Sunrise’s decision to air its morning breakfast show direct from an island on Sydney Harbour featuring Justin Bieber last week has failed to reel in the viewers.
It’s clear teen girls aren’t up early enough to catch morning breakfast with only 306,000 viewers tuning-in for live performances and interviews with the 21-year-old Canadian.
Sunrise was beaten into second spot by rival The Today Show who pulled close to 340,000 viewers.
Bieber performed live to about 1000 people on Sydney’s Cocktaoo Island – including a number of winners of a radio competition – and the event was jointly sponsored by Channel Seven and the Australian Radio Network’s KIIS FM.
KISS’s Kyle and Jackie O also covered the event live for their morning breakfast show.
It has been reported in the press that the early morning event cost sponsors upwards of $750,000 to stage.
However, Seven has downplayed the criticisms saying its audience figures would have been impacted by school holidays.
A spokesperson for Seven told news.com.au: “With a show like Sunrise, in people’s homes seven days a week, we look beyond a single day’s ratings. School holidays were in full swing and this always has an impact on numbers.”
