There’s just no bounce in the ratings for Nine News from the controversial decision to replace Jim Waley with the younger Mark Ferguson.

Three weeks on from when Jim Waley was removed from the National Nine News 6pm bulletin in Sydney and replaced by Mark Ferguson, there are growing signs the deed isn’t working.

In fact, like Kim Beazley’s return to lead the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, Mark Ferguson’s move to the flagship 6pm News for Nine in Sydney permanently has produced no evidence of a honeymoon with viewers.

Three nights this week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have seen the Ferguson presented news broadcast attract less than 300,000 viewers in Sydney and fall well behind the Seven News which is read by the older and more experienced Ian Ross.

There’s just no bounce in the ratings for Nine from the controversial move.

It is only early days, this is only week one of official ratings, but it is one that Seven News in Sydney will go close to winning.

The situation could easily change as it did last year when Nine spent hundreds of thousand of dollars promoting the then Jim Waley read News and improved the lead-in program, The Price is Right, but Nine management has to move quickly.

But can they? Nine has problems elsewhere in its schedule with A Current Affair which is being easily beaten by Seven’s TodayTonight this week. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights are problems with Seven winning those and with Wednesday nights where Seven is making inroads into what was a winning night for Nine last year.

The Network is now hurting in a number of spots, unlike last year where it was just the 6pm to 7pm slot for months.

The first week of ratings has started for 2005 and the big story is the hits Nine is taking to its schedule. As Nine moves and re-jigs its schedule, to the consternation of viewers who have been complaining to the network in numbers, management has to also try and add resources to help the vital 6pm to 7pm news and current affairs shows. Without good performances in those timeslots, winning the rest of the night is made much harder.

Part of the problem for Nine is that Mark Ferguson is not such a ‘new face’. He has been reading the Nine News in Sydney since December last year when Jim Waley went on leave. Therefore he is familiar to viewers and a continuation of the 2004 story for Nine News.

Four times in the past 11 days that Ferguson is on air (he reads from Sundays to Fridays) Nine’s audience for the 6pm News has slipped below the 300,000 mark, the most recent were Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights of this week.

Ferguson attracted just over 289,000 people, more than 66,000 people behind Seven on Tuesday. Nine won nationally, thanks to stronger efforts in Brisbane and Melbourne (but it must be said Seven News in both those markets is picking up).

Wednesday night Nine News was watched by 295,314 people, but Seven was around 69,000 viewers in front on 364,961 people.

Thursday night Nine in Sydney attracted just over 293,000 viewers, still around 69,000 behind Seven.

There was also a blip last Thursday night when Nine News dipped below the 300,000 mark.

All these low numbers have occurred when Ferguson is up against Ross on weeknights.

So far this week Nine won Sunday (thanks in part to the second One Day Cricket final broadcast, but Nine News is traditionally strong on Sundays) and then lost Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to Seven when it has been Mark Ferguson reading against Ian Ross in Sydney.

That’s the main battle and the one that counts because Sydney is the biggest and richest media market in the country and the stations in Sydney are watched by the owners!

Ferguson scores well in the Q-Factor (not a new talent audition show) assessments done by a Sydney company that looks at the appeal on air personalities have to viewers. It is sort of like focus groups.

Nine is now a subscriber and used these scores to bolster their case in replacing Waley with Ferguson.

Ferguson was said to appeal to women viewers.

Nine argues that its lead-in The Price is Right is lagging. So it is, running more than 300,000 behind Seven’s Deal or No Deal nationally and more than 150,000 in Sydney. On Wednesday night The Price is Right didn’t make the Top 30 list of programs, while Deal came in at 22. Thursday Deal or No Deal was Number 21, The Price is Right was down on Number 36.

That’s probably part of the answer as to why Ferguson is doing badly, but as we saw last year, Nine News in Sydney faded, then picked up as Nine threw money at it, a revamp of the set, a revamp of Price and lots of radio and newspaper and outdoor advertising.

Seven countered, went to the new studio in the heart of Sydney and cleaner look (since changed this week) and also spent big on promotion.

And then it faded late in the year as the steam went out of the promotion and Nine conserved cash towards the end of the year.

Ferguson failed to provide any spark when Waley was away in Baghdad in late June and early July 2004.

Perhaps the biggest question though is whether the age difference between Ferguson and Ian Ross on Seven is having an impact in a way that has caught Nine by surprise.

Waley and Ross were of equal vintage, Ferguson looks younger, noticeably younger than Ross. Do viewers place a greater reliance on age and responsibility than youth when watching news broadcasts?

For Nine viewers, Jim Waley’s experience and age didn’t gel (but if Ferguson continues to be weak, it will be apparent that Waley and viewers did gel!). At Seven age seems to be a plus for Ian Ross, just as it did when he was reading the Today and Weekend News for Nine before leaving a couple of years ago.

That the age and experience in the face of Ian Ross is a point of difference for Seven News in their battle with Nine.

Over at A Current Affair, Ray Martin’s re-appearance has been buried by Bec and Lleyton show, so it is too early to say.

But Nine should also be worried about this one. He has been on the wrong side of the ratings every night this week, especially in Sydney.

Ray Martin has been back with a new set and has been beaten each night, and beaten badly by Today Tonight which seems to have added 150,000 to 200,000 viewers a night.

Thursday night saw ACA easily beaten by 70,000 viewers in Sydney and well over 200,000 nationally.

It seems the new set with two plasma screens, new music and opening titles has failed to impress viewers.

Curiously ACA has been doing better in Melbourne than in Sydney (as it did last year) against Today Tonight, but the Seven program won Thursday.

The first cracks in Nine’s dominance last year started in Sydney in the 6pm to 7pm News and Current Affairs slots. But it started in March-April and took a while to emerge as a solid trend, only to be broken by the Olympics and Seven’s mishandling of the Beslan story in Russia. It resumed in October and both Seven News and Today Tonight finished the year a little better.

But this year both have hit the ground first up with viewers, unusual for Seven and a worry for Nine if it continues.