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Channel Seven’s ambitious move to resurrect Australian Idol has arrived “dead on arrival” with the show on track to become one of the network’s biggest TV flops of all time.
Charged with the task of taking on Married At First Sight and Ten’s Australian Survivor, the Idol reboot flopped in its first two weeks, ranking a distant third and sometimes fourth in its prime time slot.
Nine’s trusty MAFS has once again led the way, averaging approximately 810,000 overnight viewers across five-city metropolitan markets and 1.8 million in total TV figures, taking into account time-shift playback figures and streaming views.
Charged with the task of taking on Married At First Sight and Ten’s Australian Survivor, the Idol reboot flopped in its first two weeks.
Nine’s ever-reliable MAFS averages 850,000 viewers across five-city metropolitan markets.
Australian Survivor is limping into second place with close to 450,000 metropolitan viewers (around 760,000 total TV), while Idol, armed with its expensive judging panel and massive production costs, has emerged as a colossal turkey in prime time with an average metropolitan audience of around 400,000 and a total TV Media of 800,000 viewers.
The numbers fall well short of Seven’s lofty expectations for the show, whose return was announced in October 2020 before the pandemic forced a delay.
However, production finally got underway in 2022 with Seven announcing their big-name judge lineup led by American singer Harry Connick Jr, pop singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor, and Australian combo Amy Shark and Kyle Sandilands.
The show was tipped as Seven’s great hope in 2023 primetime and bravely stood up to MAFS, a gamble that failed spectacularly with Seven insiders claiming internal allegations have already begun.
Harry Connick Jr is rumored to be collecting ‘at least $1 million’ for his stint on Australian Idol according to industry rumors.
Its dismal ratings have also begun to draw comparisons to some of Australia’s other flops of previous years, including Seven’s 2020 demise My Kitchen Rules, Restaurant Revolution (2015) and Ten The Renovators’ infamous clanger in 2011.
“It’s just not resonating with viewers… proof that throwing money at a format, no matter how reliable it has been in the past, doesn’t always work,” a network insider told Daily Mail Australia.
“You could argue that it’s the lack of chemistry with the judges or that the level of the performances isn’t good enough.
‘All of those things could contribute. Either way, two weeks later and he’s a dog.
The reboot is understood to have been something of a passion project for Sevens CEO James Warburton, who stated that the show was crucial for its core 16-39 demographic.
Warburton admitted in November 2022 that the network had “high expectations” for the show after shelling out huge amounts of money for the format after Ten first aired it in 2005.
Seven boss James Warburton (pictured) admitted in November 2022 that the network had “high expectations” for the show.
“Certainly from a publicity standpoint and an awareness standpoint, we’re going into (the first quarter) with the best awareness of a (Australian Idol) show that we’ve ever had,” he said. the aussie.
“We have great expectations.”
However, Idol began to attract bad publicity even before its debut, with some fans opposing Sandilands’ inclusion on the judging panel given that the radio jock was fired from the same role by Channel Ten in 2009.
Sandilands was released from his contract for his part in a 2Day FM radio stunt in which a 12-year-old girl revealed she had been sexually assaulted.
He incited outrage when he asked the girl, “Is that the only sexual experience you’ve ever had?” during a lie detector segment on The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
Idol 2023’s new ‘all white’ panel of judges also drew criticism, with fans and media observers criticizing the new lineup’s lack of diversity.
Another major factor working against Seven and Idol, says a media analyst, is Nine’s Australian Open coverage which preceded MAFS’ debut on January 31 and bombarded viewers with enticing promos for the smash hit of ‘ live experiment.
Ten is posting a rare win over Seven with Australian Survivor consistently outperforming Idol
“When Seven had the rights to the Australian Open, he did the same thing with My Kitchen Rules and rated like crazy,” says noted media buyer Ian Warner.
‘Nine is now doing that very successfully with MAFS.
“And some people were like ‘oh tennis this year was a ratings flop’ but I guarantee Seven would have killed for an 800,000 viewer intro (to Idol) that tennis delivered for Nine.”
Warner also highlighted Sandilands’ inclusion on the judging panel, suggesting that the polarizing radio figure isn’t necessarily as popular outside of Sydney’s media bubble as Seven might perceive.
Idol 2023’s new ‘all white’ panel of judges also drew criticism, with fans and media observers criticizing the new lineup’s lack of diversity.
‘Outside of Sydney, does Kyle appeal to other markets? I’m not sure about that,’ he said.
“And the format, generally speaking, feels tired.”
When asked if Seven was happy with the return on investment on Idol, Seven’s head of content Angus Ross was approached by Daily Mail Australia but declined to comment.
However, a Seven spokesperson referred to Ross’ statement this week stating that 2023 was shaping up to be one of Seven’s “biggest years yet”.
“Whether you measure it over the summer or 2023 so far, Seven is the #1 total TV network in Australia and the only network to increase its commercial audience share across total people and all key demographics,” Ross states.
‘This year is shaping up to be one of our best years yet, with massive new shows, the launch of 7Bravo and NBCUniversal content on 7plus, nation-engineering sports and popular news and public affairs content that will attract huge audiences in everyone. screens.’