Industry News

Idol's debut ratings nothing to sing about

Ratings for Sunday night's debut episode of the new family-friendly Australian Idol, shedded up to 20 per cent of last year's audience.

With ratings for the reality series continuing to slide - down more than 100,000 viewers nationally - the move to an earlier 6.30pm timeslot has failed to stem the tide against the program. The Daily Telegraph reports that despite acting swiftly to distance itself from shock jock Kyle Sandilands, the decision to dump the controversial judge appears to have fractured audiences further. Whether a protest vote against Sandilands' sacking or a snub of the radio star, who appears in this year's first three pre-recorded episodes, ratings across all demographics took a tumble.

Now in its seventh season, Channel 10's Idol finished third in the timeslot nationally, with an average of 1.29 million viewers, to Nine's returning Domestic Blitz (1.34m) and Seven's Dancing With The Stars (1.301m).

It was viewers aged in the overlapping categories of 25-54 and over 40 who voted with their remotes, losing 10.5 per cent and 20 per cent of viewers respectively on last year's audience figures. Sydney turned off the program in particular, with audience numbers down 12.7 per cent to 402,386 people.

It was the first ratings test of audience sentiment following Sandilands part in a live lie detector test of a 14-year-old girl on his 2DayFM breakfast show. The humiliating segment spiraled out of control when the teenager said under duress that she had been raped two years ago.
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ACMA launches investigation into Vile and Tacky O controversy

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced it would launch an investigation, reviewing the practices that lead to the public humiliation of a 14 year-old alleged rape victim on the Kyle and Jackie O Show on 2DAYFM.

Public outrage has followed the stunt in which a 14-year girl was strapped to a lie detector and asked questions about her sex life. Two weeks later, Austereo is yet to release its findings or terminate the broadcasters who let the girl go live to air without delay while knowing she was 14-years old. The girl’s mother, who took part in the segment to win Pink concert tickets, has also been slammed for forcing her daughter onto the show and asking of her sexual experiences despite having prior knowledge of the alleged rape.

Despite recent claims by the girl's extended family that she was not raped in an interview with A Current Affair, the innocence of the girl will not be what the ACMA investigation is about. ACMA will be looking at the policies that were in place that allowed this to go to air in the first place.

It does not change the fact Kyle and Jackie O agreed and encouraged the under age girl to go on the program without her consent, hooked up to a lie detector, and allowed the questioning to go to air without using a 7-second delay. Kyle asking "Right … is that the only experience you’ve had?" straight after the girl claimed to being raped two years ago, in particular, has been subject to heavy criticism.
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