Id like to be able to say that new blood will make some drastic changes, but unless ITVplc throw some more money at the channel, I doubt anything much will change.
Id like to be able to say that new blood will make some drastic changes, but unless ITVplc throw some more money at the channel, I doubt anything much will change.
You're right, but a new boss always wants to put their stamp on a programme/channel in some way, so there's bound to be some tinkering.
Also, hardly a massive insight, but he tells Broadcast:
Ben Rayner posted:
News channels can never stand still and we've got bags of ideas for how to move things forward.
Risk-taker, ambitious and self-confessed news junkie - new ITV News Channel editor Ben Rayner talks tough about the challenges for the future.
ITV News Channel is doing quite well at the moment. Its rivals grudgingly admit it has got its act together over the past two years, with regular scoops, a lively look and even an RTS Award to put on the shelf of its new editor Ben Rayner.
Rayner, when we meet a few days after his appointment was confirmed last week, is talking tough. He says his ambition is to make it the number one news offering in the market. But then he has to say that doesn't he? The reality of life is tougher than such bold intentions suggest.
ITV News Channel still runs a poor third behind both Sky News and the BBC's News 24 when it comes to ratings and investment - and the two are clearly connected. So Rayner has taken over at an interesting time in the channel's history. The feeling is that ITV News Channel is at a crossroads. Does it increase investment and push on from a successful year to challenge Sky News and BBC News 24? Or does it carry on making a valiant effort with limited resources and settle for a cost-effective third in the market?
BSkyB is believed to spend around £45m a year on Sky News - apparently losing £30m a year on it - while the BBC dishes out about £50m for News 24. ITV is estimated to spend a fraction of this on its channel and a source at the company claims it loses around £5m a year. Rayner, who joined the channel as a programme editor when it launched in 2000, says: "In terms of resources, yes they have got more money, but we have got the regions and the brand."
Apart from lacking the spending power of the BBC and Sky, there are also continual rumours that ITV News Channel is under pressure from ITV chief executive Charles Allen to cut costs.
Rayner denies this: "The way we make more money is getting more viewers and increasing revenue from advertisers. There is no suggestion that we are going to do anything more cheaply. ITV is committed to the channel and it is part of its strategy."
Nevertheless ITV News Channel was unceremoniously dumped from Freeview homes outside London last year to make way for the launch of ITV3. It will only be fully available across the whole country again from this July. It was a technical and tactical move that ITV kept as quiet about as possible, but it demonstrated where the company's priorities lie.
"We were not delighted about that of course - but there was a commercial reason for that," Rayner says.
Then there is the challenge to get a decent slot on the Sky Digital platform - a campaign that ITV News bosses have been waging with Sky and Ofcom for months, which has reached a "bit of an impasse" according to Rayner.
For him the key to the channel's future success is to exploit its natural advantages over its rivals, including its regional operations, cross-promotion from ITV1 and its stable of famous faces. That includes using its household name presenters, such as RTS award-winner Alastair Stewart, to drive ratings.
Rayner also wants to use the ITV1 mother ship more strongly to drive people to the channel. It was a tactic used recently when he got ITV1 to make an announcement on the night of the Michael Jackson verdict - which urged viewers watching the closing credits of Coronation Street to turn to the ITV News Channel. Hundreds of thousands did. According to colleagues it is this kind of adrenaline-fuelled quick-thinking that makes Rayner, a self-confessed "news junkie", ideal for the post.
Former ITV News controller Steve Anderson says: "He is prepared to take risks and drop the running order and go for a live event if it feels exciting. He has all the right instincts."
Rayner's predecessor Dominic Crossley-Holland, now ITV controller of current affairs, religion and arts, adds: "Ben is an excellent choice because he combines fantastic news judgement and a range of experience."
But Anderson also points out that his eagerness to get involved in breaking stories may now become Rayner's biggest frustration as he will inevitably spend more time behind a desk.
So what changes might we see now he's in the hotseat? Rayner says: "Maybe we need to take a few more risks and try things out with what we do on screen. Use it as a laboratory for new ideas including production techniques, phone-ins and viewer interaction."
Rayner's initial big idea seems to be partly based around harnessing new technology such as mobile phones to change the shape of newsgathering for the channel. This includes plans to allow viewers to send in footage filmed on their own mobile phones, including their own personalised reports from big events such as next week's G8 activities.
He says: "The viewers need to feel like it's their channel - ITV is famous for being the people's channel. We need to hear from the viewer about their opinion on stories."
Part of Rayner's philosophy is based on the assumption that most news channel viewers are as big news addicts as he is. "People who watch news channels tend to be news junkies and they want anything that is about digging down into a story," he says. "It is about creating news on the channel and news-making interviews. We can't just give rolling news all the time - we have to do something different."
IMO, they need to roll out the Live with format. Get someone, like Carol Barnes, or Ann Diamond to do the afternoons, or at least some 'name', and get a high profile evenig Live with slot, say with John Nicholson or Stapelton.
And a big advertising campaign wouldn't be an idea. But all this costs money, which ITV won't dish out.
IMO, they need to roll out the Live with format. Get someone, like Carol Barnes, or Ann Diamond to do the afternoons, or at least some 'name', and get a high profile evenig Live with slot, say with John Nicholson or Stapelton.
And a big advertising campaign wouldn't be an idea. But all this costs money, which ITV won't dish out.
I think that the idea of extending the Live with idea is an excellent one, especially if ITV News will make more advantage of their very experienced female presenters.
Regarding advertising, surely a trailer in prime time on ITV1 wouldn't cost that much, considering the number of trails there were for things like Celebrity Love Island.
Yes, ITV News' best bet is almost certainly to go down the appointment-viewing route like Sky News are about to do. In fact I'd also move Alistair Stewart to 7-10pm, I've always thought his show's a bit heavy for the morning, they should get Angie to do his current slot.