Poor ratings bad news for The Project co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore

Plummeting ratings at The Project have spawned rumours that star hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore are facing pay cuts to their seven-figure contracts.

With ratings plummeting to an all-time low, television circles are buzzing with talk The Project’s most high-profile hosts will be asked to take pay cuts.

Ratings for the Channel 10 evening news panel show are down 20 per cent year on year, luring just 367,000 viewers (five city metro) this week, having shed almost 30 per cent of its 2011 audience of 538,000.

Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson and Pete Helliar in a promotional shot for The Project. Picture: Ten

Nationally, the show is recording similar percentage drops, from 725,000 in 2011 to 490,000 now. The program made its debut to 1.2 million viewers in 2009.

Sunday Confidential has heard hosts Carrie Bickmore and Lisa Wilkinson face pay cuts as executives try to give the show a lifeline.

Wilkinson, who joined the program in 2017 after leaving Network Nine, is believed to be on $1.7 million, while Bickmore, who has been on the show since its inception, is said to be earning $1.5 million.

It is believed co-host Waleed Aly’s $900,000 salary is safe.

Ten has denied the pay talk but there is no denying the show’s ratings challenge.

Wilkinson is rumoured to be earning $1.7 million a year.

Bickmore is rumoured to be earning $1.5 million a year.

“This claim is nonsense,” a Network 10 spokesman said.

“The Project has just celebrated its 12th birthday and is here to stay.”

However, one TV insider told Sunday Confidential: “The Project would now have the unwanted title of commercial TV’s worst-performing regular nightly premium program.

“East coast is where the audience has deserted in droves over this period.

“In Sydney it’s bottomed out to just 96,000 per night from a high of 130,000 in 2011.

“In Melbourne (its celebrated home) it’s also bad. Down to 133,000 from a high of 180,000 in 2011.

“But Brisbane has seen the worst of the worst decline, shedding almost half its audience, from 120,000 in 2011 to just 68,000 in 2021.” 

Another source heard whispers the show was heading for the chopping board.

“The show is definitely in trouble and I have no idea how Ten could afford to pay such ludicrous salaries,” they said.

Network 10’s parent company, Viacom CBS, bought Ten in August 2017 after the Australian network was placed into receivership.

Despite the likes of Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Tim Bailey and Natarsha Belling losing their jobs in 2020 following a “restructuring” of its news division, The Project is yet to be affected.

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