diff --git a/synapse/metrics/metric.py b/synapse/metrics/metric.py
index 8ba13075f7..17cd673891 100644
--- a/synapse/metrics/metric.py
+++ b/synapse/metrics/metric.py
@@ -127,9 +127,8 @@ class TimerMetric(CounterMetric):
     def render_item(self, k):
         keystr = self._render_key(k)
 
-        return ["%s%s:count %d" % (self.name, keystr, self.counts[k]),
-                "%s%s:msec %d" % (self.name, keystr, self.times[k])]
-
+        return ["%s:count%s %d" % (self.name, keystr, self.counts[k]),
+                "%s:msec%s %d" % (self.name, keystr, self.times[k])]
 
 
 class CacheMetric(object):
diff --git a/tests/metrics/test_metric.py b/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
index fefe1a5867..75b6cbc924 100644
--- a/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
+++ b/tests/metrics/test_metric.py
@@ -124,10 +124,10 @@ class TimerMetricTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         metric.inc_time(800, "INSERT")
 
         self.assertEquals(metric.render(), [
-            "queries{verb=INSERT}:count 1",
-            "queries{verb=INSERT}:msec 800",
-            "queries{verb=SELECT}:count 2",
-            "queries{verb=SELECT}:msec 500",
+            "queries:count{verb=INSERT} 1",
+            "queries:msec{verb=INSERT} 800",
+            "queries:count{verb=SELECT} 2",
+            "queries:msec{verb=SELECT} 500",
         ])