The day after Network Ten concocted a ratings age demographic to push Puberty Blues as a No 1 show, it announced the recruiting of a TV programming guru.
Ten boss Hamish McLennan said on Friday the appointment of John Stephens as the director of scheduling and acquisitions was part of network's "turnaround strategy".
Stephens' career in TV spans more than 40 years.
McLennan said Stephens had led both the Nine and Seven networks to the top of the ratings and had been a driving force behind some of the most successful programs on Australian TV.
"He is a critically important addition to our management team," McLennan said in a statement.
"His appointment underlines our commitment to hiring industry-best talent as we work on our turnaround strategy."
Stephens' arrival at Ten comes at a critical time.
The network's four marquee programs for 2014 - reality shows So You Think You Can Dance Australia (SYTYCD) and The Biggest Loser, and local dramas Secrets & Lies and Puberty Blues - have bombed.
It's an ominous start for the beleaguered network, which invested heavily in the Big Bash domestic cricket competition during the summer and the Sochi Winter Olympics in February.
Both sporting events had ratings success of sorts and gave Ten a platform to promote its upcoming shows.
McLennan had pitched the two sporting events as the launch-pads of a new ratings era for Ten.
So far the experiment has failed.
SYTYCD and The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia are struggling to get 400,000 viewers per episode, and Secrets & Lies launched with 404,000 watchers on Monday, according to OzTAM's overnight figures.
The second season of Puberty Blues started on Wednesday with an audience of 538,000, which was the smallest number of viewers to watch a first-run episode of the series.
The show trended at No 1 on Twitter, however.
Ten was not put off by Puberty Blues' struggle to attract viewers, and the day after it aired the network put a statement saying it had been the No 1 show for 13- to 29-year-olds.
The age demographic does not officially exist with OzTAM. Neither is it Ten's target age demographic, which is 25- to 54-year-olds.
A Ten representative told AAP the age demographic of 13-29 was created in-house by using a spread of OzTAM's official ratings.
Ten's decision to create its own age demographic to promote a show highlights just how important Stephens' appointment is for the network.
He will work with the station's chief programming officer, Beverley McGarvey, to turn the network's fortunes around.
On the surface, that will be easier said than done.
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