ITV News

It was one long programme. I don't know why they didn't just schedule the Budget programme until 2pm. Also a shame it was mostly generic branding.. oh well, roll on May 6.

Did the BBC use their usual rather clunky budget branding?

Also wish ITV would put the Party Political Broadcasts back to 6.25pm. Viewers don't miss out on much at all if the local news loses five minutes, but when the Evening News loses five minutes it ends up finishing about 6.50pm, which is ridiculous especially on days where they need a full bulletin, if not more.

Any caps for that, as Alpa present Anglia's GMTV Bulletin's!

...ITV News website?



Ironically there seems to have been a role reversal this year. I flitted back and forth between ITV and the BBC and they were using some nice looking graphics, certainly better than previous years. It didn't have "BBC News" stamped all over it but you could tell it was a BBC News production.

On a similar note, what is the general view from everybody here about the current ITV News branding, considering we're almost five months in?

The new Newsnight look hits the spot perfectly - aligns it with the BBC News brand whilst keeping it's individuality. Shame ITV went the whole hog and altered News at Ten. One of the attractive points of the now 'old' News at Ten individual look was that it didn't look like a plain old ITV bulletin, you really felt that it was the most important one of the day, and the music, graphics, studio and indeed agenda of the bulletin really made it feel that way. I understand the perception that the titles may have been too London-centric (although it never bothered me one iota), but to get rid of that fantastic skyline was pure folly.

I don't mind the current look, but it's far from perfect and could use some serious tweaking.

EDIT:

MediaGuardian - ITV wins budget battle

Wow, that doesn't happen often!

I'd say it was most likely due to the BBC's coverage being on BBC2. The BBC usually wins the lunchtime ratings on a ratio of about 3:1. I'm interested to know yesterdays This Morning (ITV1) and Loose Women (ITV2) ratings though to see how many ITV1 viewers stuck with the channel for the budget.

IIRC in previous years, the BBC's Budget coverage (which has been on BBC Two for many years now) has normally beaten ITV. Hence my surprise at the ITN programme coming out on top for once.

Ah, I never realised its regularly on BBC2. But it looks like ITV's coverage dented the BBC 1pm bulletin too, 2.3m watched that, its usually around 3m give or take 0.1-0.3m.

According to The Mirror, Nina will be covering for Lorraine on GMTV over the easter break
http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/03/26/itv-to-merge-this-morning-gmtv-and-itn-to-make-super-show-115875-22139157/

Nina presenting next week, that is interesting given that they also have Ruth presenting, who is a lot more well known. However is this even confirmed?

Another fire alarm at ITN HQ if itvnewsinsider on Twitter is to be believed.

god they need to get their fire alarm fixed

Are they using the wrong backdrop on the news now? It looks much darker than usual and the look 'outside' (past the panels) is black in some shots when its usually greyish.