First of all: Germany’s Next Topmodel is still one of the most successful TV shows among the young target group. Heidi Klum’s model search has been going on for 18 years now. During this period, the casting journey repeatedly fought its way out of low ratings. It could be different this time. In the current season, the ProSieben show is slipping into a dark audience crisis. It has never been worse for her.
Above all, the question hovers: What role does the heavy criticism of the show play?
Gemany’s Next Topmodel reaches fewer viewers than ever before
Last week, the industry site DWDL reported a ratings valley at GNTM: The edition had reached a season low for the second time in a row. An average of 620,000 viewers between the ages of 14 and 49 were there live – according to the DWDL, the worst value in 5 years.
The total audience for the episode was 1.23 million viewers. This number results from the provisionally calculated time-delayed use of the Internet. According to DWDL, it means a “All Time Low” in the show’s history and perpetuates the plummeting viewership trend in the current season: it will be the first to average fewer than 2 million people per episode. What are the reasons for that?
Does the criticism of GNTM affect public interest?
ProSieben
GNTM
We can only speculate about the reasons for the dwindling interest in GNTM. Since its inception, the show and its flagship Heidi Klum have been criticized for harmful content. So far, this has not harmed the ratings.
What is striking, however, is that the weakest season in GNTM history falls in the year following the most intense allegations to date. In the spring of 2022, the ex-candidate Lijana Kaggwa addressed the public with a YouTube video. She reported manipulations on the set. Like that the feet of some models were creamed by stylists so that they could slide down the catwalk in high heels.
A Spiegel research later reported “illegal gag contracts”, which the candidates should have signed. Ex-candidate Kera Rachel Cook said in the article: “On the show, you’re constantly looking for ways to do that increase the stress level of the participants and expose them in front of the television audience.” Ex-candidate Tessa Bergmeier previously reported from the jungle camp with further harsh allegations.
The criticism of GNTM reached a new dimension. And at the beginning of the current season, Heidi Klum was forced to react for the first time. In a statement that was later cut from the media library version, she commented on the allegations, but let a large part of the criticism roll off.
Is GNTM now feeling the consequences of the public outcry? The numbers at least speak a clear language.