The worst TV programming decision ever

TO say Seven shot itself in the foot with Australian Spartan is an understatement, writes Colin Vickery. It flopped, hurt MKR and delivered viewers to Nine’s Married at First Sight. What a cock up.

DON’T take your customers for granted.

That is one of the golden rules for any retail business but it is one that Channel 7 forgot in recent weeks.

Seven’s decision to bump My Kitchen Rules from Sunday nights and replace it with Australian Spartan has to go down as one of the worst programming decisions of recent times.

My Kitchen Rules has built a loyal audience across nine seasons making it one of the biggest hits of the recent era.

Seven’s cooking show, with Pete Evans and Manu Feildel, would regularly get 1.5 million viewers per episode in its heyday and even now, despite some audience drop-off over the past two seasons, could be counted on to average 1.1 million viewers on a Sunday night.

Well that was until Australian Spartan. Seven commissioned the sports entertainment show, featuring teams taking on a massive obstacle course, in the wake of the success of Nine’s Australian Ninja Warrior.

The early mail was that Seven would screen Australian Spartan straight after its telecast of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games which end mid-April.

But Seven had other plans. It rushed Australian Spartan to air for the end of the Winter Olympics. It debuted February 25, the same night Seven aired the Closing Ceremony from South Korea.

A carbon copy of Australian Ninja, except for the fact it was teams rather than individuals, was not enough to deliver Ninja-style ratings to Australian Spartan. (Pic: supplied)

Not only that — Seven bosses decided that Australian Spartan would replace My Kitchen Rules in the 7pm Sunday timeslot.

With pretty much no notice whatsoever, My Kitchen Rules fans had to make a change to their viewing schedule and get used to watching their favourite show Monday to Thursday instead of Sunday to Wednesday.

I am assuming that Seven bosses thought that the 1.1 million-plus My Kitchen Rules fans would simply cop it on the chin and watch Australian Spartan on Sundays instead.

But that thinking always seemed flawed because audiences for two shows were never likely to match.

And that is how it turned out. The first episode of Australian Spartan averaged a disappointing 816,000 viewers.

But worse was to come. The following Sunday’s second episode crashed to 524,000 viewers and Australian Spartan was quickly shelved.

It didn’t help that Australian Spartan was such a shameless carbon copy of Australian Ninja Warrior.

The commentary from hosts Edwina Bartholomew and Hamish McLachlan was a match for Rebecca Maddern and Ben Fordham on Nine. Wendell Sailor mirrored Freddie Flintoff as sideline reporter.

Australian Spartan didn’t just flop, it hurt Seven’s big ticket show, My Kitchen Rules.

Australian Spartan will be back in a late week slot when Seven’s AFL coverage commences later this month.

But the damage from Seven’s programming snafu continues to resonate. My Kitchen Rules returned to Sundays this week and scored 858,000 viewers — reportedly its all-time worst result.

Seven will be hoping like mad that it is just an aberration and that some of those missing near-300,000 viewers will return to the fold in coming weeks.

But I’m not so sure because the other wildcard in this mix is Married at First Sight which has been a formidable ratings opponent ever since Nine expanded it to 10 couples last year.

Yes that’s right. Seven decided to dump My Kitchen Rules from Sundays precisely at the time that Nine’s relationship show was gaining formidable ratings strength.

And Sunday nights, with the commitment ceremonies were increasingly seen as the “must-watch” episode of the week.

On February 19, Married at First Sight averaged 1.296 million viewers against My Kitchen Rules. The following Sunday it scored a record high 1.536 million viewers against Australian Spartan.

On the evidence of that alone, you would have to say that Seven’s decision to drop My Kitchen Rules essentially gifted its rival more than 200,000 viewers as MKR viewers opted not to accept Seven’s desire to push them on to Australian Spartan, and instead decided to give MAFS a go.

The following Sunday, when Australian Spartan crashed to 524,000 Married at First Sight averaged a massive 1.535 million viewers.

And it gets worse. Seven’s programming decision pushed viewers to rival Nine and its Married at First Sight.

Fair to say that a large number of My Kitchen Rules viewers liked what they saw when they switched to Married at First Sight.

They got caught up in the compelling fallout of the affair between Davina, Tracey and Dean as well as the infamous boys’ night when Dean started a conversation about partner swapping.

The most recent commitment ceremony saw Nasser and Gab as well as Justin and Carly decide to call it quits.

Married at First Sight has taken the sort of drama viewers are used to seeing on My Kitchen Rules and put it on steroids.

Compared to that, My Kitchen Rules contestants giving judge Colin Fassnidge a bit of lip feels like warmed-up leftovers.

The most recent Sunday episode of Married at First Sight averaged 1.342 million to crush My Kitchen Rules by nearly 500,000 viewers.

Right now it looks like a swathe of My Kitchen Rules fans have a new favourite show and maybe they are not coming back.

This is a mistake that will continue to hurt them while Married at First Sight is on air and has perhaps dented My Kitchen Rules for life.

What a monumental cock up by Seven.

Colin Vickery is a Herald Sun TV writer.

@Colvick