Channel 10 records worryingly low ratings result over the past week

Dire ratings have led to drastic measures on The Bachelor, with executives making a huge decision to change-up this season of the show.

Channel 10 appears to be fast-forwarding through this season of The Bachelor to combat plummeting ratings, with the network changing to double episodes this week and next in a race to the finale.

It comes amid a reported slump in ratings across the board at Ten last week.

According to data from ratings system OzTAM obtained by the Daily Mail, the channel had a commercial audience share (excluding ABC and SBS) of only 8.9 per cent across the five capital cities during prime time for the week commencing August 1.

Although when its three successful multichannels (10 Bold, 10 Peach and 10 Shake) were factored in, it would have been 16 per cent.

Ten’s usually top-performing programs have struggled to hook large audiences over other networks’ offerings — particularly Channel 7, which blitzed prime time ratings last week following The Olympics with The Voice and Wednesday’s much-anticipated Farmer Wants A Wife reunion.

A Channel 10 spokesperson said in a statement that while The Bachelor Australia had a “soft start” its audience was growing, up 11 per cent week-on-week on Thursday night.

“And it is 10 Play’s number one regular program of 2021. (Thursday night’s) episode was also #1 in its timeslot in under 50s and had the biggest 7 Day Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) audience of the season.”

BVOD refers to viewers watching on the device of their choosing via platforms such as 10 Play.

The spokesperson did not answer questions about the double episodes of The Bachelor set to continue next week.

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Bachelor frontrunner Lily Price with Jimmy Nicholson. Picture: Network Ten.

The Bachelor’s shock premiere result

Once a tent pole for the network, The Bachelor launched to its smallest audience in history last month, despite pulling in healthy audience numbers in previous years.

On premiere night, it attracted just 482,000 metro viewers, well behind the Farmer Wants A Wife finale on Seven, which proved a ratings smash with 835,000 metro viewers.

In a further shock, episode repeats of series’ over on Channel 9 and ABC beat the maiden Bach episode, with Nine’s Travel Guides earning 597,000 metro viewers and Hard Quiz with 502,000, according to TV Tonight.

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All eyes were on the Farmer Wants a Wife reunion.

Last year, Channel 10’s search for love opened to 681,000 metro viewers, and in 2019 it was 828,000. The year prior starring rugby legend Nick Cummins was a massive success, with 940,000 metro viewers. It was up from 2017 and 2016, when 882,000 and 846,000 viewers respectively tuned in.

Season one (669,000) and season two (692,000) also had a higher metro viewer count than this year.

The episodes following have likely provided little solace for the network.

On Wednesday, the highly-anticipated Farmer Wants A Wife reunion special — which was rocked by this year’s pregnancy drama — trumped the 90 minute Bach offering, with 828,000 metro viewers compared with 414,000.

Thursday’s double episode also had an average audience of 412,000 as Sierah and Rebekah left the mansion.

It comes despite fans seeming initially pleased the network opted for a new face to the franchise, with pilot Jimmy Nicholson at the helm rather than an existing reality star such as 2020’s Locky Gilbert.

The Voice beats Survivor and The Block

Last Sunday, more than 1.3 million Aussies in metro cities tuned in to the premiere episode of Channel 7’s revamped The Voice, airing just after the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

The singing competition blitzed The Block Fans vs Faves premiere on Channel, which opened to 747,000 viewers, a surprisingly soft number for the popular renovation show, which premiered to 947,000 viewers last year. Meanwhile, Survivor on Channel 10 pulled in 609,000 metro viewers.

The following night, the second episode of The Voice pulled in 1.162 million viewers metro, dominating The Block with 627,000 and Survivor with 618,000.

Survivor was beaten again on Tuesday, raking in 664,000 compared with another big night for The Voice at 1.066 million.

The Channel 10 spokesperson said: “Australian Survivor is enjoying its second biggest total audience ever and it is #2 in its timeslot in total people. It has also achieved the series biggest live stream audience ever.”

Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia. Picture: Channel 10.

MasterChef’s patchy season

The latest MasterChef season premiere on Ten also suffered a big ratings drop, too, compared with last year’s wildly popular All-Star season.

Industry website TV Tonight reported that 670,000 Australians tuned into MasterChef on its first night across the five metro capitals. Nearly double that number – 1.228 million viewers – tuned into last year’s season premiere, amid much fanfare about the all-new judging panel and the all-star cast of returning contestants.

Viewership hovered around the one million mark for much of last year’s season, before 1.523 million people watched Emilia Jackson take out the win last July.

However, ratings picked up at the back end of the 2021 season.

The second night of the MasterChef Grand Finale had 824,000 viewers, with 931,000 tuning in just as Justin Narayan was named the 2021. It finished as the top non-news program of the evening.

MasterChef picked up in the final nights of the season. Picture: Channel 10.

Not all is lost

There is also hope, however, in the return of The Masked Singer, with former Ten producer Rob McKnight, who now runs industry website TV Blackbox telling the Daily Mail it could be the saving grace for the channel.

“One upcoming highlight will be The Masked Singer. I’m a fan of this show but it did drop off last year. Will audiences still be interested? Wait and see,” McKnight said.

Osher Gunsberg will return as host of the Masked Singer this year.

In its statement, the network said it was “committed to producing premium local content including MasterChef Australia and The Bachelor franchises”.

“Our robust programming slate continues with the return of The Masked Singer Australia, and our brand new DIY series, Making It, in the coming months.

“The feel good family series, The Dog House Australia, is also on its way, along with The Bachelorette Australia with fan favourite Brooke Blurton, and quality local drama series Lie With Me.

“Plus, the unmissable action of the highly anticipated A League and W League matches. Logie Award-winning series Have You Been Paying Attention? remains the biggest 8.30pm show on television, and The Project, now in its 12th year, continues to deliver news with a difference.”