Why TV executives think The Bachelorette still has a chance despite poor ratings

This year’s ratings for The Bachelorette, starring bisexual Brooke Blurton, are the lowest ever, but Channel 10 executives are not despairing yet.

Traditional ratings have nosedived for Ten’s bisexual Bachelorette experiment, but TV executives are pointing to a high uptake of delayed view on demand as evidence their gamble on the format has not failed.

Overnight ratings for the program, which is a world first with a mixed gender cast of males and ­females vying for the affection of ­indigenous youth worker Brooke Blurton, have taken up the undesirable mantle of worst on record for the franchise.

The tanking figures have come as a surprise to programming experts who expected star bachelorette Blurton, who has nearly four times the following of previous Bachelor Jimmy Nicholson on Instagram, to entice viewers to the free-to-air show.

However, while traditional ratings are down, streaming is up, leaving TV executives scratching their heads as they try to analyse the demographics behind the shift.

Bachelorette Brooke Blurton pictured at Flemington Racecourse for Oaks Day. Picture: Mark Stewart

They will be forced to consider whether the traditional family audience that bolsters 10’s reality TV ­stable has rejected the non-traditional take on the format.

Demographic analysis, which would show exactly which audience has switched off in the traditional timeslot, was not available to the Telegraph, however it is understood industry executives believe some parents are reluctant to sit down as a family to watch the show as they would programs like The Masked Singer.

The first episode that launched last month initially attracted a five city metro audience of 397,000 people but jumped 91 per cent or 362,000 viewers with the addition of BVOD (broadcaster video on demand) numbers that come several days later. The second episode also rose dramatically with the catch-up figures. It came in at 345,000 initially and jumped 96 per cent, or 332,000 viewers.

Ratings have declined over recent years as each season launched. The launch episode of last year’s season of The Bachelorette, fronted by sisters Elly and Becky Miles, came in at 487,000 five city metro viewers and was then an all-time low.

“The Bachelorette is creating a lot of noise and people are talking about it and really engaging with it on different platforms,” Bachelorette executive producer Hilary Innes said.

“Our ‘Social’ and ‘Digital’ platforms are going gangbusters and I’ve never seen so many people take the time to write a note of gratitude and reflect on just how personally important it is to them, that this series was made.”

Blurton will on Thursday appear at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse for Kennedy Oaks Day. When asked about reaction to the series, she bristled and said the “negative naysers do not take the conversation forward”.

Pop culture and reality TV expert Dr Jodi McAlister said: “I think if they didn’t innovate with the format, then it was truly going to go ­nowhere.”

Originally published as Why TV executives think The Bachelorette still has a chance despite poor ratings