Chefs, lovers, dancers: TV ratings recipe put to the test

Seven, Nine and Ten are betting wannabe chefs, reality stars looking for love and dancing B-grade celebrities will again be a hit with viewers.

Pia Miranda and Luke Toki on last season’s Survivor Australia Picture: Nigel Wright

Australia’s free-to-air television networks, Seven, Nine and Ten, are betting wannabe chefs, reality stars looking for love and dancing B-grade celebrities will be a big hit with viewers in the critical first quarter of the new ratings year.

With Seven’s 12-year ratings dominance over, TV and advertising executives will be closely watching which network can take the early ratings lead ahead of the much-anticipated rollout of VOZ, which will measure viewing on TV sets, plus computers, tablets and smartphones.

If TV bosses can attract big audience numbers in the next few months it will give them a good start to sell ad slots in prime-time evening viewing and help build a strong footing for the remainder of the year.

TV ad spending has been very sluggish for more than a year, as brands keep a tight lid on their budgets or turn to digital giants like Google, YouTube and Instagram to attract customers.

The Kerry Stokes-controlled Seven was first off the block on Sunday night with its new-look cooking competition program, MKR: The Rivals, with celebrity chefs Manu Feildel, Peter Evans and Colin Fassnidge. Close behind was Nine with the launch of the seventh season of popular reality dating show Married at First Sight on Monday night followed by Ten’s Dancing With The Stars on Sunday, just as the 2020 TV ratings season kicks off.

However, Ten was the first to debut an entertainment program, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, in the first week of January as part of its strategy to attract viewers who weren’t keen on watching streams of cricket and tennis matches on Seven and Nine respectively.

Claire Butterworth, chief investment officer at MediaCom, says the “first few days” of MKR: The Rivals, is very important for Seven. If audiences don’t like the new format, they may switch off and not return for a while.

The 10th series of MKR last year struggled against controversy-filled MAFS.

Nine is widely expected to take the early lead in the 40-week ratings year with the debut of the seventh season of MAFS. The show was heavily promoted during its summer tennis coverage, including the much-loved Australian Open over the past two weeks.

Nine program director Hamish Turner expects “stiff competition”, noting about eight million people tuned in on the first night of ratings last year.

“Free-to-air is still very strong, and there’s some big brands in Survivor, MKR and MAFS,” Mr Turner told The Australian.

Nine is focused on the coveted 25-54-year-old demographic, which Seven is now also targeting after traditionally skewing towards an older audience. Ten’s program offering is aimed at the under-50s crowd.

“We’ve won it the last few years and we expect to be very strong in that demo again,” he said.

After MAFS, which has been extremely popular with women, Nine will broadcast LEGO Masters, The Voice, Australian Ninja Warrior and The Block.

Seven’s program line-up includes new and rebooted reality shows, plus the Olympic Games in Tokyo mid-year.

In a bid to lure the entire family in front of the TV, Seven has taken a gamble with a new dog grooming reality competition show, called Pooch Perfect, featuring actress Rebel Wilson.

Angus Ross, Seven’s network director of programming, said the program is “the perfect antidote to the harder-edged reality shows on our competitors”.

Its line-up includes House Rules: High Stakes, Farmer Wants a Wife and a reboot of an old reality TV show, Big Brother.