Jobs to go at Seven Network as The Daily Edition axed

The Seven Network has taken the axe to its early afternoon news and entertainment offering The Daily Edition.

The show, fronted by well-regarded hosts Sally Obermeder and Ryan Phelan, will finish up its seven-year run with a final outing next Friday. Picture: Christian Gilles

The Seven Network has taken the axe to its early afternoon news and entertainment offering The Daily Edition, with more jobs expected to go in the midst of ongoing cutbacks at the network.

The show, fronted by well-regarded hosts Sally Obermeder and Ryan Phelan, will finish up its seven-year run with a final outing next Friday.

The Daily Edition, which has aired on Seven’s main channel between 2pm and 3pm weekdays since 2013, has failed to retain a strong enough national audience leading into the networks’ fierce afternoon news wars to justify its ongoing costs.

The program’s staff were only told of the decision after it wrapped on Friday afternoon.

While it had been argued it helped give Seven News at 4 an edge over rivals Nine Afternoon News, which also begins at 4pm, The Daily Edition was regularly beaten in its own time slot by cheaper foreign content on the networks’ secondary channels.

“Domestic programming is really expensive to produce compared to buy-ins and reruns, so when you’re getting beaten by programming like Neighbours and Hawaii Five-0, you’ve got a real problem,” one senior network executive told The Australian.

On Thursday, The Daily Edition held an audience of just 172,000 nationally - while Hawaii Five-0, on Ten Bold, attracted 206,000. Meanwhile, 361,000 tuned in for Seven News at 4 up against Nine Afternoon News with 334,000.

Announcing the decision to staff on Friday, Seven News supremo Craig McPherson paid tribute to everyone who had contributed to The Daily Edition since its inception.

“The Daily Edition found its way onto the TV landscape seven years ago and has performed exceptionally over that time,” he said.

“Sadly though, the economics of today and associated cost pressures across the entire industry has led to this decision.

“I want to thank co-hosts Sally Obermeder and Ryan Phelan and the talented production team for all their efforts.”

It remains unclear how many staff members will be affected by the decision, with the network already making large cutbacks across its news and current affairs division in recents weeks.

Obermeder took to Instagram on Friday evening to thank the show’s audience for tuning in. 

“Like so many other businesses, COVID has impacted our show ... I’ve spent my television career, the last 16 years, as part of the Channel 7 family and in doing so, you’ve become part of mine,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to taking a breath and spending more time with (my husband) Marcus and the girls. I’m working on a number of new projects and I look forward to sharing the exciting news with you soon.”