Channel Seven's ambitious attempt take on Married At First Sight with a revamped Australian Idol is struggling. 

The show is rating not only behind MAFS, but is battling to keep ahead of Channel 10's Survivor in the primetime ratings shoot out.  

MAFS is averaging about 810,000 overnight viewers across the five-city metro markets and 1.8million in Total TV figures - factoring in time-shift playback figures and streaming views.

Australian Survivor is second with about 450,000 metro viewers (around 760,000 Total TV) while Idol - armed with its expensive judging panel and huge production costs - has a metro viewing average of about 400,000 and a Total TV average of 800,000 viewers.

However, from Monday January 30 to Wednesday February 1 Idol beat survivor in both Total TV and Overnight numbers.

Idol had 885,000 viewers to Survivor's 879,000 on January 30 in Total TV figures, and 673,000 to 579,000 Overnight. 

On the Tuesday Idol came second to Married at First sight with 841,000 viewers with Survivor in third with 808,000 in Total TV figures. Wednesday's rating were similar - 801,000 to 760,000. 

In Overnight ratings Idol also was ahead of Survivor on both Tuesday and Wednesday - coming in second with 657,000 to 410,115 on January 31, and 592,000 to 479,000 on February 1.

On all three days Survivor had higher Broadcast Video on Demand ratings than Idol, while both were well below Married at First Sight. 

But the figures are well below Seven's lofty expectations of the show - the return of which was heralded way back in October 2020 before the pandemic forced its delay.

However production finally kicked into gear in 2022 with Seven announcing its big-name judging lineup led by US crooner Harry Connick Jr, pop singer/songwriter Meghan Trainor and Aussie combo Amy Shark and Kyle Sandilands.

While the show was flagged as one of Seven's big prime-time hopes of 2023 and bravely pitted against MAFS, the shows failure to ignite the ratings has seen the internal finger-pointing begin.

'It's just not resonating with viewers.... proof that throwing money at a format, no matter how reliable it has been in the past, doesn't always work,' a network insider told Daily Mail Australia.

'You could argue it is the lack of chemistry with the judges or that the standard of performances are just not good enough.

'All of those things could contribute. Either way, two weeks in and it's a dog.' 

It's understood the reboot was a passion project of sorts for Seven's chief executive James Warburton who declared the show crucial to its core 16-39-year demographic.

Warburton admitted back in November 2022 that the network had 'big expectations' for the show after forking out huge dollars for the format after Ten first aired it back in 2005.

'Certainly from a publicity point of view and an awareness point of view, we're going into (quarter one) with the best awareness of a show (Australian Idol) that we've ever had,' he told The Australian.

'We have big expectations.'

Idol's new 2023 'all-white' judging panel also drew criticism, with fans and media observers slamming the new line-up's lack of diversity.

Another major factor working against Seven and Idol, says one media analyst, is Nine's Australian Open coverage which preceded the debut of MAFS on January 31 and bombarded viewers with enticing promos of the 'live experiment' smash hit.

'When Seven had the Australian Open rights they did the same thing with My Kitchen Rules and it rated its head off,' says prominent media buyer Ian Warner.

'Nine is now doing that with great success with MAFS.

'And some people were saying 'oh the tennis this year was a ratings fail' but I guarantee Seven would have killed for an 800,000 viewer lead-in (to Idol) that the tennis delivered for Nine.

Asked if Seven was happy with its return on investment in Idol, Seven's chief content boss Angus Ross was approached by Daily Mail Australia but declined to comment.

However a Seven spokesperson referred Ross's statement this week claiming 2023 was shaping to be one of Seven's 'biggest years yet'.

'Whether you measure it across the summer or 2023 so far, Seven is the #1 total TV network in Australia and the only network growing its commercial audience shares across total people and all key demographics,' Ross states.

'This year is shaping up to be one of our biggest years yet, with massive new shows, the launch of 7Bravo and NBCUniversal content on 7plus, sport that grips the nation, and popular news and public affairs content that will deliver huge audiences across all screens.'