Nine has been touting its new ’7PM stripped reality’ plan since the end of last year, but now it seems one of its big 7PM players in 2011, The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, may move to ‘an 8pm burn’, if reports in The Daily Telegraph are true.
The tabloid claims that with post-Easter competition soaring post the enforced non-ratings period, Nine will screen The Celebrity Apprentice Australia ‘at least twice weekly’ after The Block, which will screen at 7PM.
After the success of stripping its reality television shows (The Block and Celebrity Apprentice Australia) in 2011, Nine set out to strip the format all year long, starting with Excess Baggage (now on GO!), leading into The Block and Celebrity Apprentice Australia, then into the Olympics, and finishing with Big Brother.
While Excess Baggage has not been the hit the network was expecting, Celebrity Apprentice Australia did prove itself in the timeslot in the final weeks of 2011 when it ran five nights a week as an ‘experiment’ to solidify the network’s confidence in stripping reality at 7PM, after successfully converting The Block into a five-night a week show in that format.
If Celebrity Apprentice Australia ran at 7PM after The Block, it would air in the heart of winter, allowing for a big potential audience. It would however be up against MasterChef Australia which will also return to a 7PM airing this year.
But even still, the news is still odd. If it is true, reality television could dominate the winter landscape for months with Dancing with the Stars, The Block, The Voice Australia, MasterChef Australia and Australia’s Got Talent all airing at that time.
More news on timeslots is set to surface as Easter draws near.
Source: The Daily Telegraph
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