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The overhaul saw the News At Ten reintroduced, clearing the way for dramas such as Moving Wallpaper, Echo Beach, Honest and The Palace at 9pm. It was hoped they would attract strong audiences, particularly among valuable demographics.
All four examples have struggled. Honest ended with 3.2m viewers, Palace was even less popular and Beach in particular failed to meet expectations. This week sources have been quoted as saying that ITV introduced the unfamiliar dramas "too fast", while others considered whether the problems were getting to its chief executive Michael Grade.
Drama controller Laura Mackie, however, remained confident in the new strategy: "Of course we would have liked larger numbers, but we have to play a larger game. We are not going to turn it around overnight. We will be offering more surprises, we have to communicate to viewers that they can trust us.
"Perhaps we should stagger the launch of shows but that is down to scheduling. Contemporary returning series are the hardest to do, and we are prepared to keep trying new series, confident that one will stick."
Inventive dramas still to come to ITV1 include The Fixer with Tamzin Outhwaite and reality-TV-themed Rock Rivals, in which viewers can choose the show's ending.
Simon Shaps, ITV director of television, acknowledged the problems but said the channel's overall rescheduling had worked well.
"We're really pleased with the way the new schedule is performing," he said. "Entertainment on Sunday nights is clearly working, the soaps are bedding in well, we're happy News At Ten has considerably improved our 10pm performance.
"Of course, we would have liked a higher volume for some of the new shows, but they are doing a great job in bringing in younger and more upmarket audiences to certain parts of the schedule... We cannot, in this climate, expect all these new shows to pull in big audiences. But they are bringing in eyeballs valuable to advertisers."
