Despite all the hype, the audience numbers for day one of Network Ten’s breakfast shows were softer than some analysts predicted.
Wake Up averaged 52,000 viewers from 7-8.30 am in the mainland capitals, well behind Seven’s Sunrise (368,000 from 7-9 am) and Nine’s Today (321,000).
Studio 10 averaged 61,000 from 8.30-10.30am versus Seven’s The Morning Show’s 189,000 and Nine’s Mornings’ 135,000.
“Considering the amount of promotional budgets against Wake Up, circa $1.5 mill, these are not bad numbers,” said Fusion Media's Steve Allen.
“The audience numbers day 1 are a little soft on our prediction of three weeks ago but there and thereabouts. It is going to be a tough fortnight for Wake Up just to hold onto figures.”
Allen said Ten's morning TV director Adam Boland, who was poached from Seven, “knows television, especially morning television and especially chat shows. He knows what you need to have to be successful. Not radical and it’s not brain science. Wake Up and Studio 10 have all the right ingredients. They are sufficiently different to attract audience.
“After one/launch episode Studio 10 comes across as the more confident, more together programme. Sarah Harris was really really strong and pulled it together. Charming, warm, confident, energetic. Everything a show like this needs. She knows exactly how to ‘row the boat’. The other co-hosts’ contributions were a bit uneven.
“Wake Up did not come together quite as well for us. Not as warm, not as engaging. A bit disjointed. Did not flow. Too many chops and changes and without that delivering fast paced. To us James Mathison was not terribly confident. No doubt just initial butterflies. Natarsha Belling the star here. Again putting out all the things necessary for a successful show. Confident, warm, engaging and energetic. On the spot."
Boland tweeted, "always going to be a tough ride. Now we just have to bed in. We always said it would take time. Promising start."
The Morning Show has won its timeslot since it launched in 2007 but Mornings has made up some ground in the past year.
Allen predicted, “Studio 10 seems destined to be a minor success if what comes to the screen is as good as yesterday.”