ITV Bosses Call Crisis Meeting Amid Huge Slump in Viewers for Flagship Daytime Shows
Loose Women, Good Morning Britain, This Morning, and Lorraine are facing crisis talks as they grapple with a significant slump in viewers. ITV bosses have called a crisis meeting with its four flagship daytime shows following the dramatic drop in ratings, prompting the broadcaster to take drastic measures.
The daytime shows are now facing pay freezes and potential job losses as ITV seeks to mitigate the financial damage caused by the decline in viewership. Drastic measures are being considered, including favoring shorter three-month contracts over long-term deals for staff and reducing the number of freelancers employed, via Daily Mail.
The annual ITV summer event, which typically sees the network’s biggest stars come together, could also be canceled. Meetings led by ITV’s daytime boss, Emma Gormley, have reportedly been held to inform staff of the changes affecting the four major shows.
Employees of Loose Women, Good Morning Britain, This Morning, and Lorraine were reportedly shown a graph illustrating their rapid decline in ratings, compared to the huge viewing figures of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
A source told The Sun: “ITV is really tightening their belt. There have been concerns for months at the top but now that it’s trickled down to the shop floor it feels very depressing. A lot of staff are being put on three-month contracts, probably so they can get rid of people easily.” The source added that pay freezes are already in place, and ITV is trying to keep costs down by “not trialing new talent on regular segments.” It is hoped that ratings will pick up during the UK election campaign.
The source also mentioned that the news is “particularly difficult to stomach” following the costly relaunch of This Morning. An ITV spokesperson told the Mirror: “Town hall meetings happen frequently for teams to keep up to date with company news and also serve as an opportunity for staff to have questions answered. The latest one was to celebrate the success of Lorraine Kelly receiving a BAFTA Special Recognition Award and two BAFTA nominations for Daytime last weekend. It was also a transparent portrayal of what is currently happening across the industry.”
The spokesperson continued: “As a broadcaster and streamer, ITV has a range of programming in its Daytime schedules. This Morning reached an average of 4.2 million viewers a week in April alone, its highest so far in 2024. In 2023, This Morning was one of the most streamed shows on ITVX. Like all media, This Morning has expanded into the digital sphere with record-breaking results. This Morning remains Britain’s most talked about and influential daytime TV show and has never had a better connection with its viewers, with just under 160 million video views of This Morning content and reached 63 million unique social media accounts in April.”
Despite new hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley taking over This Morning from Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, ratings dropped from over a million to 692,500 in their first month. By the end of April, the average number of live viewers was 544,000, according to OK!.
As ITV navigates these challenges, the broadcaster hopes to regain its footing and improve ratings for its flagship daytime shows.