Several of ITV’s biggest stars are reportedly in panic mode as they fear bosses will be making further cuts amid plummeting ratings on some of their daytime TV shows including Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Loose Women.
It has been reported that many big-name contracts are set to be going under review in the coming months, while shows like GMB are getting revamped.
And the rotating panel of Loose Women presenters are thought to be at risk, as the broadcaster seeks to save money and backroom jobs.
A source told The Sun: ‘It’s panic station time. The presenters’ contracts are under major review when they come to expire — normally in August or September — and further cuts have been warned of.’
‘Editors are so concerned that they are sending staff daily ‘heat maps’ on ratings, showing which items lost viewers.
Several of ITV’s biggest stars are reportedly in panic mode as they fear bosses will be making further cuts amid plummeting ratings on some of their daytime TV shows including Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Loose Women (Dermot O’Leary pictured last month)
It’s been reported that many big-name contracts are set to be going under review in the coming months, while shows like GMB are getting revamped (Adil Ray on GMB last year)
And the rotating panel of Loose Women presenters are thought to be at risk, as the broadcaster seeks to save money and backroom jobs (Kaye Adams, Brenda Edwards, Linda Robson, Nadia Sawalha pictured on show last month)
‘A few of the Loose Women panel are worried too, as so many new faces have been brought in and some have worked better than others.’
The insider further alleges that two stars that could theoretically be on the chopping block are GMB’s Adil Ray and This Morning’s Dermot O’Leary, as they are on 12-month contracts.
However they added: ‘Dermot polls really well with viewers and absolutely no one wants him to go anywhere. So he’ll be safe.’
It comes a month after it was reported that ITV’s biggest hosts are also facing a pay freeze as the channel holds crisis talks.
Production teams and staff on shows, that are faced by stars such as Susanna Reid, Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, will have their salaries frozen, according to The Sun.
Cat and Ben took over the helm of This Morning earlier this year, after the departure of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby and reportedly signed contracts for a cool £555,000, while Susanna is said to have a £1.1 million per year deal.
ITV are said to have warned there could also be job cuts which will impact both permanent members of staff and freelancers.
The channel is believed to also be switching long term roles in the company to just three-month contracts.
The insider further alleges that two stars that could theoretically be on the chopping block are GMB’s Adil Ray and This Morning’s Dermot O’Leary (pictured in May), as they are on 12-month contracts
It comes a month after it was reported that ITV’s biggest hosts are also facing a pay freeze as the channel holds crisis talks (Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard pictured on This Morning)
Production teams and staff on shows, that are faced by stars such as Susanna Reid (pictured), Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, will have their salaries frozen, according to The Sun
And it is not just employment they are targeting as it is believed the company’s big summer party – which attracts some of the biggest stars in the business – is also at risk.
The ratings are believed to have dropped so poorly that it triggered ITV’s daytime boss to call a series of crisis ‘Town Hall’ meetings earlier in May to break the news to the four shows.
Staff were reportedly presented with a graph detailing the rapid decline in ratings, while also showing the successful viewing figures for Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Bosses are said to have discussed Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, which had 60million views in a month, Amazon’s The Grand Tour, 170million views worldwide, and Clarkson’s Farm, which obtained 11million views in its first weekend.
A source told the publication: ‘ITV is really tightening their belt. There have been concerns for months at the top but now that it’s trickled down to the shop floor it feels very depressing.
‘A lot of staff are being put on three-month contracts. Staff are hopeful that the UK elections will help boost their ratings.’
An ITV spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Town hall meetings happen frequently for teams to keep up to date with company news and also serve as an opportunity for staff to have questions answered.’
‘The latest one was to celebrate the success of Lorraine Kelly receiving a BAFTA Special Recognition Award and the two BAFTA nominations for Daytime last weekend. It was also a transparent portrayal of what is currently happening across the industry.’
ITV are said to have warned there could also be job cuts which will impact both permanent members of staff and freelancers. The channel is believed to also be switching long term roles in the company to just three-month contracts (Loose Women pictured last week)
The ratings are believed to have dropped so poorly that it triggered ITV ‘s daytime boss to call a series of crisis ‘Town Hall’ meetings earlier in May to break the news to the four shows (Kate Garraway pictured last month)
This Morning viewing figures dipped when Cat and Ben began helming the show, earlier this year.
Following the departure of Holly and Phillip, the ITV show was thrown into chaos as producers scrambled to find permanent replacements.
Cat and Ben were unveiled as the show’s new host’s in March, with their debut episode drawing an average viewership of 806,000 and a peak of one million – among the show’s highest ratings of 2024 so far.
But the following week saw the figure plunge to as low as 692,500, lower than both Holly and Phillip’s last day, which saw 767,00 people tune in.
A source told The Sun at the time: ‘The hope was that the new duo would bring back an air of stability and familiarity back to This Morning. It’s still relatively early days, but the signs are not good.’
They added: ‘After the initial flurry of interest on their first day in the job, the viewing figures almost immediately dipped back into six figures.
‘ITV bosses will be hoping they can turn things around before the next big milestone date as they’ve so much riding on Ben and Cat being a success.’
Cat and Ben took over the helm of This Morning earlier this year, after the departure of Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby and reportedly signed contracts for a cool £555,000, while Susanna is said to have a £1.1 million per year deal
Following the departure of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, the ITV show was throw into chaos as producers scrambled to find permanent replacements (pictured in June 2018)
A spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘As a broadcaster and streamer, ITV has a range of programming in its Daytime schedules. This Morning reached an average 4.2 million viewers a week in April alone, its highest so far in 2024.
‘In 2023 This Morning was one of the most streamed shows on ITVX. Like all media, This Morning has expanded into the digital sphere with record breaking results.
‘This Morning remains Britain’s most talked about and influential daytime TV show and has never had a better connection with its viewer, with just under 160 million video views of This Morning content and reached 63 million unique social media accounts in April.’
