‘Stuffed up’: Channel 10’s News+ sinks to disastrous new ratings low just days after launch

Channel 10’s bold choice to boot The Project and replace it with 10 News+ has quickly turned into a nightmare, with Friday’s episode hitting a new low.

Viewers are switching off 10 News+ just days after it launched following the axing of The Project. Pic: Channel 10.

Channel 10’s bold choice to boot The Project and replace it with 10 News+ has been a turn off for viewers.

The network’s News+ offering hosted by Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace launched on Monday to a national average audience of 291,000.

On Tuesday, that figure dropped to 244,000. Come Wednesday, the viewing audience was down to 205,000. Thursday’s figures continued to slide with just 159,000 viewers tuning in.

That grim situation got worse with Friday’s show attracting a mere 152,000 viewers.

It is difficult to find a positive for 10 after viewers have so quickly walked away from the show.

Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock are the hosts of 10 News+. Picture: Channel 10

While Friday is usually a low rating night, the numbers for 10 News+ are startlingly bad - the audience has spoken. Just where 10 goes now remains to be seen. It is going to be a very slow build for a show that at this stage does not seem to know what it is and what mix of stories it needs.

Former Channel 10 newsreader Mal Walden took to X on Friday to declare 10News+ “stuffed.”

“I find it so sad that Network Ten has stuffed up another news experiment,” Walden wrote.

“In 2011 a news revolution was launched (on 10) by George Negus. It peaked at 600,000 viewers but within three weeks had sunk to below the top 100 weekly programs.

“The rest is history…is history repeating?”