Ten to continue to back its struggling 6pm news offering

It was tipped as the replacement show for the axed Project - but the latest ratings indicate it’s off to a bad start.

Ten reckons it will continue to back its struggling 6pm news offering 10 News+ yet with each passing day, the program sinks further in the ratings and the network’s evening entertainment schedule becomes more perilously undermined.

A ratings document obtained by this column shows 10 News+ this week fell to 20th on a list of the nation’s highest rating news programs.

The list, extracted from the Top 100 programs on television, shows the array of low-budget virtually identical daytime news bulletins – plus one regional bulletin – are now thrashing Ten’s replacement for The Project.

On Wednesday, July 16, 37 of the top 100 shows on weekday TV across five broadcast platforms were news programs.

At the top of the list were Seven and Nine battling it out for hotly contested and lucrative number one spot.

Seven finished 103,000 people ahead of Nine nationally (combined five metro cities plus regions) with 1,318,000 to Nine’s 1,215,000.

In the traditional five metro cities market segment, the result was reversed by a slim margin with Nine dominating Seven 863,000 to 858,000 viewers.

Next, in third position, was the ABC’s evening news (national, combined market).

Nine’s A Current Affair finished in fourth. (The positions of those two programs was reversed for the five capital cities segment.)

Fifth position was taken out for the ABC’s 7.30.

Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock on the first episode of 10 News+. Source: 10news

Ten, a network which has never distinguished itself as a producer of news content – the one exception being the comedy-infused panel show The Project – received just three acknowledgments in the list of 37.

They were the 5pm 10 News with 326k viewers in ninth place, 10 News+ in 20th position with 140k and 10's Late News in 23rd place with 128k.

It’s a result that will make it hard for Ten boss Beverley McGarvey to justify the program’s reportedly lofty budget.

The question for Ten is what to replace it with when it’s once predictable 16-39 demographic is abandoning commercial television faster than older demographics.

Ten finds feedback “insulting” and “rude” though maybe right.

Ten’s PR department was particularly touchy when this column predicted back in June 10 News+ had “no hope of winning the (time) slot”.

Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson and Pete Helliar. Supplied: Ten

This writer’s June 13 column item “Grim Admission” listed eight reasons the program, hosted by little known TV reporters Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace, was bound to fail.

These were that the program was “too bulky with too many unknown reporters” who were white; that Ten didn’t historically give its fledgling news programs the time they needed to become established and find an audience; to this point, as evidence, I listed some of the network’s failed news programs; that “an hour is too long” off the back of a one-hour local news bulletin; that the network failed to back its big stars including former The Project star Lisa Wilkinson after she, and Ten, were sued for Bruce Lehrmann for defamation; that the Australian population is too small to sustain another 6pm news bulletin; that the elected producer of the program was inexperienced; and that Ten’s recently revised strategy of pursuing an audience older than its traditional 16-39 fanbase seemed at odds but with the program’s youthful-looking cast.

I should have also added the 6-7pm timeslot is already choking with news programs and that a program produced in Sydney would struggle to win over the nation.

To each and every point, bar one, Ten fired off a defensive and robust response which we haven’t, until now, published.

To point one, a spokeswoman said: “This is insulting to the experienced team of journalists working on the show and is incorrect.”

It claimed it had hired a team of journalists from a “diverse background including a team member who has proud Indigenous/Irish heritage”.

To point two, it said the failure and cancellation of 6pm with George Negus in 2011 was not relevant to our argument the broadcaster didn’t stand by programs until they’d had a chance to become established because “we are now operating in a vastly different landscape”. Here I believe they missed the point.

10 NEWS+ is anchored Sunday to Thursday by investigative journalist Denham Hitchcock and Walkley Award-winning journalist Amelia Brace. Picture: 10 News

Ten also questioned the “relevance” of point three concerning its long history of investigative news program fails.

To point four, that 10 News+ is too long, it pointed out its retired The Project had also run for an hour long and “we believe there is a vast amount of engaging, in-depth stories to report on and for viewers to enjoy”. It’s just a shame they haven’t found any.

To point five, regarding Wilkinson, it denied failing to support her.

It offered no argument to point six concerning the nation’s population being too small to sustain another 6pm news show, so on that we perhaps agree..?

Point seven, it said pointedly, was “insulting” to Dan Sutton, the program’s producer, who it added was a “seasoned producer with 25 years’ experience.”

Concerning our final point, point eight, it said “Both Denham and Amelia have extensive experience … they are the ideal duo to lead the 10 News+ team … as the next step in their esteemed careers.”

Logies secure says Seven

The Seven Network has scotched claims, reported elsewhere, that the TV Week Logie Awards are headed for the scrap heap.

The claims surfaced during the week following confirmation this month that the publisher of TV Week, ARE Media, is on the market.

Pictured at the Sydney Opera House are Gold Logie Nominees Poh Ling Yeow , Ally Langdon, Julia Morris Hamish Blake, Sonia Kruger and Lisa Millar , ahead of the 2025 TV Week Logies. Picture: Richard Dobson

On Thursday a Seven spokesman said: “Seven is committed to the Logies and proud to work with the industry and TV Week to present the awards and showcase a vibrant, creative industry that engages millions of Australians every day of the year. We’re looking forward to the Logies on 3 August this year and in the many years to come.”

In 2024 the Logies proved their enduring appeal drawing a total national TV audience of 1.44 million.

The figure was higher than recorded in 2023, when 1.36 million tuned in, and the biggest Logies audience since 2016.

The Logies’ audience has increased every year since returning to Seven in 2023 following an almost three-decade-long run on Nine.

Nepo baby’s bizarre call

Digital media company Mamamia’s chief operating officer Luca Lavigne last week found himself on the receiving end of some blunt subscriber feedback after proposing a hefty subscription hike to followers of his mamma’s podcast.

Having now completed a year in the job managing daily operations and monitoring KPIs as chief operating officer at the website founded by his mother Mia Freedman, Lavigne pitched his proposed “morning market research” idea to subscribers and potential subscribers of the site.

His big idea was a proposed 150-plus per cent subscription price rise for followers of the podcast who have expressed a desire to turn off ads.

“The biggest piece of feedback we get is you want “ad-free” as a subscription benefit. Heard loud and clear,” posted the COO to a Mamamia Outlouders social media group.

“To go ad-free an annual sub would have to be priced at $180-200/yr (currently $69/year though we’re well overdue a price rise anyway).

Mia Freedman Luca Lavigne Jessie Stephens. Picture: Instagram

Mamamia editor Mia Freedman

“Does that price point change how you feel about ad-free as a perk? If you’re a current sub and you don’t care about ad-free, would you cancel?” he queried, in a post he’d tagged “feeling silly”.

While Lavigne’s decision to turn off comments on the post confounded some who struggled to understand why their feedback was being declined “despite not writing anything against the group rules”, others were able to find a workaround and managed to share their thoughts and opinions.

One woman threatened to “riot” if she ever heard a ginger beer ad – that must be on high rotation – again.

Other respondents were singing from the same songbook: “Too expensive”, “I would cancel”, “Cancel X”, “Way too expensive”, “Too much for me”, they posted overwhelmingly.

Freedman’s son has been on a fast-track to the top since joining the company as a content producer nine years ago, yet it seems he still has a bit to learn about market research – thought maybe less about giving short shrift to mamma’s most loyal fans.

Originally published as Ten to continue to back its struggling 6pm news offering