Channel 9 has made a major scheduling move in Perth, with the network set to align it’s early evening line-up to match that of it’s channels in the eastern states.
The move sees the recently launched Tipping Point Australia, the replacement for long running Hot Seat which recently wrapped at the end of last year, slide into the 5:00pm hour as the lead-in to the all important 6:00pm news bulletin.
9News WA First is moving to the new time of 4:00pm, relaunched in early 2022 and fronted by local Perth identity Monika Kos, the show offered an alternative to The Chase Australia on the very competitive 7 Perth and the then Sydney presented 10 News First Perth.
The move is likely attributed to the 9 Network recently enjoying success with the newly launched game show, fronted by Tennis champion Todd Woodbridge and based on the UK format of the same name, with the show regularly winning nights in the 5 city metro markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Ahead of Tipping Point’s premiere earlier this year, 9 moved to align Adelaide to the other metro areas with the afternoon news brought forward to 4:00pm to allow Tipping Point to air at 5:00pm, which seems to have paid off for the network and it seems they hope to replicate this success in Perth.
The schedule changes take effect from Monday 18th March 2024.
I didn’t think I would enjoy Tipping Point as much if Ben Shepherd wasn’t the host but Todd Woodbridge is excellent. He slid into the role effortlessly. Well done Todd and Channel 9. ☺️