Morning TV wars: Who won the ratings battle, TVNZ's Breakfast or Discovery's AM?

The new-look AM show launched yesterday with Ryan Bridge, Melissa Chan-Green, William Waiirua and Bernadine Oliver-Kerby. Photo / Supplied

The AM breakfast show launched yesterday with Ryan Bridge, Melissa Chan-Green, and a brand-new set.

The show's new format offering news, weather and lighter content came with a new logo and a new look. But they're not the only breakfast show trying something new this year.

TVNZ has also revealed its new set for Breakfast when it returned to air on Monday January 31, featuring augmented reality, colourful artwork created by Auckland artist Flox, and new furniture.

It seems that a lot of time, money and talent has been poured into making breakfast TV look good on Kiwis' screens as they compete for viewers. So the big question is, has it paid off?

The proof is in the pudding - that is, the shows' ratings.

After AM's launch yesterday to mixed reviews, the numbers are in - and they show that TVNZ 1's Breakfast remained in the top spot for viewership all morning.

According to figures from Nielsen, Breakfast sat 86 per cent higher for audiences aged 5 and over, while in the key 25-54 age group, they were 115 per cent higher than AM.

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Breakfast's average audience yesterday was 112,200 in the 5 and over age group and 39,000 for those aged 25-54.

Meanwhile, AM netted an average audience of 60,400 for those 5 and over and 18,200 in the 25-54 age range.

A Discovery spokesperson said two days in, the AM team has received "a lot of encouraging feedback".

"And we know we have the right ingredients to find and build our audience over time."