The Today show's much vaunted comeback against Sunrise has hit a hurdle with Nine's breakfast staple sinking to its lowest figures in months.
Ratings figures released by aggregation service OzTam on Wednesday reveal Today - under hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon - has dipped to its worst numbers since June, dropping below 200,000 viewers across the five major cities on Tuesday.
And adding insult to injury, Today was beaten not only by Sunrise - which won its slot easily with 244,000 metro viewers - but was also trounced by ABC News Breakfast, Bursa 777 which drew an impressive 201,000.
Bump in the road: The Today show's much vaunted comeback against Sunrise has hit a hurdle with Nine's breakfast staple sinking to its lowest figures in months. Pictured: Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon, who recently re-signed $1.8million deals with Nine
Competition: With just 193,000 metro viewers on Tuesday, Today was beaten not only by Sunrise, but was also trounced by ABC News Breakfast. Pictured: Sunrise co-host David Koch
By comparison, Today pulled just 193,000 viewers.
The regional figures, which paint an even bleaker figure for Nine, put Seven's Sunrise - hosted by Natalie Barr and David 'Kochie' Koch - on top with 421,000 viewers.
That's 134,000 viewers more than Today, which had a national audience of just 287,000 on Tuesday.
Decent performance: ABC News Breakfast, hosted by Michael Rowland (left) and Lisa Millar (right), crept to second place on Tuesday
The latest numbers come amid reports Today is making a run at Seven after being soundly thrashed by Sunrise for years.
Karl and Allison reportedly signed on as co-hosts of Today for another year after the pair were pictured visiting the Sydney home of high-profile accountant Anthony Bell.
The figures also coincide with a major water-cooler moment for the show and its former host Lisa Wilkinson as her upcoming memoir - which has been roundly fact-checked even before its pending release - is set to hit shelves on November 3.
Dream team: The regional figures, which paint an even bleaker figure for Nine, put Seven's Sunrise - hosted by Nat Barr (left) and David Koch (right) - on top with 421,000 viewers. That's 134,000 viewers more than Today, which had a national audience of just 287,000 on Tuesday
The memoir includes Lisa's account of her pay negotiations with Nine in 2017, after she learned Karl was being paid more than double her salary.
It has since been reported that Lisa actually earned more than twice what her male co-host was on for years after they first joined forces in 2007 - a fact she fails to mention in her autobiographyMeanwhile, the ratings pain continues for Lisa at Channel 10 where The Sunday Project - which she co-helms with Hamish Macdonald - continues to slump.
Ratings plateau: Meanwhile, the ratings pain continues for Lisa at Channel 10 where The Sunday Project - which she co-helms with Hamish Macdonald - continues to slump
Despite Hamish's heralded return following his brief tenure hosting Q&A at the ABC, The Sunday Project remains anchored under 400,000 viewers across the five major cities.
Last Sunday saw the current-affairs show draw just 367,000 metro viewers.
That figure is well below the 447,000 viewers who tuned in for the final show hosted by Peter van Onselen, who was edged out to make way for Hamish back in July.
No joy: Despite Hamish's heralded return following his brief tenure hosting Q&A at the ABC, The Sunday Project remains anchored under 400,000 viewers across the five major cities