 metro viewers overall.

Nine’s evening coverage of the ATP Cup brought in 370,000 metro viewers while 260,000 watched the late coverage.

Overall, the night went to Seven with a network audience share of 27.2%, squeezing just ahead of Nine’s 27.0%. Ten held a network share of 21.3%, ABC 15.6% and SBS 8.9%.

Nine did manage to edge ahead as a channel, holding an audience share of 18.7%, while Seven held 16.8%, Ten 14.5%, ABC 9.5% and SBS 5.0%. 7mate was the most popular multi-channel with a 4.6% audience share.

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