Television’s highest earners in crosshairs as axe is set to swing
The salaries of some Australia’s highest-paid TV stars are under scrutiny following revelations some of them rake in more money per minute they are on air than most people make in a month.
Some of the nation’s biggest television stars are raking in massive six-figure salaries despite rarely featuring on the small screen – effectively earning more for every minute they are on air than most people make in a month.
The startling revelation comes as television executives frantically trying to rein in costs ahead of another round of brutal cutbacks across the industry in the new financial year.
The Australian understands the country’s leading commercial networks, Seven and Nine, are poised to swing the axe and make dozens of “efficiencies” across their national newsroom networks in the coming months as advertising revenue for the medium continues to languish.
Nine’s director of television Michael Healy has been desperately lobbying to retain his stable of stars and high-profile personalities in the face of the cuts.
He has already lost one household name this year, when 60 Minutes presenter Liz Hayes quit the channel in February, just months after her eponymous true crime series was given the chop – along with her $750,000 salary – in the network’s most recent round of drastic cutbacks.
Mr Healy’s worst fears were realised just two months later when the 44-year Nine Network veteran popped up on rival Seven current affairs show Spotlight with an exclusive sit-down with the widow of TV chef Jock Zonfrillo.
The Nine boss is now battling to save another of his brightest – and best paid – stars who finds herself without a home at the network: Tracy Grimshaw.
The Australian understands Grimshaw has been on a $500,000 year-by-year contract at Nine since stepping down as the host of A Current Affair in November 2022 – and copping a 50 per cent pay cut on her then $1m salary – after 16 years fronting the prime-time show.
Although Grimshaw remains the strongest interviewer at the network, she has made just one appearance in the past six months, conducting an emotional sit-down with former adman John Singleton about the tragic death of his daughter Dawn Singleton at the hands of Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi.
The singular outing means she has effectively pocketed more than $16,000 for each of the 16 minutes she has featured on the box this year.
One senior Nine source said the network would almost definitely be reviewing Grimshaw’s deal in the coming months.
“It isn’t simply a matter of saying ‘the bean counters have won’ – the cost of every minute of television is being scrutinised because the company needs to justify every cent that is spent to shareholders,” the executive said.
“The good old days of keeping people on the books with nothing to do so they don’t end up on a rival network are over.”
Despite Grimshaw’s high cost and low output, Nine insisted she was not going anywhere and the network had “plenty of projects in the pipeline for Tracy” for the second half of 2025.
Mr Healy is also working to justify the exorbitant cost of keeping Today host Karl Stefanovic on the books as the breakfast show star tries to extend his hefty $2.8m-a-year deal at the network.
However, when the amount of time Stefanovic actually spends on air each year is taken into account, he actually comes in at a far thriftier pro-rata rate of just $58 per broadcast minute.
That’s still significantly more than his co-host Sarah Abo, with her $800,000-a-year deal equating to just $16.50 per minute.
It’s not just the commercial networks contending with staggering cost-per-broadcast-minute dramas. Over at the ABC, Leigh Sales is also understood to still pull in about $400,000 a year despite quitting her day job as host of 7.30 in June 2022.
Like Grimshaw, she only appears to have had one interview go live so far this year: a 14-minute sit-down with the public broadcaster’s outgoing election analyst Antony Green in February about his decision to retire from the role.
The popular presenter has also clocked up an additional eight or so minutes presenting the 30-second intros on Australian Story each Monday, putting her at about $8000 per broadcast minute so far this year.
However, ABC viewers can expect to see more of Sales in the coming months, with the award-winning host wrapping up the principal filming for the second season of her inspiration real-life series The Assembly last week.
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