Today show gets worst ratings in 13 years as Channel 10 struggles to lift ratings
Not many Australians are waking up with Today, five weeks since the launch of their much-hyped new look. The news comes as Channel 10’s string of lacklustre rating shows tarnished the network’s reputation.
Confidential
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Not many Australians are waking up with Today. Five weeks since the launch of their much-hyped new look, on Monday, the Today show registered it’s lowest ever ratings in a survey period since 2006.
Only 168,000, five-city metro viewers flicked on the Today show with hosts Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner, while Seven’s Sunrise attracted 287,000 sets of eyes.
Nationally, Sunrise registered 469,000 regional and metro viewers, while Today just got 258,000. That means, Sunrise’s five-city metro figure beat Today’s national number.
“It’s very early days and rating figures will continue to fluctuate,” a Nine spokesman said.
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Meanwhile, Channel 10 cannot get a win, with a string of lacklustre rating shows tarnishing the network’s reputation.
The station’s attempt to revamp Dancing With The Stars was yet another disappointment with an audience of just 621,000 tuning in for the premiere episode. That was around half of juggernaut show, Married At First Sight, which is a few weeks in and is still pulling 1.2 million viewers
“The (Ten) management are trying everything, they cannot get it right,” media analyst Steve Allen told Confidential. “They have not been able to gain any momentum.
“To get a network really humming, they need a few great shows and Ten just don’t have any at the moment.
“They are recycling the same talent across many shows. There is nothing wrong with them, but none have had a hit show in a long time.”
Julia Morris, Chris Brown, Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller are on high rotation in the network’s shows.
US broadcaster CBS acquired the Australian station in November 2017 for a reported $40.6 million with executives quick to make changes, including poaching much-loved journalist Lisa Wilkinson from Nine for a reported $2 million a year, but her presence on The Project has had little impact on ratings.
Wilkinson’s interview with Kylie Minogue had just 198,000 viewers. Ten spruiked a dynamic new 2019 line-up at their programming launch in October. Dancing With The Stars was part of a line-up that executives hoped would pull Ten out of its lull.
Dancing’s underwhelming launch followed several other ratings disappointments for the station, including I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and Changing Rooms.
Changing Rooms launched last week to a dismal viewership of around 200,000 people and was immediately punted to a new timeslot.
“You have to give them 10 out of 10 for trying, but it’s not getting any results,” Allen said.
Media and technology analyst, Telsyte’s Foad Fadaghi, said the network’s business model to target a declining audience was a major issue.
“Channel 10’s programming has always been targeted at a younger audience, which is the biggest group changing over to streaming,” Fadaghi said.
Originally published as Today show gets worst ratings in 13 years as Channel 10 struggles to lift ratings
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