Despite the nightly current affairs program’s audience being in decline, a spokesman for the network recently told podcast That’s Entertainment that it’s “here to stay”.“Recent media reports inferring that The Project will not be on [Channel] 10 in 2022 are completely fabricated, false and misleading.“The Project has just celebrated its 12th birthday and is here to stay! At a time when information, context and understanding is more important than ever, The Project will continue to provide Australians with their dose of news delivered differently.”The show, which made its debut in 2009, hit a record low of just 270,000 (five-city metro) viewers last Thursday.According to Sunday Confidential, The Project’s ratings are down 20 per cent year on year, having shed almost 30 per cent of its 2011 audience of 538,000.Confidential also reports that hosts Carrie Bickmore and Lisa Wilkinson may be facing pay cuts in a bid to save the show. Wilkinson’s highly publicised jump from Nine’s Today show to The Project in 2018 reportedly saw her negotiate a $1.7 million contract, while longtime Project host Bickmore is believed to be on $1.5 million annually.The network has denied the reports.It comes amid a disastrous few months for Channel 10’s flagship programs.This year’s The Bachelorette debuted last month to just 397,000 viewers (five-city metro) – a very significant drop from the previous year starring sisters Elly and Becky Miles, which had until then held the unwanted record for lowest audience ever with 628,000.Meanwhile, the 2021 season of The Bachelor – starring pilot Jimmy Nicholson – premiered in July to a dismal 482,000 viewers from metro cities across the country, barely scraping into the top 20 TV shows of the night.
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