LOSING OUT ON RATINGS

at First Sight has claimed another scalp, with the The Biggest Loser: Transformed to move from its Sunday night timeslot after dismal ratings.

Ten tinkered with its format, rejigging the concept, and hiring new trainers. But all to no avail with Nine’s own rebooted reality format trouncing it in the ratings.

Biggest Loser: Transformed, which screens on WIN in North Queensland, got off to a slow start, with only 450,000 viewers tuning in across five capital cities for its launch episode. On Monday night, it scored a dismal 335,000.

In contrast, Nine’s Married has gone from strength to strength, averaging 1,195,000 viewers over the week since Loser premiered, against 1,052,000 for Seven’s ratings juggernaut My Kitchen Rules and just 390,000 for Ten’s flailing format.

“We are hugely pleased [ with how Married at First Sight has been rating],” says Nine’s head of content and development, Adrian Swift.

“We took a risk taking it from a small, observational documentary into a much bigger thing. There is not a second of manufactured controversy in this.

“We literally can’t keep up with what’s going on.”

Ten will replace Biggest Loser with Bondi Rescue, Modern Family and Bull – all shows unlikely to signify a ratings win, believes media analyst Steve Allen.

“I don’t think there is a Plan B, nor the financial flexibility of a Plan B,” Allen says.

“Sure they can run Modern Family repeats and other G [ or PG- rated shows], but they don’t have much in the 7.30 [ time slot] content in our view to fall back on.”