Seven hopes Farmer Wants A Wife will deliver ratings gold

Seven Network is betting the world’s most successful dating television show Farmer Wants A Wife will deliver ratings gold.

Natalie Gruzlewski returns as the host of Farmer Wants A Wife when it returns to Seven Network later this month.

Seven Network is hoping the world’s most successful dating television show Farmer Wants A Wife will deliver ratings gold as the broadcaster ramps up local content investment.

Looking to capitalise on the popularity of its new-look reality show Big Brother, Seven’s programming boss Angus Ross says viewers will like Farmer Wants A Wife because it is more authentic than other dating shows such as Network Ten’s The Bachelor and Nine Network’s Married At First Sight.

“We actually feel it’s a show with its heart in the right place. It’s about more authentically looking for love than a lot of other relationship series that are around,” Mr Ross told The Australian.

“It’s got the best track record in terms of, you know, marriages and children of any relationship show around the world.

“So I think that’s perhaps what sets this show apart from a lot of other dating series that have been in the marketplace.”

Big Brother and Farmer Wants A Wife are part of boss James Warburton’s content-led strategy, focused on established and proven formats for its key evening viewing program schedule.

Seven is targeting viewers aged between 25 and 54, which are key for its advertisers.

“Our ambition was to win the important demographics for advertisers, bring a younger viewer to the network and grow year on year audience,” said Mr Warburton, who runs the network’s debt-laden parent company Seven West Media.

“Audiences are looking for fresh content. Big Brother has been the first big new tent pole for us and it has paid off. We have three new shows this year including Farmer, along with Plate of Origin and Celebrity SAS, which are looking like very good fresh offerings,” Mr Warburton told The Australian.

“We will continue to invest in content. We have a further four new tent poles being commissioned for calendar 2021, which we will feature at our upfronts later this year.”

Farmer Wants A Wife host Natalie Gruzlewski believes viewers will enjoy getting to know the five hardworking Aussie farmers and watching them court city girls.

“It’s not all smooth sailing of course, but it’s so exciting to see the genuine connections form. I think they’ll also appreciate how this series captures the breathtaking landscapes of rural Australia.”

The tenth season of the show, which is aimed at women aged between 25 and 54, is set to premiere later this month, filling in some of the programming gap left by the postponement of Tokyo Olympic Games until next year because of the coronavirus crisis.

It is understood that the show will run on Sunday and Monday nights for five weeks, going head-to-head with season four of Nine’s obstacle course entertainment show Ninja Warrior and Ten’s Bachelor in Paradise and Family Feud. Farmer Wants A Wife’s premiere date will be announced on Thursday.

“I would hope with the slots that we’ve got it in and with the shows that are going to flow into it that it could deliver a bigger overall audience than Big Brother,” Mr Ross said.

“Big Brother has been spectacular for us. As soon as it went into the schedule our demographic profile switched completely.”

Seven has secured a raft of sponsors for Farmer Wants A Wife including Toyota, IGA, BUPA, Lilydale, Youfoodz, Horticulture Australia and Mayvers, which will feature throughout the series.

The show was filmed over the summer and banked before COVID-19 hit TV and movie production. It was scheduled to air around May but delayed to ensure Seven had enough new content throughout the year.

“As with all networks, we’ve all had to look at ways of, if you like, stretching our original content throughout the year. We had a number of shows that in the end couldn’t be made due to COVID like Holy Moly and Australia’s Got Talent,” Mr Ross said.

Farmer Wants A Wife was a staple of Nine’s program slate from 2007 to 2012 with Gruzlewski as host. After a few years off air, Nine brought back the show in 2016 with singer-songwriter Sam McClymont as host but it failed to attract a big audience.

Viewers have flocked to Nine’s reality dating show Married At First Sight, which launched in 2015, thanks to the high drama and wife swapping.