1990s Breakfast began airing on 11 August 1997 on
TV One and was preceded by
Telstra Business, an early morning programme devoted to business and finance. The original presenters were
Susan Wood and
Mike Hosking, with
Liz Gunn as newsreader and Michael Wilson as presenter of
Telstra Business. Before
Breakfast came along, breakfast television was introduced to
Channel 2 in November 1989 with an early morning news service called
Breakfast News with Tom Bradley as anchor and Penelope Barr as weather presenter.
Breakfast News – which consisted of overnight stories, a business news summary and weather forecasts – aired on Channel 2 initially as a half hour bulletin at 7am with a five-minute news and weather update at 8am. In 1990, the format of
Breakfast News was changed to five-minute bulletins at 7 am, 7.30 am, 8 am and 8.30 am (during Channel 2's early morning programming for children) with former
Top Half presenter
John Hawkesby taking over as anchor. By August, John Hawkesby replaced
Lindsay Perigo as co-anchor of the late night edition of
One Network News and
Breakfast News was axed by TVNZ.
2000s When
Breakfast began, its dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until 2007, when
TV3 launched
Sunrise.
Sunrise struggled against
Breakfast in the ratings until
Sunrise went off air because of financial issues in April 2010, leaving
Breakfast as the only morning news and talk show in New Zealand, until TV3 launched their second attempt at a morning news programme,
Firstline, in 2011.
2010s Following Hosking's tenure,
Breakfast was dominated by host
Paul Henry's outspoken nature for several years, until he resigned following a series of on-air racist comments in October 2010. Years later, Henry's
self-titled breakfast show on TV3 caused a significant increase in
Breakfast's competition from 2015. This resulted in
Breakfast's relaunch in September 2016, with a new presenting line-up led by
Hilary Barry and
Jack Tame. Barry was moved to
Seven Sharp from 2018, and was replaced on
Breakfast by
Hayley Holt. Holt resigned from the
Green Party, who she had represented at the
2017 New Zealand general election, in order to take up the position. Tame remained on
Breakfast until 2019, when he became the presenter of
Q+A and was replaced by veteran New Zealand broadcaster
John Campbell, who had recently joined TVNZ.
2020s Between 23 March and 8 May 2020, the show was hosted by two rotating teams of three presenters due to the public health regulations around the
COVID-19 pandemic. Campbell hosted with
Pippa Wetzell and
Melissa Stokes on Mondays and Tuesdays, with
Jenny-May Clarkson (the show's regular newsreader), Hadyn Jones and
Anna Burns-Francis taking over for the remaining episodes. Holt remained in self-isolation due to her pregnancy, while
Matty McLean temporarily moved to present the weather for
1News at 6pm. From 11 May the regular daily presenters returned, with Clarkson continuing as a main co-presenter until 2 June in Holt's absence. Holt left the show permanently in August, with Clarkson taking over her role. Indira Stewart subsequently joined the team as newsreader. During Auckland's lockdown period between 18 August and 12 November 2021, the two presenting teams were Campbell, Stewart and Stokes, and Clarkson, McLean and Jenny Suo. On 31 January 2022, a new look for
Breakfast was unveiled. This included a new
augmented reality studio set and new graphics. McLean and Stewart's presenting roles were also increased. Campbell left the show in April to become TVNZ's special correspondent, and was briefly replaced by
Kamahl Santamaria, who had previously presented for
Al Jazeera English for 16 years. In May 2022,
Breakfast became the focus of media attention when Santamaria resigned from TVNZ after a month at the station. Santamaria's departure was initially described to his colleagues and the media as a "family emergency" or "personal matter", though the day after his resignation was announced it emerged that a female colleague had made a complaint against him over inappropriate behaviour. After further allegations of harassment against Santamaria during his time at Al Jazeera were reported, a review of TVNZ's hiring process was undertaken. Upon the review's completion in July 2022, TVNZ's head of news and current affairs, Paul Yurisich, who had hired Santamaria without thorough consultation, also resigned from his position.
Anna Burns-Francis and
Chris Chang joined the presenting team in 2023 and McLean left at the end of that year.
Daniel Faitaua, a former
Breakfast newsreader, returned as a presenter in 2024. From 2025, the network reduced the presenting lineup to two positions, and Burns-Francis opted to leave TVNZ in light of the decision. Clarkson and Chang ultimately continued as the presenters for 2025. Clarkson left the show in November 2025, and was replaced by
Tova O'Brien. Ali Pugh returned to
Breakfast to co-host temporarily from the start of 2026, prior to O'Brien's debut on 30 March. ==Presenters==