Daniel Monaghan, senior vice president of content and programming at Paramount AUNZ, says the sunsetting of The Bachelor and The Masked Singer is due to a volatile TV market and low ratings not justifying expensive productions.
Speaking to Mediaweek, Monaghan revealed that after two seasons of trying new things, The Bachelor “frankly wasn’t rating anymore.”
“There were elements of The Bachelor that we were trying to reinvent and reinvigorate for that format because it was such a success for us in the early years, but it wasn’t showing the right trajectory,” he said.
“To be honest, we just need to walk away sometimes.
“If it’s still there when we’re ready to revisit it, great, but at the moment, no ratings, no revenue, means no show.”
The Bachelor and The Masked Singer
Monaghan said that while The Masked Singer wasn’t at the end of its ratings run, it had dipped considerably from season one.
“I believe there’s still value in the program, it’s just such an extraordinarily expensive show to make.
“I’d love to revisit that show one year, but in the current environment, it does not make any sense for us to do that this year. There’s also just not any space for it in the back half of our year.”
The host of both shows, Osher Günsberg, said he “had a fairly decent idea that this was going to happen.”
10’s second half of 2024 will be headlined by season three of Hunted and a new season of The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition.
Hunted will feature contestants receiving a mission to rob a fake bank at the start of the season. Whatever they can take and carry on their backs is their individual prize money if they make it to the end.
The Amazing Race Australia is in the middle of filming for a launch later this year. The cast is currently filming in Argentina with returning host Beau Ryan. Some of the cast announced include Ian Thorpe, Pete Helliar, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Tai “Bam Bam” Tuivasa.
The Amazing Race: Celebrity Edition 2024 Cast
See also: Ian Thorpe, Pete Helliar, and Tai Tuivasa join The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition
10 staples such as Thank God You’re Here, Gogglebox Australia, Dessert Masters and Taskmaster are also on the release schedule, as well as Shark Tank, which Monaghan confirmed would be returning for a second season.
“While Shark Tank wasn’t a massive hit by anyone’s imagination, it was really successful in the demos that we targeted and the advertisers were so happy with it last year that we couldn’t not bring it back.
Monaghan couldn’t confirm if the same sharks from last year’s season would be returning.
Last week, Mildura Digital Television announced it would be shutting down on 30 June, meaning that people living in the regional Victorian town will lose access to Channel 10, 10 BOLD, and 10 Peach on free-to-air.
Monaghan expressed his disappointment in the decision.
“From a content perspective, every regional market is important to us, and we hope that the people of Mildura have access to our BVOD platform to watch our content,” he told Mediaweek.
A Channel 10 spokesperson said the team as a whole was “bitterly disappointed that regional TV operators are being put in a position that they need to take this action.
“It’s the people of Mildura and the surrounding region that will be hurt by this decision and it’s unacceptable that tens of thousands of Australians will see some of their favourite free-to-air broadcast channels go to black.
“The federal government must act urgently to ensure the Network 10 affiliated channels can continue to be available via broadcast transmission.”
Anchorage Partners cited a weak regional TV market as the reason for pulling out of a consortium with ARN to acquire SCA.