The Newsroom

NEWS at TEN - January 2016 Relaunch

Big Ben & Bradby (January 2016)

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AE
AlexEdohHD13

Well, uhhhh..... because it wouldn't get as many viewers at 10:40 as it would at 10:00.

In practice I'm not sure that'll turn out to be the case, but guess we'll find out to an extent in January.


Will the chat-show experiment even last 8 weeks?

After all, this time last year, ITV had News at Ten at 11:00 on some Wednesdays to make way for Champions' League highlights. That hasn't happened this year. We'll see if ITV does another U-turn.

If The chat show gets pulled after 8 days, hopefully ITV will learn the lesson.
BR
Brekkie
I'm finding it quite difficult to find figures and admitedly I'm inclined to use the figures I find to paint the picture I want to paint but from what I can see very broadly speaking:

At 10pm there are about 16m watching TV, of which around 4m watch BBC News at Ten and 2m watch ITV News. That leaves a non-news audience of around 10m.

Now it gets complicated to get accurate figures for later but based on a couple of Newsnight figures I've found I think around 11-12m are waching TV on average between 10.30pm and 11.15pm, of which just a few hundred thousand are watching news. That means the non-news audience available after 10.30pm is potentially greater than the audience available at 10pm.

I really do think the greater potential is after News at Ten, whether that's at 10.30pm (knocking the regional news back) or 10.40pm. Try a first series there and see how it does - if it does well it's fine where it is, but if it does exceptionally well maybe then the argument could be made for moving it to 10pm at the expense of the news - but only then IMO.
BS
Ben Shatliff
I'm finding it quite difficult to find figures and admitedly I'm inclined to use the figures I find to paint the picture I want to paint but from what I can see very broadly speaking:

At 10pm there are about 16m watching TV, of which around 4m watch BBC News at Ten and 2m watch ITV News. That leaves a non-news audience of around 10m.

Now it gets complicated to get accurate figures for later but based on a couple of Newsnight figures I've found I think around 11-12m are waching TV on average between 10.30pm and 11.15pm, of which just a few hundred thousand are watching news. That means the non-news audience available after 10.30pm is potentially greater than the audience available at 10pm.

I really do think the greater potential is after News at Ten, whether that's at 10.30pm (knocking the regional news back) or 10.40pm. Try a first series there and see how it does - if it does well it's fine where it is, but if it does exceptionally well maybe then the argument could be made for moving it to 10pm at the expense of the news - but only then IMO.


I agree with you but I think it is right to keep regional news with the main news. People can watch a late night chat show at 10:45 and your never know it could pull in extra viewers for the news as they watch the news before it starts. The same argument though could be said for the chat show being on at Ten. People could stay and watch the news afterwards but I prefer option one; News then Chat Show.

I don't know why ITV don't put an oath down and say News At Ten remains at Ten every night unless a very special occasion such as a big major event.
BO
Bongo
I wonder what the effect of I'm a Celebrity being on and finishing at 10 has on NAT ratings.

Our household often watch ITV for much of the evening, soaps and reality series, and therefore usually hang around to watch NAT before bed. Looking for an end of day TV news round up after watching ITV all evening and not really wanting to watch a chat show except at weekends, moving the news later would encourage me to flick to BBC1.
BR
Brekkie


I agree with you but I think it is right to keep regional news with the main news. People can watch a late night chat show at 10:45 and your never know it could pull in extra viewers for the news as they watch the news before it starts. The same argument though could be said for the chat show being on at Ten. People could stay and watch the news afterwards but I prefer option one; News then Chat Show.

Agree - much better to have the light entertainment after the hard news rather than vice versa.
PC
p_c_u_k
A complicating factor is that the BBC News at 10 has become a bit of a sprawling beast. It's now on from 10pm until 10.30pm, but then the local news is on for another 15 minutes.

So if you're one of the four million people who tuned in for the news and live in a region or nation which either isn't brilliantly represented on the network offering, or an area with strong regional identity, then you're probably not going to switch over at that point to a chat show.

Whereas if ITV offers a decent run in from whatever it's showing at 9pm, cuts the ads between the two shows to the minimum in a Channel 4 style, and grabs you fast with a lighter alternative - or if people flick about having got a little bit bored by the fair hefty headline sequence the BBC puts out these days - it has a chance of grabbing an audience.

