Mark Ferguson ditches Nine for Seven

AAP

NEWSREADER Mark Ferguson has quit the Nine Network to return to Seven, less than a week after hosting his first edition of current affairs show THISafternoon.

Ferguson was axed from the main Sydney news reading role at Nine in January and replaced by Peter Overton.

A statement from Nine has confirmed that Ferguson will leave when his contract expires later this year, and wishes him well in his new role.

"Nine is very disappointed Mark has turned down the generous offer that was made to renew his contract," the statement said.

"Mark has been with Nine News for over 17 years, and will be greatly missed by his colleagues."

Ferguson has worked for Nine since 1992, and before that worked at Seven in Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney.

He paid tribute to his colleagues in the Nine newsroom.

"I've had a wonderful journey at Channel Nine ... but it's time for a change," Ferguson said in the Nine statement.

Nine chief executive David Gyngell said he was surprised that Seven had poached one of his friends.

"We're actually flattered that another network had to look to Nine to find a new newsreader," Mr Gyngell said.

THISafternoon, which only began airing on Monday, has been a ratings flop for Nine, with more people tuning into M*A*S*H repeats and The Bold And The Beautiful than to the first episode.