ITV has held ‘crisis talks’ with staff after a ratings slump (Picture: Paul Ellis/ AFP/ Getty Images)
ITV staff are facing ‘shorter contracts, pay freezes and job cuts’ as daytime TV shows suffer a ‘big slump’ in viewers.
Production members on shows fronted by stars including Susanna Reid, Ben Shephard, Cat Deeley and Lorraine Kelly have reportedly been warned of the measures following ‘crisis meetings’ being held at the broadcaster.
Last week ITV’s daytime boss called a series of ‘Town Hall’ meetings to break the news affecting four of its ‘struggling flagship shows’ — Good Morning Britain, This Morning, Lorraine and Loose Women.
After showing staff a graph detailing the rapid decline in ratings, she then highlighted the booming viewing figures for streaming platforms Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Referencing the massive success of shows like Baby Reindeer, which had 60 million views in a month, she also pointed towards the viewing figures of Amazon’s The Grand Tour which has been watched more than 170 million times worldwide, as well as Clarkson’s Farm, which had almost 11million views in its first weekend.
‘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 source told The Sun.
Staff on shows like This Morning have been warned ‘shorter contracts and pay freezes’ could be imminent (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
‘A lot of staff are being put on three-month contracts, probably so they can get rid of people easily. There are pay freezes in place.
‘On screen they are keeping costs down by not trialling new talent on regular segments.’
They went on to say there was ‘hope that the viewing figures pick up again’ as the UK election campaigns kick in again, but that it felt ‘particularly difficult to stomach after they splashed out on the re-launch of This Morning’.
Other shows affected include Lorraine (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
A source said it ‘feels very depressing on the shop floor’ of the broadcaster, which also produces Loose Women (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)
After the exit of long-time This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, new hosts Ben and Cat were reported to have been paid £555,000 each to take over.
However, in the month after they started, ratings fell from more than a million to 692,500.
After two months they were as low as 635,000, with recent stats showing the average number of people watching live was 544,000.
Meanwhile, last year Susanna was said to have a £1million contract to front GMB, making her one of the best paid presenters on TV.
The success of shows like Baby Reindeer was also referenced in the meetings (Picture: Ed Miller/Netflix / Avalon)
Aside from freelance staff being cut, ITV employees are also ‘being warned’ job losses and three-month contracts could be rolled out, while the annual summer party could also be cut.
However, in a statement to Metro.co.uk, an ITV spokesperson said: ‘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.’
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