I'm basically arguing against myself here because I don't think this is going to work - the knives will be out for the show from the beginning for daring to move the News At Ten, it's going to be a huge launch so people will be waiting to tear it down, and it's going to suffer from inevitable comparisons to the US nightly shows, when it will neither have the budget or the guests to pull that off. It's going to need more than a fair wind to make an impact in a country which has traditionally been quite happy with one excellent chat show a week versus a station trying to replicate it every single night.
CI
cityprod
A complicating factor is that the BBC News at 10 has become a bit of a sprawling beast. It's now on from 10pm until 10.30pm, but then the local news is on for another 15 minutes.


Err, if you think a 30 minute national news programme and a 15 minute regional news bulletin is a "...sprawling beast...", then what the hell is a 24 hour news channel?

Quote:
So if you're one of the four million people who tuned in for the news and live in a region or nation which either isn't brilliantly represented on the network offering, or an area with strong regional identity, then you're probably not going to switch over at that point to a chat show.


You do realise that ITV News at Ten is pretty much the same in duration for the national news. The regional news is a bit shorter, but they do have adverts as well, so they practically meet up again afterwards.
RD
RDJ
Tom just done the News at Ten promo after I'm a Celeb from the gallery with no music or graphics.

Could there be studio problems... or just a one off?
PC
p_c_u_k
I can tell the difference between a 24 hour news channel and a 30 minute/15 minute news bulletin. Most of the population doesn't watch the news channel and their exposure is through bulletins, hence why the duration of those shows matter.

Fair enough if you reckon there's not that much of a difference between ITV and the BBC in terms of duration - you've got a point there. For me, one of them feels longer, which could be an issue for the BBC (or more likely me).

I do think the BBC headline sequence is overlong and meandering these days though. I'm quite sure it's done that way for a reason, but my point was that if ITV gets in there with a fun alternative either before the news starts, or during a long sequence in which it cuts to the news in a region you don't give a toss about (not all areas, some worse for this than others) it afford ITV a flickover opportunity.

It's hugely clutching at straws to present that as an opportunity for this chat show, but ITV's gonna need all the luck it can get.
CI
cityprod
I can tell the difference between a 24 hour news channel and a 30 minute/15 minute news bulletin. Most of the population doesn't watch the news channel and their exposure is through bulletins, hence why the duration of those shows matter.


The top rating news bulletin on the big 5, gets just under 5.5 million viewers.

By contrast, the BBC News Channel has over 8.3 million viewers a week in reach terms.

As a whole, news output has about an 8% share of audience attention, the 4th biggest individual genre. (Other does not count as an individual genre)

The BBC News at Ten, rates around 4 million and creeps into the Top 30 programmes of the week for BBC1. ITV News at Ten does not reach the top 30, so rates less than 2.78 million.

Looking at all that evidence, I don't think the main 5 are as big in people's viewing habits anymore. But the news channels are also declining. Television is going to have to examine how news is presented on the channels. It has become more of a product, but maybe, the age of long form half hour news programmes is coming to an end. Maybe shorter programmes with shorter reports, might be the way forward.

Quote:
I do think the BBC headline sequence is overlong and meandering these days though. I'm quite sure it's done that way for a reason, but my point was that if ITV gets in there with a fun alternative either before the news starts, or during a long sequence in which it cuts to the news in a region you don't give a toss about (not all areas, some worse for this than others) it afford ITV a flickover opportunity.


I think both channels opening teaser sequences are on the long side. The original News at Ten's opening teasers were done between actual bongs from Big Ben. The 1999 BBC News opening teasers were short and punchy. Details like that are often overlooked, but shortening those opening sequences to be more punchy and impactful might help, it certainly can't hurt.

Quote:
It's hugely clutching at straws to present that as an opportunity for this chat show, but ITV's gonna need all the luck it can get.


We can see where the inspiration for this has come from, but those shows are presented after the local news, beginning around 11.35pm. There's no reason that ITV couldn't run it after News at Ten.
BR
Brekkie
Worth remembering that ITV News is frequently quoted as the second biggest source for news, behind only the BBC. Even with the landscape of news media changing it plays a vitally important role. Must admit to I now find myself quite often heading for the ITV News app ahead of the BBC nowadays, partly because cuts at the BBC are clearly beginning to bite.
RD
RDJ
Tim Singleton getting a special 'With Thanks' credit at the end of tonights NAT after his final day at ITN today.

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