Paramount’s decision to axe a reboot of Gladiators was made several weeks ago and represents the network’s shrewd approach to backing ratings hits, and trimming those that flop. Senior VP of content and programming Daniel Monaghan says he is happy with how most tent pole shows have performed this year, although one internal favourite, The Traitors Australia, may be on the chopping block.
Ten’s decision to cut Gladiators generated plenty of headlines last week, but came as little surprise to insiders at the network who knew the reboot of the 90s classic didn’t live up to expectations.
After reaching nearly 400,000 metro views on the launch night, the show shed about half of its audience on episode two and never recovered.
Monaghan and other Ten senior executives were left perplexed by Gladiators’ swift demise, especially when a reboot in the UK on BBC pulled in 9.8 million in its launch episode and averaged 8 million throughout the series, one of the breakout hits in the UK this year.
“There are a lot of theories about it, but we honestly don’t know why it didn’t resonate with Australian audiences, especially when it did really well in the UK,” Monaghan told B&T
“We’ve had great success in summer before with I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, and we’ve played shows agains the tennis before so we know that the family audience is there. We got the audience there, but once we got to night two, they weren’t interested in seeing as much as we had hoped.”
The Gladiators reboot was designed to introduce a 90s hit to Gen Z, with the hope that parents would enjoy introducing their teenage children to a part of their own childhoods. It’s a formula that has worked well on the big screen; Star Wars – irrespective of its lack of critical acclaim, has proved a cinematic hit, while reboots of other classics such as Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters and even Scream are viewed as potentially pots of gold.
Monaghan said the Gladiators experience would not deter programming chiefs at Sydney’s Saunders St from opening the vaults of other 90s TV hits that can be given a modern spin, although don’t expect It’s a Knockout to make a comeback any time soon.
“Reboots are top of mind for every broadcaster around the world at the moment in both scripted and unscripted. So we’re definitely open to more of them,” Monaghan said. “We returned Thank God You’re Here after so many years off air and that worked really well.”
Top Gear, which is currently running on Paramount+ is another reboot that has had a positive start under the Beau Ryan, Blair Joscelyne and Jonathan LaPaglia reincarnation.
“We’ve obviously been at the top of the pops as far as constructive reality TV is concerned and we’re going to keep doing Survivor, I’m A Celebrity and MasterChef – those big premium reality franchises that really resonate and have a love.”
A laughing matter
The other genre that Network 10 is betting on is comedy.
“We’ve always pivoted a lot more into comedy than we had been doing probably five years ago. “Have You Been Paying Attention, Thank God You’re Here and Cheap Seats have been doing very well. Two of those are among our top shows on the box, let alone in the comedy space. We invested in 20 hours a year of Taskmaster, we’ve got 20 hours a year of Gogglebox, which is going into its 20th season.
“Yes, there is the big premium, long running reality shows, but we are definitely moving into comedy.”
In terms of scripted TV, Paramount’s strategy is to focus more of those commissions on its streamers, Paramount+, including the likes of NCIS Sydney, but Monaghan said there is an opportunity to do more scripted TV on linear TV for the right show.
“Now that streaming is here, to run scripted TV on linear it needs to be a ‘must watch now’ type of program, there needs to be a hook where you have to watch it every night rather than waiting until it’s all a box set on 10Play or Paramount+ at the end. We make sure our commissioning strategy is in line with the platform and genre.”
This year, Paramount has made the decision to cut Gladiators, The Bachelor and The Masked Singer, and another show that may have an uncertain future is an “massive, massive internal favourite” at Network Ten, The Traitors Australia.
“We would love to have gotten that show to work at a (higher audience) level,” Monaghan said. “The one thing about The Traitors is that everyone who came to Episode One stayed and loved it. We just needed to get more people to Episode One. I won’t say ‘no’ (it won’t cut), but I can’t say ‘yes’.”
Monaghan could confirm other shows that are in the pipeline.
There is a celebrity version of The Amazing Race, that is currently being filmed and includes the lies of Ian Thorpe, Luke McGregor, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and a couple of The Matildas.
There is also another season of Dessert Master, Taskmasters and Shark Tank, which “was a hit with advertisers”. There will also be a second series of Australian Survivor Brains vs Brawn, a ratings hit in its first season.
In spite of the ownership uncertainty swirling around Network Ten’s parent company Paramount, Monaghan remains upbeat about how Ten’s tent pole shows have largely performed.
“We have had a successful run of Survivor, I’m A Celebrity and Masterchef. Our 10Play audiences are their largest ever, including our strongest April. If we can end up with similar audiences year-on-year in total viewers, then we will be very happy.”
