Has the tide turned? Seven News Melbourne celebrates run of victories over arch-rival NINE

The champagne corks were popping yesterday in Seven’s Melbourne newsroom with the team celebrating a big week of rating victories over arch-rival NINE.

Sunday nights bulletin was a clear winner in its timeslot with 366,000 viewers compared with NINE’s 284,000.

The Sunday night win was the seventh night in a row the Melbourne team had claimed victory over the usually dominant team at NINE.

Based on full news hour, the last time Seven Melbourne won more than seven consecutive nights was during the 2016 Rio Olympics with wins over 18 nights. Before that it was in 2011 during Aug/Sept when SEVEN won 12 consecutive days.

While its clear SEVEN’s recent bulletins have benefited from an increased number of AFL games in the schedule during the Easter/Anzac period, it’s also apparent under the leadership of freshly appointed news director Shaun Menegola, the margin between SEVEN and NINE has narrowed dramatically in 2019.

Across the 17 weeks of the TV year, SEVEN is the clear winner nationally, benefited by dominant performances in Perth and Adelaide. The network has also won 13 weeks in Brisbane, two weeks in Melbourne, and one in Sydney.