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Ten looks to 'Australian Idol' as killer series
Ten looks to 'Australian Idol'
as killer series
20 June 2003
By Christian Catalano, The Age
Ten Network is pinning its hopes on its coming Australian
Idol series to kill off a challenge from Channel Nine
for the number-one spot among viewers aged 16 to 39.
While ratings for the third series of its Big Brother
franchise have recovered from a sluggish start, the network
expects fierce competition in its prized demographic in
the next six months.
Ratings figures for the year to date show that Ten holds
a slender lead in the 16-to-39 age group between 6pm and
10.30pm, with main rival Nine closing the gap. Ten's audience
share has softened nearly three points to 36.4 per cent
since the same period last year, while Nine has firmed
nearly 1.5 points to 35.4 per cent. Seven Network also
made up ground, with a share of 28.3 per cent.
Ten chief executive officer John McAlpine said yesterday
that Australian Idol - the US-spawned talent quest
series with a string of hugely successful European spin-offs
- would blow away competition for the prized demographic.
" This will be the biggest show of the year,"
he boasted at Ten's new program launch yesterday.
"The six sponsors that we wanted for Australian
Idol were sold out within two weeks. I've been around
television sales for a long time, and that's a pretty
remarkable result."
While Australian Idol is expected to cost Ten up
to $10 million, the network yesterday launched a host
of other programs for later this year. They include the
locally produced romantic drama Crash Burn and
the rights to several international hits, including US
police drama The Shield and Jamie Oliver's reality
cooking program.
Media analysts welcomed the new programming drive. "They're
certainly not dominating the demographic as they were
12 or 24 months ago," said media analyst George Colman
from Citigroup Smith Barney. "This year is obviously
a lot tighter and they needed at least one killer program,
which I think they've now got with Australian Idol.
Ten confirmed yesterday it would pay a fully franked dividend
on 5¢ on July 4. It made a 6.5¢-a-share payout in February.
The judging panel consist of singer Marcia Hines, former singer
and now writer and producer Mark Holden and BMG record label
representative Ian Dickson.
