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New TEN looks to older viewers

TEN's incoming CEO Hamish McLennan says the network will now target older viewers and bid for key sporting events.

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Ten LogoTEN’s incoming CEO Hamish McLennan says the network will now target older viewers and bid for key sporting events.

“We will look at everything,” he told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“We’ll preserve what’s great about it and make changes were we need to.

“We will look at sport, everything is up for grabs.

“We’ve had a laser focus in a youth demographic sense.

“But I think we can be youthful and appeal to a slightly wider audience without losing what we are good at.”

McLennan seeks “creative renewal” with cash ploughed into refreshing TEN’s underperforming program schedule and a promotions blitz.

But rumours of more job cuts for TEN are also gathering early ahead of his reign as CEO.

“As a general statement we need to be prudent in the way we run our businesses but the reality is there needs to be more investment in programming and promotion,” he said.

But he also stood by Masterchef and did not rule out a return to Australian Idol.

“MasterChef and Australian Idol have been great properties for the network.”

62 Responses

  3. Sign up Kerri Anne Kennerley and have a day time variety show with a band,guests and a audience. – similar to the Midday show. That would be a point of difference.

    6am – 9am Breakfast Show
    9am – judge judy
    930am – Hughes Kitchen
    10am- Bold and the beautiful
    1030am – Morning News Hour
    1130am Entertainment Tonight
    12pm – Midday Show with Kerri Anne
    130pm- The Doctors
    230pm – Dr Phil
    330pm- good chef bad chef
    4pm Judge Judy
    430pm – Bold and beautiful
    5pm – News
    6pm – The simpsons
    630pm – The project
    730 ????????

    I think you’d win a few over with this type of programming up until prime time. I’ve been in Tv production and would like the chance to program this cause I think there is a good blend across all demos and this could be a winner for ten???

    Any thoughts?

  4. Channel Ten need to bring back Australian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.
    Australian Idol would work by ring ing it back at teh start of the year, to beat The Voice and The X Factor. SYTYCD needs to be on the sunday and monday nights.
    Also bring back YTT, when you look at it’s ratings on the sunday night of about 500K viewers it was not a bad figure compared to many of channel tens other programs.

  5. David, it almost feels like Groundhog Day, how appropriate a revisit to your editorial a few months back saying that Ten can innovate and reinvigorate its programming lineup.

    As another commenter has said, Ten has missed the boat on much of the major sports rights. They will need to look to compelling alternative programming to bring in any kind of audience.

    My guess, is if they want to skew older (but on the cheap) that game shows might be a good way to bring older viewers in.

  6. Congratulations Hamish for looking at an older audience – which ten have ignored for the past 15 years or so ……. but you need your head examined if you think Idol – which is failing incredibly in the ratings ….. will save the day …… if it’s failing now, then why would you want to throw money at it by reinventing the wheel?

  8. The new CEO has already left his mark. Attenborough’s Africa, scheduled to start at 18:30, started precisely at (pause for significant drum roll please…..) 18:30 !

    Ahhh, I can feel the new wave washing away years of FTA lethargy. Still, it is a good start.

    And the new CEO is targeting an older audience… somebody loves me!

  10. Note to other post:

    Having New White Collar, Burn Notice and Blue Bloods on ONE is a step in that direction, would love TEN to buy Chuck off Nine and run another night with Psych and Chuck on, could even place Eureka with that (there are still episodes they haven’t shown) or even a show like Leverage (which sure is over but has 5 seasons unseen on Aust Free To Air as far as I know).

  11. I think its stupid they have age groups they try to work for like 18-39 or what ever it is. The public will watch if theres something good on they dont care about the intended target. I think they should go for the Cricket and bring back a reality/singing show but no Australian Idol they need something that appeals to a wider audience like X factor or AGT

  12. Be pretty easy to chase both younger and older, just do the older demographic on TEN and the Younger Demographic on Eleven. Bumping Glee to there after the 269,000 rating is a start (if it got that on there it would be good), get some focus for people to turn on to. ONE would have been a better home American Horror Story as well, use that channel for that type of programming. They use it now for Sons Of Anarchy, use it for that type of programming, put Californication on there, AHS, Dexter etc (I’d even consider getting the rights for Breaking Bad off the ABC and running that in repeats).

