There are celebrations in Docklands with the team at 7News Melbourne officially claiming the title of the most watched news bulletin for 2022.
The nightly 6pm bulletin presented by Peter Mitchell has now won 21 out of the first 26 weeks of the official TV ratings survey meaning they cannot be beaten in 2022.
The emphatic victory for Channel 7 signals a significant switch in the viewing habits of Melbournians.
This is the first time 7News Melbourne has claimed victory since 2011 and brings to an end the successful streak by archrival 9News Melbourne.
7News Melbourne is now regularly securing audience figures 30k larger than the Peter Hitchener presented broadcast in an audience switch that will have Channel 9 executives asking serious questions regarding what has gone wrong with their once dominant bulletin.
2022 has seen highly popular presenter Rebecca Maddern defect from Nine to join the team at Seven alongside weekend presenter Mike Amor.
Maddern’s instant success and connection with viewers have again left this media observer to wonder why Channel 9 wasted her talents for so long.
7News Melbourne has also benefited from a bold new graphics package and strong reporting from a team of highly regarded journalists including Sharnelle Vella, Cassie Zervos and Paul Dowsley.
The ability of sports journalists Tom Browne and Mitch Cleary to deliver a consistent stream of exclusive AFL reports has also clearly played a key role in getting a sports-obsessed city to switch channels.
The victory in Melbourne comes at the same time as 7NEWS has claimed a national victory over its rivals.
7NEWS is the #1 nightly news program in Australia in 2022, having won its timeslot nationally every single day so far this year.
The nation’s most-watched news program has also won every single week of the OzTAM survey ratings year in the capital cities and nationally.
With the completion of the takeover of regional broadcaster Prime TV, 7NEWS now broadcasts 55 bulletins nationally, totalling 23 hours a day over 50 weeks of the year, producing more than 5,500 hours of news.
7NEWS Monday to Friday reaches 1.72 million viewers daily and has an average national weekday audience of 1.46 million viewers, 29% bigger than its nearest competitor.
7NEWS Monday to Friday has also won every week this survey ratings year in Adelaide and Perth.
In Melbourne, 7NEWS Monday to Friday has increased its audience by 1.9 commercial share points year-on-year. It is up by 1.6 share points in Brisbane, 4.2 share points in Adelaide and 1.8 share points in Perth.
7NEWS is also dominant on the weekends. 7NEWS Sunday has an average national audience of 1.43 million viewers, 18% bigger than its nearest competitor, and 7NEWS Saturday has a national average audience of 1.11 million viewers, 26% bigger than its nearest competitor.
National News Audience Comparision
Seven’s Director of News and Public Affairs, Craig McPherson, said:
“It’s extremely satisfying that Australians have made 7NEWS the most-watched news in 2022. This marks the seventh consecutive year 7NEWS has been the news of choice in the combined capital cities and across the country.
“It is wonderful recognition for the work of all our teams in every market, in every state, region and our bureaux in Canberra, the United States and Europe.
“The sum of all parts – and there are many – drives our dominance and consistency but this year we’ve seen exceptional growth in our Melbourne market, as well as Brisbane and Adelaide, with Perth dominating in all our expanding News programming in the west and Sydney holding its commercial share,” he said.
“This year also heralded the integration of all Prime newsrooms throughout regional Australia into the 7NEWS family, which only adds to our growing reach and national strength.”
The issue with Nine News is their bias against the Andrews Government, many (like us) won’t watch it, being fair and balanced is what people want, and Tony Jones as the sports anchor is also and arrogant , know everything person, that grates on people.
The desk needs new faces
Maybe lose the ‘ALERT’ news breaks and annoying wooshing graphics that make it look cheap and very Fox News!