ABC has its “work cut out” to reverse a decline in ratings, said Paul Lee, the executive named last week to lead the Walt Disney Co. television network.

Lee headed Disney’s ABC Family cable channel until Steve McPherson unexpectedly resigned as president of ABC Entertainment Group last Tuesday.

The executive, who introduced shows like “Pretty Little Liars” aimed at young female viewers at ABC Family, told writers at the semi-annual Television Critics Association yesterday in Beverly Hills, Calif., he will “take some risks” in his new role to pull the broadcast network out of third place. He stopped short of saying he’d target a millennial demographic.

ABC was the only major US broadcaster to lose viewers last season and was also down in the 18-to-49-year-old group that advertisers seek, according to Nielsen Co.