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David Mott responds: “Our aim was simply to get viewers to sample The Renovators”

TEN's David Mott has responded to a wave of criticism about sandwiching The Renovators into the middle of MasterChef's finale.

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TEN Chief Programmer David Mott has responded to a wave of network criticism over the last few days about sandwiching The Renovators into the middle of MasterChef‘s finale.

He reminds us TEN launched Masterchef in 2009 as an adjunct to the Biggest Loser season ending.

“It’s a tried and true technique that has served us well in the past,” he tells media and marketing website Mumbrella.

“In fact, the last time TEN split a finale night was when we launched a brand new and unknown little format called MasterChef Australia off the back of the 2009 Biggest Loser finale.”

Not quite. In 2009 TEN didn’t have Ajay Rochester weigh in the first three contestants then tell us to come back for the next batch an hour later. The finale itself ran as a stand alone programme on a Monday night:

7:00pm The Biggest Loser
7:30pm MasterChef Australia
8:30pm The Biggest Loser Finale
10:00pm The Biggest Loser – Winner Announced

So it actually preceded the finale leaving the analogy, alas, somewhat creative.

It would be interesting to know what kind of numbers TEN might have yielded had it run:

6:30pm MasterChef Australia finale
8:00pm MasterChef The Winner Announced
8:30pm The Renovators

In fairness it would have run up against The Block but an earlier ending may have also yielded a higher finale number and a better lead-in for Renovators. We’ll never know (and aren’t we all Proramming geniuses in hindsight?).

In defending the ratings for MasterChef‘s finale, Mott says they expected a drop due to the record-breaking 2010 numbers:

“MasterChef differs because of the dizzying heights it reached during its second phenomenal season. This is after all the show that broke OzTAM records. But a realistic scrutiny of the numbers will tell you that an audience of more than 4 million viewers is a once in a life-time result that just can’t be repeated year after year.

“In this multi-channel environment, audiences in excess of 2 million viewers are the exception and not the rule.”

This is a fair point. 2010 was one out of the box, and before increased multichannel competition. He also acknowledges Australia’s Got Talent‘s stellar season. But the numbers across the season also reflected some viewer disappointment in this year’s MasterChef.

“What seems to have been lost in all the debate around finale numbers is the consistency of this show over three seasons. For programmers and advertisers the real value lies in a format that performs solidly day-in and day-out across 14 weeks of prime-time. In this regard, MasterChef really is the stand out show of the last three years,” he writes.

“In fact, this year, the regular daily shows have outperformed season one, delivering an average audience of 1.64 million viewers, up from 1.53 million viewers in the highly successful premiere season of 2009.”

MasterChef is indeed the standout success of the last 3 years. Other networks would give their right arm to have come up with it first. David Mott took a punt on a Big Brother replacement when many observers thought he had lost the plot. Risk is integral to the advancement of television. But so is viewer loyalty as Sunday night amply demonstrated.

Many viewers forget that MasterChef’s first year started sluggishly, not helped by a week of “auditions,” before viewers swarmed to their ovens. This year’s average is therefore higher than 2009, but lower than 2010.

Lastly, he defends the move to sandwich Renovators as a way of driving more viewers to the new series.

“Our aim was simply to get viewers to sample The Renovators. And that’s exactly what they did to the tune of 1.25 million viewers. That’s invaluable exposure for a format that we hope will have both success and longevity.”

Whether it was a short-term gain against long-term anger at Renovators remains to be seen.

So far the show seems to be dividing viewers against those who prefer its production over The Block (and its numbers don’t come close to the latter) to those are so turned-off by the move that they are choosing to ignore it in protest.

In this sense, TEN can only hope that the show will do exactly what MasterChef did in 2009 and find some audience traction.

You can read the full response by David Mott at Mumbrella.

42 Responses

  1. Sun-split didn’t bother me, MC3 had been so-so this year, I easily skipped nights. MC’s problems are fixable. You don’t need 6 nights of it, keep to 30 & 60, drop 90mins. Does it need the 3 judges, does it need so many guest Chefs? MC needs excess fat cut from it. MC4 could be good, if they wanted it to be. MKR, keeps things leaner, and is not so much of a time consumer. It is not perfect by any means, but it does show less can be more with a show. At this stage I am thinking of watching MKR again, but not MC, just simply not get involved with MC4 at all from the get go of it.
    To me, The Renovator is a separate story, and shouldn’t be confused with and drawn into the problem that is MC. MC needs to clean up it’s own act, and before MC4 comes around.

  3. @Tasmanian Devil

    Businesses who employ ‘bait and switch’ tend not to last too long. Perhaps you’re inexperienced in these matters, I really can’t say why else you’d justify the behaviour.

    Anyhow, here’s hoping your favourite show get cancelled next week, for no apparent reason, given you seem nonplussed about such matters.

