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Today pulls 191,000 viewers for its final outing with Georgie Gardner and Deb Knight

Friday morning marked the last outing of the Today show’s current hosting line-up on Nine, with 191,000 metro viewers tuning in.

The news that former host Karl Stefanovic would be returning to the desk in 2020 alongside Allison Langdon – replacing current hosts Deborah Knight and Georgie Gardner – didn’t officially break until late on Friday night, however it has since been revealed Friday’s show was Gardner’s last.

The Today show’s ratings have spent 2019 well below that of rival Sunrise on Seven, which yesterday had 267,000 metro viewers.

In the regions, Today had 87,000, compared to Sunrise’s 176,000 – bringing their totals to 278,000 and 443,000 respectively.

In the earlier segments of the shows, Today had 122,000 metro viewers (191,000 total), while Sunrise was on 163,000 (263,000 total).

It is understood Knight will stick around at Today for the remainder of 2019, alongside fellow contributor Tom Steinfort, before Stefanovic and Langdon take over in 2020.

Stefanovic was sacked at the end of 2018 after a string of negative headlines and a seemingly never-ending spotlight on his personal life.

Stefanovic’s return has been rumoured for weeks

239,000 metro viewers tuned in to watch the aftermath of his departure.  The new 2019 line-up had just 197,000 on debut.

Elsewhere in television yesterday, Seven’s success in breakfast was replicated in the evening news battle, with 843,000 metro viewers tuning in for Seven News. Its national figure was 1.288m.

Nine News had 755,000 in the metro markets, and 986,000 in total. It did, however, win in Sydney and Melbourne.

Nine’s A Current Affair had 592,000 metro viewers, and 828,000 total.

The most-watched entertainment offering in the metro markets was Grant Chester on the ABC (466,000). Its national figure was 702,000.

Nationally, however, The Chase Australia on Seven was most popular. It had 458,000 in the cities, but 763,000 overall.

Ten’s most popular program for the night was The Living Room on 401,000 metro viewers, and 562,000 total.

In the total people battle, Nine took the win, with an 18.4% share of viewing, ahead of Seven’s 16.9%, and Ten’s 12.0%. ABC had 13.3%, and SBS 4.3%.

With the addition of multi-channels, the rankings remained the same, with Nine on 28.4%, Seven on 27.5%, ABC on 18.8%, Ten on 17.9%, and SBS on 7.4%.

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