PIERS Morgan’s new show is attracting pitifully small viewer numbers in a blow to its Rupert Murdoch-owned channel.
Despite a major publicity campaign, the ex-GMB presenter attracted just 10,000 viewers on Wednesday night according to figures from official audience analysts.
Piers Morgan: Uncensored is the flagship programme of News UK’s new TalkTV channel, and has so far featured interviews with ex-athlete Caitlyn Jenner and former US president Donald Trump.
But despite the high-profile interviews, and on-air controversy including Morgan being called a “c***” live by a trans-rights activist, the show has failed to attract viewers.
Wednesday’s episode received an average of 24,000 viewers but ended with just 10,000 according to data from the Broadcasters Audience Research Board.
The programme drew in 400,000 viewers on its debut on April 25 with its promise to “cancel the cancel culture” but numbers have declined since.
Morgan, a former editor of The Mirror, stormed off the GMB set in a dramatic moment last year.
He now writes a column in The Sun, also a Murdoch outlet, as well as his primetime talk show.
Morgan is faring better than his colleagues, the Metro reports, with presenter Tom Newton Dunn receiving just 3600 viewers – and reportedly none for half of its broadcast on Tuesday, May 3.
The figures will be a headache for the New UK chief Rebekah Brooks, who was the editor of The Sun when phone hacking was widespread at the paper. She was cleared by a jury of having any knowledge of illegal activity on her watch.
She had previously talked down the prospect of a new broadcast news channel as “not commercially viable” before having to backtrack when Murdoch signed Morgan on a reported £50 million deal, The Guardian reports.
