This Morning is facing fresh doubts over its future after viewing figures almost halved in two months.Just over a million saw new hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard’s first day in mid-March.By the same point in May the peak fell to 589,000 - with an average of 486,000 tuning in to the ITV show.Meanwhile, BBC1 rival Morning Live had solid figures between one million to 1.4million.It is the latest blow to This Morning after the loss of hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.A TV insider said: “Nobody at This Morning thought viewing figures would dip beneath the landmark low of half a million."The arrival of Ben and Cat was supposed to spark a resurgence and hopefully keep the ratings above the million mark.“But within a couple of weeks it became apparent they hadn’t done the trick while their nemesis Morning Live stayed strong.“Now there is a massive question mark lingering over the future of the show as it’s difficult to justify the huge costs of making a live, daily show, especially at a time when ad revenues for linear TV are so low.”Last year This Morning faced chaos after it emerged Phillip had an affair with a young runner on the show.However peak viewing figures were still between 682,000 and 996,000.He then quit and Holly later followed, after an alleged plot to kidnap and murder her.An ITV spokeswoman said: “This Morning continues to reach over four million viewers a week and remains one of the most streamed programmes on ITVX in 2024.“The award-winning show has never had a better connection with viewers; with 11 million followers across This Morning social media platforms and almost 130 million video views of This Morning content each month, reaching an average of 62million unique social media accounts every month.”
©News Group Newspapers Limited.