    Analogue TV is turning off in December, set the extra channels up now and be patient (as once no analogue those without an STB will have to buy one and the extra channels will be just as viewable as the main ones).

  13. Lets see – American Idol is proving to be an absolute dud at the moment and the incoming CEO is suggesting bringing back Australian Idol? And of course he’ll schedule it up against The Voice or X factor and then wonder why it is being hammered in the ratings.

    Seriously the past few years have been a disaster for Ten – not because they don’t have decent shows – but because of incompetence high above.

    Get rid of So you think you can dance and replace it with Everybody Dance Now. Get rid of the AFL and replace it with nothing. Get rid of Helen Kapalos who is now thrashing Ten’s Project in the same timeslot. Shove Neighbours to Eleven where it is rating about 500K less than it did on the main channel. Shove the very enjoyable Before The Game from Saturday night to Thursday night – up against the AFL Footy Show on Nine. Bring back YTT – a very enjoyable talent show – and treat it like crap by sticking it on Friday nights up against the AFL. Put a very entertaining MCP up against MKR where it is being thrashed 5 to 1 in the ratings.

    I watch Ten more than Seven and Nine combined but that’s not saying much. In fact there is so much rubbish on TV at the moment I’ve rediscovered reading and walking the dogs.

  14. whats good about it?? well they did have a successful morning program till they changed it timeslot and then cancelled it.

    they did have a popular soapie bringing viewers to the channel, but they moved that to another channel.

    they had a successful reality show about people sharing a house but they effed that up by brining in to radio dj’s no one likes.

    and finally they let shareholders run the network.

  18. TEN needs major sports, rights to other major events and a credible news service as platforms to launch and advertise its other shows – many of which are well produced and historically fresh and innovative – not the cynical clones that the current all-powerful commercial duopoly serves up (and, sadly we swallow in our the millions!). Worth noting that TEN has held the rights to AFL, NRL, Melbourne Cup, Rugby Union, V8 Motorsport, many major golf events, Olympic Games, Commonweath Games etc at various times. Where are they now? Mostly on other FTA networks and, of course, Lachlan Murdoch’s Fox Sports. I would also like to see a list of TEN’s innovative programming over the years e.g first breakfast programme, No 96, the Panel, Big Brother, Offspring, Thank God Your Here etc – this would be a long list. Just shows commercial TV can be fresh and innovative but it doesn’t count for anything if you can’t get people to watch.

  19. Yes, very much what carolemorrissey said. Australian Idol was great in the past but now with all these other shows that exist and that weren’t there before why would you try to bring idol back to life when it offers less than the others.

    Should have just tried for big brother again ( though maybe you can’t do it just yet with 9 having it.)

  20. The cricket and @l^mp!cs are the only key sport not locked up for the next 5 years. They can bid all they want for the cricket, but they won’t beat Nine who have a last bid option.

    And Ten is already targeting 18-49s since they lost most of their 16-39s. They can try targeting over 50s but 7 year old repeats of New Tricks are beating NCIS on Tuesdays.

    I don’t think this is designed to mean anything other than I’m here now and everything will be fine. The guy doesn’t start work for a month and has no FTA experiencing.

  21. Yeah, Australian Idol did well, because back then it was the only ‘talent’ show on. Now we have The Voice, X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent. We don’t need another talent show. And not all of us ‘older’ viewers like sport.

  24. He wants to target older viewers but doesn’t rule out Australian Idol………get it right buddy, us older viewers don’t want to warch Idol or necessarily sport, some decent drama would help and treat NCIS , The Good Wife and Homeland like the excellent shows that they are.

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