  4. What a debacle. TEN is a business, and tried a move to better their business. Arguably it didnt work, but they tried. Get over it the lot of you. Your acting like you’ve lost a child in a war. Get a grip. Also to all the bored housewives whinging on multiple sites, that their children could not watch the finale this year because it was “too late”- well correct me if im wrong, but the final verdict has never aired before 9.40pm in its 3 years.

  5. Oh what ever Mr Mott

    The whole industry was scratching it’s head when you did what you did on Sunday. If you had it to do over again .. you wouldn’t plain and simple.

    It should have been The Renovators at 6.30 and then MC from 7.30 and to have let the chips fall where they may

  6. “Ram their new shows down their throat” …I can’t believe people are so outraged about this. Networks are obviously not going to premiere their new shows at 2am, they have a right to use scheduling in an attempt to get as many viewers as they can. TV is a business after all.

  7. I usually don’t like reality tv but I liked Masterchef and I’ve always like the Block. But his year the block has had too many stupid games and not enough renovating. If I flick on the Block or the renovators and they aren’t in a house with a tool in their hand I switch off now. They are getting too far away from why the format works

  8. CH10 would have sold the whole night (Renovators included) at premium rates. So what was initially a 2hr show become 3hrs at top dollar. CH10 you take viewers for fools which is a mistake

  9. As much as i didn’t like the fact Warburton has deflected to TEN, TEN really need him right now. David Mott knows nothing about how to schedule shows properly. If it was the very first episode of The Renovators i may have understood his logic but it wasn’t. The show was already on the air and well it was one of the stupidest moves in quite a while. TEN deserve all they are getting at the moment because of the way they treat their viewers like this.

  10. One important difference being left out of the ‘precedent’ of cutting to MC mid Biggest Loser finale was that it was the very first episode of MC. So for viewers it was a genuine opportunity to try out a New show that they had heard so much about. With The Renovators running for two weeks prior to the finale, viewers had already had ample chances to ‘sample’ the show- and as the ratings showed, about 600k decided every night that the show wasn’t for them.

    If you hate vegemite, your not going to wander over and sample some if it’s being offered at the supermarket.

    It all comes down to the launch date of The Renovators- two weeks too early.

  11. I must be one of the only viewers that switched over to Ten to watch the Renovators, then switched off when MC began again. I will never watch MC again, totally different show this season, and the arrogance of the judges, in particular Gary, has turned me off big time. Looking forward to next season of MKR

  12. Have to agree with daniel….if folk just clicked on this site….everytime that go to their computer….as I do….they would be completely informed….no stress!
    I have found info in here even before it is in ‘breaking news’ on the newspaper sites…..
    Well done David…..enjoyable reads and good, concise information.

  15. The problem with David Mott’s argument is that he thinks that he is only being criticized for the whole split Masterchef finale, well its not. The real anger is with the constant time changes and axing shows which should not have been axed, which only needed to be tweeked. He seems to think that the audience is a bunch of idiots, well we are not. He is going to have to come up with a better reason then that.

  16. Yep a stereotypical programmer….just like a pollie full of his own $**t and deluded. It is fair to say that The Block got the jump on Renos which will not have helped. But the viewers vented their spleen across many websites about Sundays programming( it suited me fine), and this bloke either needs to listen and take note or carry on being a deluded T****r. Also MC did a couple of stuff ups but MKR took some of the shine off them, they got in early, had a similar feel, got good ratings and then MC just felt like another cooking show.

  18. Yeah Paul they put the Renovators on at the later time of 8.00pm to force people to watch? How do you figure that?

    I can’t believe it is 3 days later and people are still going on about this like they lost a limb or something! Was it really that tragic a situation!? sheesh.

  19. The Renovators is being talked about more for its erratic scheduling, than the actual content of the program itself.

    A lot of negative press surrounding a new show, that can’t be a good thing. Launching one month after The Block didn’t help either

  20. I have no problems with splitting the Masterchef final (I didn’t watch either episode, nor the Renovators). Better to have two 60 minute and 90 minutes, than one dragged out three hour episode.

  21. It is good of him to the address the issue. Still I wasn’t happy with how the finale was programmed. I do like a sample, but don’t want to be forced fed.

  22. Now he can explain the Modern Family debacle. Have rung my regional office and they’re not happy that it happened either. They said it was a Sydney decision to swap the programs around and they weren’t told until yesterday afternoon.

    Was this another trick to get people to sample the Renovators?

  23. If I wanted to watch a competitive renovations show I would, but as it gives no actual advice on the best way to, what type of materials are best suited or any actual know how on renovating and is more about over all creativity rather than the build, I have no desire to watch it.

    I’ll stick with better homes and Gardens.

  24. i dont think it was that big a deal what they did… i watched masterchef for the first time on sunday night and am now hooked on the renovators…. so the popped it in the middle was it that big a deal?>? and now people are complaining at modern family and renos being switched last night…

    had all those people come on the tv tonight website as i did you would have known that they were switched so there never would have been a problem!!

    tv tonight… has all the info… problem solved…

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