Was Michael Rowland offered Karl Stefanovic’s job on Today?

As the old saying goes, many a true word is spoken in jest.

And ABC News Breakfast anchor Michael Rowland raised eyebrows on Monday when he ‘jokingly’ told TV Week that he had been considered for the role of Today host before Karl Stefanovic was welcomed back to the fold earlier this year.

While the magazine clarified he wasn’t being serious, the comment likely won’t go down well at Channel Nine, which is slipping into third place in the breakfast TV ratings behind the ABC and Seven’s Sunrise.

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Michael, 51, said the commercial networks had made ‘occasional’ offers over the years to lure him away from the public broadcaster.

But he always knocked them back because he preferred working at the ABC.

‘I was offered Karl’s job on Today before he came back,’ Michael said, in what TV Week described as a ‘joke’.

He added: ‘But I’m more than happy where I am. I’ve got the best job in TV.’

Karl returned to the Today show in January alongside co-host Allison Langdon, a year after he was unceremoniously axed in late 2018 due to declining ratings.

Michael, a former U.S. correspondent for the ABC, has been at the helm of News Breakfast for more than a decade.

It comes after he told TV Tonight on Friday that News Breakfast’s success was down to its focus on hard news.

News Breakfast has seen an upswing in viewers this year in part due to two major news events: the bushfires and COVID-19.

‘We’ve done pretty well in terms of the ratings against Today. We’ve had the number two spot [in the ratings] for the last 10 weeks or so,’ Michael said.

‘We’ve bobbed up, bobbed down over the years, but we really started taking off towards the end of last year. And, again, speaking to the popularity of the News brand, people came flocking to us around the bushfires like last year.

‘Since the pandemic unfolded and the shutdown started, people have been switching onto us in droves… for the last three months or so.’

Michael also credited his new co-host, Lisa Millar, who replaced Virginia Trioli last year, with making a ‘huge contribution’ to News Breakfast’s success. 

News Breakfast has beaten Today in the ratings for 10 weeks, but this is partly due to the fact it airs on two channels, ABC and ABC News.

Despite slipping into third place, Today has had some success lately as all breakfast shows gain viewers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last Monday’s episode of Today attracted a metro audience of 234,000 – just 29,000 behind Sunrise, which had 263,000 viewers.

That broadcast marked a significant achievement for Nine’s flagship breakfast program as it was a 50 per cent improvement on its record low in March when just 155,000 metro viewers tuned in.

Sunrise, hosted by Sam Armytage and David Koch, has been the market leader in breakfast television for years.