‘Highly profitable’ with an ‘ensemble cast’: Why Ten won’t give up on The Project
The Project has been scrutinised for less-than-average ratings, but Ten stands by it. Ahead of its 10 year anniversary, Zoe Samios chats with the show's executive producer, Sarah Thornton, about its future.
Almost ten years ago, a team of five presenters stepped onto Ten screens across the nation to deliver the first episode of ‘The 7pm Project’.
Described at the time as an ‘offbeat take’ on the day’s news, it was fronted by comedians Dave Hughes and Charlie Pickering, who were joined by James Mathison, Ruby Rose and Carrie Bickmore, sought to deliver news a different way: ‘unspun’.
The 7pm Project in 2009 (L-R): Dave Hughes, Ruby Rose, James Mathison, Charlie Pickering and Carrie Bickmore
“If we get this right, The 7pm Project could be a game changer for Ten in that very crucial 7pm time-slot”, David Mott, Ten’s former chief programming officer, said at the time.
Today the only host remaining is Bickmore, who is now joined by Waleed Aly, Peter Helliar, Lisa Wilkinson, Hamish Macdonald and Tommy Little. The show commences at 6:30pm. It continues to bear similarities to a regular news bulletin, but differences remain.
According to executive producer, Sarah Thornton, one key difference is having comedians on the desk.
“Having a comedian on the panel is not just there for the light entertainment, they are genuinely there to interrogate the news from a perspective of honesty and in an unfiltered way which is a really big point of difference,” she says.
“We work with the news team at Ten and have a fantastic relationship with them. We have a very clear decision making process on who takes what, when and why.”
The current team at Ten’s The Project (L-R): Waleed Aly, Carrie Bickmore, Lisa Wilkinson, Peter Helliar
Over the past year, The Project has been surrounded by criticism as the show averages between 200,000 to 400,000 metro viewers a night, according to OzTAM overnight figures. The Sunday Project specifically, which commenced a little over a year ago, has been criticised for its low ratings, despite its well-renowned guests and the presence of former Today Show presenter, Wilkinson, on the desk.
And yet, The Project isn’t going anywhere. In fact, according to Thornton, it’s a “highly profitable show”. So, why is this the case?
“I don’t think brands would come to us if they didn’t recognise our authenticity and integrity,” she says.
Thornton says The Project is ‘highly profitable’
Thornton spent the last 15 years in the United Kingdom, honing skills in ‘factual TV with a twist’, before joining The Project with the lens of an “occasional viewing fan”. In that time, she’s been handed the challenge of growing a six-day-a-week format. But it’s the ‘ensemble cast’, which Thornton believes makes the show thrive. She disputes the idea that The Sunday Project should divided off from the five-day-a-week proposition.
“As a program, The Project from Sunday through until Friday has the amazing benefit of some talent – Carrie, Waleed, Pete, Tommy, Lisa – who are, for want of a better phrase, fairly good clickbait. They are people that people want to know about. Lisa isn’t the only high profile talent we have that is written about constantly. Carrie has the same thing, Waleed has the same thing,” she says.
“That is the world in which we live, and we all need to accept that here and continue to forge a path. The show is a little over a year old, Lisa has not even been at Ten a year. Again, for us, it’s very much an ensemble cast and we don’t enjoying carving out Sunday. If we did, as an hour Sunday is up 17% year on year.”
The Sunday Project is up 16% for the full hour, compared to 2017. This year the show averaged 324,500 compared to 280,500 the year prior.
Nationally the numbers are 457,5000 and 396,000 in 2018 and 2017 respectively. But a lot of criticism has stemmed around Wilkinson’s debut on The Project, which pulled in 481,000 metro viewers.
“There is no way that the argument that Sunday isn’t working is solid,” Thornton says.
“Sunday is working. It’s going gangbusters, we are happy with it. What we are even happier about, is that the cast as a whole are people that people want to talk about.
“I don’t think we’d be doing our job if we didn’t have people in those chairs who weren’t of interest.”
But it appears as though the challenge isn’t necessarily with the Sunday Project.
The 2018 average for the Monday to Friday Project – which runs from 6:30pm to 7:30pm is down 11% year on year, from an average of 446,000 in 2017 to 397,000 in 2018. From a metro perspective, the 7pm portion of the program is down by 10% year on year, while the 6:30pm half hour is down by 13%. Nationally, the program is down from an average audience of 655,000 to 577,000.
Thornton believes there’s still a way to go in the fight for eyeballs. And she’ll continue to fight, as ABC’s The Drum moves to a similar time slot, at 6pm in 2019. But Thornton is not concerned by rivals.
“We are in the eyeballs game. Eyeballs are great, across the board, for all of my shows. The more eyeballs the merrier. We want eyeballs. But I do believe that with The Project, what I want to do more than anything else is remind people the feeling of what The Project gives you. Provided we go into next year mindful of that, mindful of creating that feeling and finding a way to tell people about it, it can’t do anything but be stronger,” she says.
“What person is good at their job if they think what they are doing is perfect? For me, the day I think what I’m working on is perfect is the day I walk out the door. There is always room for improvement, there is always room to rate more, and I will never stop seeking that.
