Just like the rest of Australia, we were enthralled by the saga that was Lisa Wilkinson vs the Today show… And Karl Stefanovic.
When the veteran journalist set her sights for the CBS owned shores of Network Ten, for their flagship news program The Project…
We were very excited. So was Lisa.
After-all, she’d established herself as the highest paid woman on Australian television, with a reported $2.3 million salary… four-times more than her colleague Carrie Bickmore.
Lisa’s debut
When she started in January, The Daily Telegraph reported that her debut saw 481,000 viewers tuning in for the first hour of the show.
The next hour skyrocketed to 583,000 viewers – which the publication claimed was “up 200.000 viewers on the 2017 average.”
The excitement surrounding Lisa and her partnership with Ten has fizzled.
Last Sunday racked up 227,000 five-city metropolitan viewers.
A year ago Bondi Rescue was in that time-slot… And the lifeguards performed a whole lot better.
It should be noted the news program is competing with iconic shows like My Kitchen Rules and commitment ceremony Sundays… Married At First Sight.
WATCH: Why Lisa is a fantastic addition to The Project
The age old theory: Shirtless men bring in the viewers
It’s certainly not what the powers at Network Ten had hoped for when acquiring the iconic Aussie.
Mediaweek editor James Manning, believes that it could be the format of the show that’s at fault.
“[With Wilkinson] people were intrigued at the start, for a one-off, but haven’t really tuned in if they didn’t believe in the format before that,” he said.
“There does seem to be a reluctance for people to embrace a current affair-style show on Sunday nights, preferring the magazine shows like 60 Minutes and Sunday Night.”
Why Australia already adores Lisa
Ten have commented on the matter, remarking, “Despite sitting in a highly competitive time slot, it has increased its audience by 28 per cent across the full hour and by 34 per cent in the second half-hour, compared with 2017 (average).”
Lisa, 58, resonated with the nation during her time on the Today show not only as a proud and intelligent woman who could show emotion – she was also assertive, strong and able to put Karl in his place.
It’s still early days on The Project, and just how Carrie Bickmore molded the show to suit her, we bet Lisa will soon be able to do the same thing!
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