Small Viewership, Big Names - Piers Morgan Lands Another Major Interview

Like him or loathe, the man gets scoops.

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A warning before we begin. This edition of the newsletter is nice about Piers Morgan. Don’t let that put you off!

Tonight, TalkTV will broadcast another blockbuster interview conducted by Piers Morgan. This time the host has sat down with Luis Rubiales, the disgraced former head of the Spanish Football Association. He is the former head because he announced his resignation during the interview. It follows him kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips as she went to get her World Cup winners medal, something she insists was not consensual. 

There has been plenty written about that incident and I do not need to add to the noise. (You can probably guess my opinion anyway…) What is fascinating is that Morgan, even on a minor channel, can still land these massive, narrative-setting interviews. Like him or loathe him, the man knows how to get a scoop.

Obviously, this is not only Morgan’s work. Presenters always need a team around them to help them look good. For example, the Rubiales interview was secured by booker Rebecca Banovic, who has joined TalkTV from Sky News.

It is also clear that Morgan’s name helps bring in the big interviews and that one leads to another. Seeing his previous interviews makes prospective guests feel comfortable about coming onto his show. Remember, it launched with a two-part interview with Donald Trump. Morgan has also spoken to Tyson Fury, Stormy Daniels and Kanye West, amongst others, and conducted the interview with Christiano Ronaldo that led to the Portuguese superstar exiting Manchester United. 

It was one thing when Morgan was landing big interviews on CNN or “Good Morning Britain”. It is quite another doing it on a channel that has, at points, registered zero viewers, a fate that befell Tom Newton-Dunn’s show. “Piers Morgan Uncensored” gets around 30,000 regular viewers, the i reported back in April. This pretty low number is significantly boosted when there is a huge, well-publicised interview. The Ronaldo chat reportedly drew in 334,000 viewers.

Being part of News UK means that Talk TV is part of a bigger machine that can help with promoting key stories.