Piers Morgan’s talk show draws curious – who don’t stay for the entire hour

Piers Morgan’s chat shows Uncensored averaged 317,000 views for its first episode on Monday, topping both Sky News and the BBC News channel in the same time period.

At 8 p.m., the presenter’s well return to television drew a 2% share of all television viewing, peaking at 397,000 viewers as interested people checked out the new offering but didn’t remain for the full hour.

The new network was free of most of the technical issues that plagued the right-wing GB News‘ start last year, thanks to an unlimited marketing budget. Instead, viewers were treated to a highly monitored interview with former US President Donald Trump, as well as a series of diatribes on “woke” insurance policies, canceling traditions, and other topics that aren’t allowed to be discussed on television nowadays, per The Guardian.

Between 7 and 10 p.m., talk tv shows three hours of recent content, including Morgan’s show, a Tom Newton Dunn hosted information and political conversation show, and a Sharon Osborne hosted panel show. The rest of the station’s programming is made up of shows from the original audio-only talk radio lineup.

The preliminary results were slightly better than GB News’ launch night last year. Although talk TVs ratings are likely to decline in the coming weeks as preliminary viewer interest wanes, the start suggests that there is a market for a channel built around Morgan’s show – which opened with a graphic of an exploding 3D mind with the phrases “woke insanity,” “snowflake society,” and “the world’s gone mad” imposed over the top.

Media analysts at Enders Analysis mentioned the funds for the new station have been unclear. They mentioned talk tv is “unlikely to achieve the viewing levels required for stand-alone profitability in the midterm” however advised that its effect on the media might be “disproportionate to its viewing levels”.

The analysts mentioned talk TV’s future will probably be partly formed by whether or not clips go viral on social media: “People like to feel part of a broader conversation and prefer it when that conversation is widely shared and impactful.”

The launch of talkTV poses a serious threat to GB News, which has gradually rebuilt itself after a catastrophic start, but now risks being overwhelmed by Murdoch’s sleeker, extra mainstream rival. Its watching rates remain well below break-even, although Nigel Farage’s weekday night show, which averages 100,000 viewers, improves its tv ratings.