Ten is reportedly deep in talks to hand production of its news bulletins to a competing broadcaster, along with responsibility for selling advertising across its channels. That kind of deal would mark a major structural shift for commercial television, moving core newsroom and sales functions outside the network.
Management is exploring the overhaul as the younger audience Ten has long targeted chooses other sources for daily news instead. Viewers are fragmenting and the old playbook is under pressure.
Ratings data from OzTam shows how sharp the decline has become, especially around Ten’s flagship 5pm bulletin. The average national audience for that programme is down almost 20% this month compared with the same period last year.
In contrast rival 6pm bulletins on Seven and Nine are growing and consistently drawing more than 1.3 million viewers each night. Ten’s main news programmes, by comparison, average just 289,000 viewers so far in July, sliding from 351,000 a year earlier.
Audience behaviour explains why the numbers hurt so much. The early evening timeslot traditionally anchors a network’s daily schedule and underpins the value of adjacent advertising inventory.
When a bulletin slides from the mid-300,000s to below 300,000 viewers, the impact runs through negotiated ad rates, package deals and affiliate agreements. Advertisers increasingly prioritise bigger live audiences, so Ten faces a tougher sell against competitors with stronger 6pm performance.
If Ten proceeds with outsourcing, Australian commercial TV could move further towards consolidation of news production in fewer hands. A rival network or external media group would gain extra scale and more bargaining power with advertisers, even as Ten potentially cuts costs and reduces risk.
