David Kermode to depart Daybreak

Reports suggest that former BBC Breakfast boss David Kermode is to leave ITV’s morning magazine show Daybreak less than 12 months after joining the replacement for GMTV.

ITV bosses are expected to bring in This Morning boss Karl Newton (pictured above) to improve the fortunes of the show. Newton has brought ratings and award success to This Morning during his tenure in charge.

Daybreak re-launched with a GMTV/TV-am format in September this year under changes lead by Kermode to improve the audience appreciation and ratings for the show – which had been below an acceptable level for ITV bosses virtually since Daybreak’s launch in 2010.

The show replaced GMTV two years ago to much criticism from viewers and a continual fall in ratings. The ditching of warm colours and friendly faces for drab purple and shoe-horned in former One Show hosts Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles proved a turn-off and ITV has struggled to claw back a ratings increase ever since

Dan Lobb and Kate Garraway replaced Chiles and Bleakley in December last year, with several format tweeks along the way, all proving to make no impact on ratings or audience appreciation – which at one time Daybreak had the dubious honour of having the worst audience appreciation in the history of the measurement.

BBC Breakfast continues to have a significant lead over its rival, attracting around 1.5 million viewers, compared to Daybreak’s 700,000 average.

Daybreak with Aled Jones and Lorraine Kelly has taken on a TV-am feel for its latest revamp.

At the time of Daybreak’s much-fan fared launch ITV top boss Adam Crozier said, “It is important to remember GMTV was on a gradual slide down and it is important to try and take a risk,”

A risk which has brought ITV no improvement on GMTV‘s ratings, they’re worse, and four sofa’s later, endless set tweaks and presenter pay-offs – it seems a lot of wasted money. The latest revamp, by David Kermode, has seen a slight ratings improvement, and an overall rise in the appreciation ranking, however it appears ‘instant fixes’ are what ITV executives want, and haven’t been given.

Lorraine Kelly with Aled Jones currently present the TV-am and GMTV styled show, full of warm colours and a popular mix of serious news and lighter features. The current set and tone all trying to recapture the halcyon days of the late 1980s and 90s at ITV Breakfast.

Broadcast and Media Guardian report that the production team were informed earlier today that editor Kermode is to depart Daybreak at the end of next month. The articles also suggest that This Morning’s executive producer Karl Newton, who also produces Daybreak, will step into the editorial post.

The news has been met with surprise online,

“Pathetic news. ITV really just don’t get it, do they? Two or so months is hardly enough time to see a revamped programme bedded in and rise in the ratings. These things take years, not weeks, and the sooner they get that into their thick skulls the better. It’s just one constant chop-and-change after another and quite frankly, I’m beginning to tire of it. No doubt we’ll see another round of editorial changes. If they had any sense they’d leave everything alone to quietly develop and grow. ITV really is a bloody big embarrassment these days.” Said Nicky on TV Forum

“It really is time ITV gave up on breakfast TV, they’ve spent millions to no purpose whatsoever, and ended a few careers in the process. Will Kelly and Jones be leaving as well ? How many more re-launches can the dwindling band of viewers stand ?” said FTV on Digital Spy’s forums

“Such a hasty decision. No-one gives anything a chance anymore. This show seems to go from bad to worse. How long before Aled and Lorraine go?? It’s entirely possible now!” Said Aconnell on TV Forum

“It’s not that Karl Newton that used to present Trisha Extra is it? How fabulous! A bit of humour is what we need.” said a poster on Yahoo.

“You can see the show becoming even more tabloid orientated, with a shift to human interest once more. Kermode’s Daybreak was not revolutionary, but it sure did give people want they needed – NEWS.” Said EDExel on TV Forum.

“Turkeybreak just seems jinxed – no matter what they try doesn’t seem to work. I’ll bet they regret axing GMTV now. The news that This Morning producer Karl Newton is also going to manage Turkeybreak might indicate that they’ll try and turn both shows into one long, seamless This Morning show.” Said TelevisionUser on Digital Spy

“No wonder the show never gets chance to bed in properly and the ratings don’t increase. How long before they plan yet another relaunch?.. The worst thing they could possibly do is make it even more like ITV daytime or This Morning. So I expect that’s exactly what will happen. That was part of the January 2012 refresh and it didn’t work. And if they do it again, it will just become a vicious circle.” said SWatson7 on TV Forum with Cylon6 adding, “I have to agree that ditching an editor so quickly is madness. He’s barely been in the job.”

While Mia on Digital Spy noted a short view, “Lorraine & Aled are just awful.”

And a sensible view from KevizzMS on TV Forum, “I struggle to believe that he was made to leave, only because it seems such an incredulously stupid and unnecessary thing to do. Were they expecting the damage done by the previous version of Daybreak to just disappear overnight? Surely ITV realise that it will take a significant amount of time for the new format to find its groove and start building up an audience?

“Here in Australia, the perennial third-place network Ten reentered the breakfast television market at the beginning of this year. They have had almost no luck clawing an audience away from their established competitors – struggling to consistently pull just one tenth of their audience. Yet they’ve still been going at it for the whole of 2012 and have renewed the programme for 2013. ITV is in a considerably better position than Ten, but this long-term approach is a necessity if they wish to find success. There’s no magic formula to summon an audience, chopping and changing will only worsen their performance.”

Kermode joined Daybreak last year from Channel 5 where he had overseen their news output since 2007, he edited BBC Breakfast between 2004 and 2007.