Joe Hildebrand: Sorry Ten, if it ain’t woke, don’t fix it

When it comes to scandals, there is a big difference between what advertisers and audiences want from a TV show, says Joe Hildebrand.

I was idling on the couch on Monday night and without any Four Corners to raise serious questions about the moon landing, I lit upon the Channel 10 stalwart Have You Been Paying Attention.

HYBPA has got to be one of the best and most underrated shows on television. It is unpredictable, laugh-out-loud funny and consistently rates its proverbial off but receives a fraction of the hype of MasterChef or The Bachelor.

On Monday it easily won its slot with about 730,000 and was the highest rating entertainment program for the night.

It wasn’t always thus and Ten executives deserve full credit for sticking with the show despite some wobbly numbers to start with. Once it found the right slot it became the network’s strongest performer.

Joe Hildebrand says it’s a risky move for Ten to play things so safe.

But I did find it hard to reconcile with Ten’s pitch to advertisers the previous week that they needed to “go woke or go broke”.

This is of course a play on the prevailing wisdom of “go woke, go broke”, the axiom that companies that capitulate to noisy activists end up alienating their mainstream customer base.

Ten has decided to flip this assumption by offering a safe space to advertisers. The message is that if they place their ads with Ten they can be assured they will not be associated with any unwanted controversies.

As the junior commercial network it is totally right for Ten to be thinking outside the box when it comes to attracting precious advertising dollars but playing things so safe is also a risky move.

When 2DayFM bowed to nervous advertisers and let go of Kyle Sandilands it effectively wiped the whole radio station off the map.

This brings us back to HYBPA, a show that thrives on humour that is fast-paced, unscripted and often risqué and crude.

How can Ten guarantee what will come out of Mick Molloy’s mouth when Mick himself doesn’t know until he says it?

The fact is there is a big difference between what advertisers and audiences want from a show. Advertisers typically hate scandals but most audiences just can’t get enough of them.

And so I would offer a more calming mantra to all concerned: If it ain’t woke, don’t fix it.

Joe Hildebrand is on 2GB Nights with John Stanley on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8pm