Lisa Wilkinson may be regretting her decision to jump ship from the Today show.
Following the former Nine star’s shock move to The Project, ratings have steadily declined for the once popular show – with even long-running series Bondi Rescue scoring better viewing figures.
While Lisa’s debut on the talk show attracted a healthy 583,000 views according to a report in The Daily Telegraph, her star power doesn’t appear to be enough, with last Sunday’s show attracting just 227,000 views.
However, Mediaweek editor James Manning was quick to shift the blame from Lisa to the show’s format.
‘[With Wilkinson] people were intrigued at the start, for a one-off, but haven’t really tuned in if they didn’t believe in the format before that,’ he told the Telegraph.
‘There does seem to be a reluctance for people to embrace a current affair-style show on Sunday nights, preferring the magazine shows like 60 Minutes and Sunday Night.’
Meanwhile, a Network Ten spokesperson told the publication that judging the show from one night’s ratings was ‘misleading’.
‘Despite sitting in a highly competitive time slot, it has increased its audience by 28 per cent across the full hour and by 34 per cent in the second half-hour, compared with 2017 (average).”
Lisa, 58, stunned Today fans when she sensationally quit the morning show last October following a salary dispute.
It has been reported that the journalist is being paid a $2.3 million salary to front The Sunday Project on weekends and helm the new digital site Ten Daily for the network.