“That said, I don’t constantly look at what everyone else is doing because I believe in The Project and what it does as being marketing leader, being an exciting alternative.”
Thornton and her team have no plans to change core talent at this point, but she’s always looking for new guests. Regardless, Thornton promises the show isn’t going anywhere in 2019. The show is preparing to launch its biggest marketing campaign, and alongside the team from Roving – creator and executive producer, Craig Campbell and supervising producer, Chris Bendall – and Ten’s Peter Meakin, next year will be about making it “more exciting”.
“Beyond marketing, promos and content, The Project is a standalone brand and as the way we consume news, TV, media changes, The Project will continue to evolve. It’s got such a creative force behind it and I believe we will continue to find a way to talk to viewers,” Thornton says.
The Project is a good mix of the news, debate and fun. Not the same old boring monalog the other commercial stations constantly present. Where are all these polls taken from I don’t know anyone who has ever been polled.
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tired of know it all Waleed and now Wilkinson who thinks she can speak for all women.
had to turn back to A Current Affair that is how bad The Project has become.
As a conservative i am tired of liberals and lefties ramming their opinion down my throat and ridiculing my position as old and irrelevant.
I have been around a while and it’s funny how warm and fuzzy everyone gets and socially liberal when things are going well but how they come running back to the conservatives to lead them through the tough times.. says it all really..look at your history
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The EP is obviously very passionate about her show but to say the program is going gangbusters is quite naive. The 630-730 time slot is an integral part of setting up your viewing audience for the rest of the night, and those figures are woeful. Seven and Nine would have dumped the show, or made major changes, a long time ago.
The real reason the show is still on air, is it does return a profit and the programmer Beverley McGarvey has no idea what to replace it with. What would she replace it with, if the show ever went to Nine?
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Those ratings figures for The Sunday Project are rather misleading. The Sunday Project premiered in late August 2017. This is the programs first full year on the air.
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Love the project…my only complaint is I don’t think Lisa Wilkinson does anything for you program….at times she is way over the top with her comments…..let her go….
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I seriously don’t know a single person that watches this show. I can’t believe it’s still going.
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George negus?
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I don’t watch The Project- should be given a complete overhaul
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Love The Project!
I agree that Lisa Wilkinson is on the wrong show.
She should be on morning Tv in the old Kerryann Kennerley timeslot! She is a bore and really brings the dynamics of the real hosts down.
Other than that, the show will always be on in our home everyday at 6:30 ?
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I’m amazed that The Project gets an encore! And ahead of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The Project isnt worth watching once let alone twice. It’s no wonder Ten is going backwards in the ratings, putting such a poor show on twice and ahead of the much better Late Show.
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Couldn’t agree more!
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The show is unique, entertaining, informative, funny and engaging. Name another news program similar? Good on you for continuing to do it differently. It’s the only daily TV news program any of our 4 sons will dip in and out of, which say’s something about it’s approach and demo appeal. The other two – the red & the blue – just keep doing the same old thing for the same old result – an older audience that once has nothing coming in behind it. The Project has huge upside.
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You made your point null and void when you said that you “had to turn back to ACA”
Are you really THAT offended by the left leaning media that you resort to watching regularly ‘reports’ on:
– evil african gangs
– dodgy tradies
– coles mini promotions
I bet your heart also swells when a Masterchef contestant receives positive feedback from George and Gary and then they play that uplifting, Coldplay rip-off backing track as well.
Ah to be one of the innocent nameless masses like old mate Peter Quirk 🙂
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It used to be good previuosly but then quality started dropping late 2010s and worse after 2016-17. Probably after CBS ownership and employment of Lisa Wilkinson.
Reports are bery bias, pro-left side of politics and very gynocentric themes lately, especially after Lisa Wilkinson joined the programme. Lisa routinely conducts pro female interviews aligning with feminist agenda and often demonstrates misandrist sentiment.
In addition, there’s excessive ridiculing of Trump almost on a daily basis reflecting very bias and in all honesty quite disrespectful behaviour especially Australia being America’s close ally.
Just for the record, I am a “non-white & not straight” male, not that it has any significance but just to show my views are not merely prejudiced.
Jokes are frequently not very funny, it’s more like ridiculing other fellow Australians, once even mocked a person’s voice.
Generally stories lack substance and critical analysis. Time allocation and interview on certain crucial topics is limited, somewhat equal to other non relevant insignificant stories.
Moreover, usually there’s a set of fixed politicians interviewed on popular political issues without much variation.
These are the reasons I stopped watching project especially whenever Lisa W is the host.
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If the polls are to be believed, it just shows that so many people in this country are prepared to sit through and tolerate whatever garbage Freeview has to offer.
I haven’t bothered to tune into this drivel since its first season and based on the snippets that get advertised every so often, I don’t think I’ve missed much.
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It’s cheap to make and it’s profitable. Ten is not a charity, it doesn’t exist to pander exclusively to the prejudices of a tiny but loudmouthed minority.
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All the project does is verbally attack trump,
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