The painful death of daytime TV

Telegraph

24-05-2025

When ITV announced it was overhauling its daytime schedule at a hastily assembled meeting this week, it was the latest in a string of demoralising blows for staff.
The shake-up, which will lead to more than 220 job losses and sweeping scheduling changes for shows including Good Morning Britain, comes amid broader cutbacks at the channel as it grapples with an uncertain future.
But it also forms part of a wider trend that has seen under-pressure broadcasters wielding the axe on trusty daytime stalwarts as they shift focus instead to streaming-friendly hits.
For industry executives, it's an inevitable shift as traditional TV channels are forced to maintain their broadcast schedules while also fending off the competition from deep-pocketed streaming rivals.
For others, though, it raises concerns about the demise of a popular genre of programming that will hurt the industry and viewers alike.
'I think it's a bit of a canary in the coalmine, what's happened,' says John McVay, the chief executive of Pact, which represents production companies. 'You're going to see a lot of those daytime genres get decimated over the next few years.'
ITV's programming shake-up will see it transfer production of breakfast show Good Morning Britain from its in-house studios to ITN, the production business that also makes news programmes for Channel 4 and Channel 5.
GMB will be extended by half an hour. Meanwhile, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women will all now air just 30 weeks of the year.
More than 200 jobs slashed
It is the latest in a series of cuts at the public service broadcaster (PSB), which has already slashed more than 200 jobs and this year lifted its cost-saving target by a further £30m.
But ITV is not alone in wielding the axe. Channel 4 has found itself at loggerheads with Britain's production sector over budget cutbacks in recent years. The broadcaster this week revealed it cut spending on programming to £643m last year – among the lowest content budgets in its history, when adjusted for inflation.
SAS: Who Dares Wins, Steph's Packed Lunch and The Big Narstie Show are among a string of Channel 4 shows to have been cancelled in recent years. The BBC has also come under fire for its decision to axe daytime medical drama Doctors after 23 years. Screenwriter Philip Ralph branded the move a 'disastrous decision'.
Underpinning these cancellations is a step change in audience habits as TV viewing increasingly moves away from broadcast – known in the industry as 'linear' – to online.
The latest Ofcom figures show the average number of minutes of broadcast TV watched per day has tumbled by a quarter since 2018. While the switch-off is most acute among Gen Z, the research shows older viewers are increasingly turning to streaming as well.
As Britons change how they watch TV, they are also changing what they watch.
While breakfast TV was once the epicentre of ratings wars, helping to pull in significant sums of advertising, it is simply no longer in vogue. GMB pulled in an average audience of more than 1m prior to Piers Morgan's acrimonious departure in 2021. That figure now stands at closer to 700,000.
Similarly, the rest of the daytime schedule is under pressure in a world of on-demand viewing and instant gratification. So commissioning editors are shifting their focus as audiences – and therefore advertising – decline.
Big-ticket entertainment shows such as Britain's Got Talent or I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here still succeed in attracting large audiences on a Saturday night. In a fragmented market, this remains one of the few preserves of mass live viewing, alongside major sporting events.
At the same time, reality TV and high-end dramas such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office drive viewers to a broadcaster's streaming service. This helps them wrestle back viewers from the likes of Netflix and win online advertising revenues.
'We have to adapt to the reality of the market'
Yet daytime TV falls somewhere between the cracks. It does not pull in huge linear audiences, nor are viewers likely to seek it out on a streaming platform.
Alex Mahon, the outgoing chief executive of Channel 4, says: 'What you want in the day is normally comforting programming that's not too demanding, and there's lots of other options that you can stream now of those kind of shows. So we have to adapt to the reality of that market.'
Scott Bryan, a television critic, says: 'The shows we watch on streaming have always been different from the shows we watch on live TV.
'I think it's clear that for ITV to compete with streaming services, it has to continue to bump up its drama offering and its streaming offering. So, of course, that comes at the expense of daytime.'
ITV insists daytime remains an important part of its schedule, adding that the changes will allow the channel to expand its news output. However, the channel also acknowledges that it will re-invest the cost savings in drama and sports.
A report from Pact earlier this year showed broadcasters are moving their spending to higher-budget genres and peak-time entertainment at the expense of factual programmes and daytime TV.
Ian Katz, the chief content officer at Channel 4, says: 'What you've seen over the last year or two, across the board, is a focus on the kind of shows that people love to stream – which tend to be reality shows, drama, glossier premium factual shows – and a push towards cheaper programming that is popular on linear that perhaps doesn't stream.'
British TV ecosystem at risk
The need to redirect budgets away from the 'middle' area of programming occupied by daytime TV comes as broadcasters warn of a funding crisis.
Channel 4 is increasingly diverting its resources elsewhere. The youth-focused broadcaster this week struck a deal to air video clips on Spotify. It follows similar deals with TikTok and Snap, as well as a partnership with YouTube.
For the production sector, it's a worrying trend. 'All the public service broadcasters are going for bigger, better, fewer,' says McVay. 'The change in commissioning is going to basically squeeze that [middle] part of production to the point where it barely exists.'
Industry observers point out that daytime TV is a key training ground for staff such as producers and camera operators – who then go on to work on prime-time shows. If this pipeline of talent is scratched out, the whole British TV ecosystem could be at risk.
'If you tear up daytime too quickly or too recklessly then that can have a real negative consequence for the TV industry, at already quite a perilous time,' says Bryan.
Katz acknowledges the problem. 'There is an important issue of how the industry transitions to a world where there's more of these kinds of shows and fewer of the shows in the middle,' he says.
What does this mean for viewers?
With ITV cutting down its daytime schedule to a so-called 'seasonal' timetable, this will inevitably mean more repeats. It comes as the BBC has also ramped up its use of repeats to fill the gap left by its cost-cutting move, reducing programming by 100 hours.
As a result, the cutbacks risk depriving linear TV audiences – predominantly older viewers – of the programmes they know and love.
Worse still, the crisis is not limited to 'off-peak' programming.
Analysts say the early evening slots of 7pm and 8pm – traditionally home to lifestyle and consumer affairs shows – are also coming under pressure as viewers increasingly choose to switch on a streaming service, rather than browse the programme guide, when they get home from work.
Meanwhile, Ofcom has repeatedly sounded the alarm that British comedy programming – particularly sitcoms – are at risk in the streaming age.
Jon Petrie, the BBC director of comedy, said this week: 'Without decisive action from broadcasters, policymakers, and industry partners, the future of this uniquely British cultural and economic asset hangs in the balance.'
Broadcasters can be forgiven for feeling they are in something of a bind. They are required to maintain costly broadcast infrastructure and air public service content all while adapting to the streaming age and fending off competition from well-resourced US rivals.
As a result, many in the industry feel something has to give – and daytime TV is in the crosshairs.
This will only become more acute as the industry moves towards a world in which all TV is delivered over the internet. With no schedule to fill and a world of on-demand at viewers' fingertips, the terrestrial switch-off could ultimately be the final nail in the coffin for many of Britain's daytime favourites.