With the imminent launch of new 5pm gameshow Tipping Point Australia on Channel 9, the network has made the decision to move the afternoon news in Adelaide back to the earlier time of 4pm.
The afternoon news bulletin had been airing at 5pm since early 2020 and prior to the flagship 6pm news bulletin with game show Hot Seat relegated to the 4pm afternoon timeslot, though the network has confirmed it will return to the national early evening line up in 2024.
Nationally the changes come as the network axed Hot Seat earlier this year as it looks to strengthen it’s 5pm hour as the lead in to the 6pm news, and follows declining audiences for the long time game show after nearly 25 years on air and 7 years in it’s latest iteration as an hour long format.
The news of the changes was recently confirmed to InDaily by 9 News Adelaide News Director Jeremy Pudney where he said:
“Nine News Adelaide is focused on delivering South Australians their news when and where they want it.”
“And we are constantly monitoring the shift of viewers from traditional TV – measured by the traditional ratings system – to the large number of people who watch their news on Smart TVs or mobile devices. All of this will be measured together, for the first time, under the new Total TV ratings system in 2024.”
“This will coincide with the introduction of Nine Adelaide’s new weekday programming lineup – Nine Adelaide’s Afternoon News at 4pm, followed by the new Tipping Point Australia at 5pm and then Nine Adelaide’s nightly 6pm News with Brenton Ragless and Kate Collins.”
The changes to news in Adelaide may bode well for 10 News First who air their flagship nightly news at 5pm and recently re-introduced a locally presented bulletin in Adelaide as first revealed by TV Blackbox (albeit mostly read from Sydney with sport and weather done locally) with local identity and former weather presenter Kate Freebairn.
The Network 10 bulletin was returned to being individually presented again earlier this year after news presentation for Adelaide was centralised to Melbourne during the covid-19 pandemic amid a myriad of cuts to news programming and presenters in 2020, as the network looks to try to rebuild it’s audience with local viewers.
The only other 9 metro area where afternoon news airs at 5pm is in Perth with news presenter Monika Kos, which was launched in early 2022. The network may look to also bring Perth back to the national lineup ahead of Tipping Point’s premiere after the tennis, or wait to see how the show launches before making any changes in that market.
Could Perth follow suit?