ITV bosses are said to have called a crisis meeting with its four flagship daytime shows following a huge slump in viewers that’s causing the broadcaster to take drastic measures

Loose Women, Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Lorraine are facing crisis talks as they are hit with a huge slump in viewers.

The daytime shows are facing pay freezes and job losses as ITV bosses try to offset the financial damage caused by a ratings dip. The broadcaster is said to have taken drastic measures as a way to cut costs on some of its biggest shows. It has been reported shorter three-month contracts could be favoured instead of long term deals for staff, while freelances could be cut.

Their annual ITV summer do, which sees the networks biggest stars come together to let their hair down could also be axed. Meetings have reportedly been held by ITV’s daytime boss Emma Gormley to break the news affecting its four flagship shows. Loose Women, Good Morning Britain, This Morning and Lorraine staff are said to have been shown a graph detailing their rapid decline in ratings.

It was compared to the huge viewing figures streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. As reported by The Sun, a source said: “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, probably so they can get rid of people easily.”

Lorraine Kelly
ITV has called crisis meetings with staff ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

 

Susanna Reid
Good Morning Britain is among the shows affected ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock) 

They claimed pay freezes are already in place and that ITV are trying to keep costs down by “not trialling new talent on regular segments”. It has been reported bosses are hoping ratings will pick up during the UK election campaign. The source added the news is “particularly difficult to stomach” following the costly This Morning relaunch.

An ITV spokesperson told the Mirror: “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.”

They added: “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.”

It has been reported new This Morning hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley bagged a staggering £550,000 as they took over from Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. In their first month in the job, ratings slumped from more than a million to 692.500. By the end of April, the average number of live viewers was 544,000.