The Bolt Report
| Company type | Television program |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television broadcasting |
| Founded | May 8, 2011 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne , Australia |
Area served | Australia |
Key people | Andrew Bolt (host) |
| Products | Political commentary program |
The Bolt Report is an Australian political commentary program hosted by conservative commentator Andrew Bolt. It delivers conservative viewpoints through opinion segments, panel debates, and interviews. The show covers subjects including climate-change skepticism, immigration policies, Indigenous Australian issues, federal budget deficits, government debt, corruption allegations, and freedom of expression.
Launching on 8 May 2011 via Network Ten, it was initially broadcast as a 30-minute weekly political discussion on Sunday mornings at 10am AEST/AEDT. The series continued until 2015, expanding to a one-hour duration in 2014. In 2016, the program transitioned to Sky News Australia, relaunching as a nightly prime-time show starting from 25 April 2016.
Format
The format includes panel discussions, interviews, and editorial commentary.
Former segments featured:
- "Spin of the Week" – showcasing significant media spin nominated by blog readers
- "Free Speech Award" – recognizing public figures for making provocative statements; the first honoree was former prime minister Paul Keating
- "Poor Taste Award" – given for offensive remarks; the inaugural recipient was Julia Gillard for comments about Tony Abbott
Sky News relaunch
Following its final episode on 29 November 2015, the program went on hiatus reportedly due to News Corp's reluctance to finance $2 million in production expenses. In February 2016, Bolt joined Sky News Live as a contributor, marking the end of his tenure with Network Ten.
In March 2016, it was confirmed that The Bolt Report would resume on Sky News Live in May 2016, airing weeknights at 7pm. Unlike the version produced by News Corp Australia for Network Ten, the Sky News edition is produced internally from Melbourne. The premiere was brought forward to 25 April 2016.
Ratings
At launch, the show attracted 163,000 viewers, slightly behind Insiders which had 172,000 viewers. Bolt aimed to overtake Insiders, achieving this by episode two with a viewership of 174,000 compared to Insiders at 166,000.
In 2011, audience numbers declined to approximately 130,000 viewers, regularly trailing Insiders, which maintained over 200,000 viewers. However, in 2012, The Bolt Report frequently outperformed Insiders. By July 2013, the audience was around 168,000 but had decreased to roughly 104,000 by November.
Viewership increased by 23% in 2015. The initial eleven episodes on Sky News in 2016 averaged 23,254 national viewers, behind rivals Jones + Co and Paul Murray Live. Bolt described these figures as "outdated" due to ongoing growth. Episodes aired on 12 and 16 May averaged 42,000 viewers—leading Sky News ratings on those dates—with a peak of 50,000 on 20 May. On 9 November 2016, during coverage of the post-2016 American presidential election, it became the most-watched subscription TV program with an audience of 139,000.
In the first half of 2018, The Bolt Report recorded its highest ratings since moving to Sky News with a viewership increase of 36% compared to the same period in 2017. In 2019, it set new records with a year-on-year rise of +26% and a weekly reach of 256,000. By mid-2020, the program achieved an additional +38% year-on-year growth with a total reach of 710,000 viewers and averaged 327,000 unique weekly viewers—an overall increase of +27%—demonstrating substantial audience expansion across multiple platforms.
See also
External links
- Articles with short description
- Network 10 original programming
- Sky News Australia
- 10 News
- Australian Sunday morning talk shows
- 2011 Australian television series debuts
- Television series filmed in Melbourne
- Australian English-language television programs
- Australian TV series revived post-cancellation
- 2020s Australian television series