Breakfast TV show Good Morning has lost a fifth of its viewers since getting rid of long-term presenters Brendan Pongia and Sarah Bradley.
The TVNZ magazine-style show controversially hired Jeanette Thomas and Rod Cheeseman when the show moved from Wellington to Auckland last year.
However, figures from Nielsen show the new hosts have failed to maintain viewership.
The average number of daily viewers between February 13 and April 3 last year was 84,000. For the same time this year viewership fell by 21 per cent to 66,200.
TVNZ publicist Stephanie Taylor said it was too early to judge whether the new presenters were rating well.
"It is a new show with a new set and new people. It significantly dominates the 9am to noon time slot. Feedback we have received about Rod and Jeanette shows they have been very well received," she said.
Pongia said he wasn't surprised the ratings had dropped.
"People don't like change,"Pongia said. "We had been there such a long time and it takes people a while to get used to new things."
Pongia is working on a new show but could not reveal what it was.
Bradley is also working on a new show with TVNZ but she, too, declined to talk about the details. She wished the show and the new presenters well, describing Thomas and Cheeseman as "talented broadcasters".