Around a third of ABC’s workforce walked off the job at 11am on Wednesday, protesting what they see as an unsatisfactory pay offer - 10% over three years plus a single $1,000 payment - in a move that left the public service broadcaster scrambling to fill key programming slots. The resulting disruption meant regular prime-time news and current affairs shows were swapped for repeats, upending ABC’s usual scheduling and disappointing loyal viewers used to tuning in for live national bulletins and flagship interviews.
The strike saw familiar shows swapped out for reruns, with BBC content filling daytime schedules and repeat episodes of Australian Story and Hard Quiz airing during high-profile evening slots. For example, ABC’s crucial 7pm news bulletin was replaced with a repeat about Michael Klim’s health from Australian Story, followed by a previously aired “Battle of the Network” Hard Quiz episode. These changes led to a dramatic drop-off in ABC’s viewership, as audiences across major cities switched off in large numbers rather than settle for repeated content.
Audience numbers paint a stark picture of the impact. In Melbourne, ABC’s 7pm viewership collapsed from 222,000 to 55,000 for the repeat, with a small uptick to 77,000 for Hard Quiz, still far below its usual audience. Sydney saw numbers at 7pm drop by over two-thirds to just 32,000, with the later quiz show pulling in only about half its usual viewers. Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all saw their 7pm and 7.30pm audiences slashed by well over half, illustrating just how reliant the ABC is on its nightly lineup to retain viewers.
This large-scale audience exodus during the strike highlights a bigger risk for the national broadcaster. It seems clear that ABC’s core value for viewers lies in its live, timely news and unique investigations, not in recycled programming. With roughly 1,600 union-affiliated workers rejecting the current pay proposal and further strikes possible, the network faces a challenging path to maintain audience trust and engagement if the industrial dispute drags on.
