ITV entertainment shows in ratings crisis
As Strictly thrashed ITV in the ratings on Saturday, surely it's time for ITV to rethink its entertainment output?
At a time when 145 million Brits streamed gripping drama ‘Adolescence’ on Netflix, it’s almost incomprehensible to think ITV’s Saturday night offerings now struggle to muster a million. Viewers are choosing quality content, available elsewhere.
Gone are the days when The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing went head-to-head in a weekly ratings battle. This weekend, there was no contest, as Strictly attracted a massive 6.1million viewers to BBC One, with many more watching on iPlayer.
In comparison? The highest rated show on ITV1 was a repeat of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? which just scraped over the 1 million mark.
It’s other shows, Win Win and You Bet! on tour, are the latest examples of how out-of-touch the ITV entertainment department is with the viewing public.
You Bet! On Tour, presented by Butlins favourite Stephen Mulhern, is a dire watch. Neither entertaining nor original, the show feels about 40 years out of date. And the once bankable Mel and Sue were screwed over the minute ITV decided to pitch their Talking Telephone Numbers style show directly against Strictly.
At 8pm, yet another repeat of Millionaire and then a film at 9pm.
Who else remembers the days of Pop Idol, The X-Factor, Blind Date and Saturday Night Takeaway?
Whilst all of them feel too tired to return, ITV hasn’t been able to recreate the magic. In recent years, perhaps the only exceptions are The Masked Singer and The 1% Club. Thank god the latter is returning this weekend.
With ITV struggling with cash-flow, it’s output feels more dated than ever. Big Brother has recorded its lowest ever ratings, Love Island feels old-hat, Cooking with the Stars is budget Masterchef... you do wonder how long it will be before other primetime series follow Dancing On Ice into a black hole.
So what’s the answer? The network just needs to scrap the low-rent output like You Bet! On Tour and invest in better formats. The BBC have proven, with The Traitors, Race Across the World, Destination X and Michael McIntyre that viewers will watch a linear channel if the format is good. Channel 4 continues to reap the rewards of investing in Bake Off. But ITV has lost its way, and apart from its soaps and The 1% Club, is struggling to score in the ratings.
They’ve recently invested money into two new formats ‘The Floor’ hosted by Rob Brydon off of BBC One and ‘The Box’ hosted by Gary Lineker off of BBC One and will be hoping these turn their fortunes around.
Although to be fair, Gary’s last ITV game show ‘Sitting on A Fortune’ didn’t.