The solution to this is actually very simple. There is a setting you need to add to your project plist file called View controller-based status bar appearance which needs to be set to NO.
The key pair is as follows:
UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance
=> NO
In the end your plist should look like this:
<key>UISupportedInterfaceOrientations</key>
<array>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait</string>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeLeft</string>
<string>UIInterfaceOrientationLandscapeRight</string>
</array>
<key>UIStatusBarHidden</key>
<true/>
<key>UIViewControllerBasedStatusBarAppearance</key>
<false/>