The Newsroom

News at Ten - Weeknights on ITV1

"You might notice a difference" from Monday (October 2007)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
MO
Moz
itsrobert posted:
When did ITV ever explicitly state they were aiming to beat the BBC? They chose to move the late news back to 10pm for other reasons. In the process, they have increased both the viewing figures for ITV's late bulletin and the 10-10.30pm slot. Not only that, but overall, more viewers are watching news (be it the BBC or ITV). That has to be a positive thing. I'd also say that the quality of ITV's late bulletin has increased, too.

I don't know where you get this idea that ITN has egg on its face. Just because a programme doesn't win in the ratings, doesn't mean it's a crap programme - far from it. Channel 4 News (also produced by ITN - if you're going to slag anyone off, then make it ITV rather than the talented ITN staff who are churning out quality programmes with very limited resources) doesn't beat the BBC or ITV bulletins but is arguably the best news programme on British television. I think you're way off on this one.

I'm sorry, I just don't buy any of this. ITV want NaT to beat the Ten. If they don't, then they'll consider the programme to be failing. Of course they won't say that publically.

I'm not saying NaT is a bad programme - it is better than what went before - it's just not as good as the Ten.

Of course the main problem is Sir Trev. What ever happened to the thing when Trev would do one week with Julie and then Mark would do the next, again with Julie? Has Mark ever been on it yet from the desk?
:-(
A former member
News At Ten could be the best news programme on earth, and still get beaten. If people want to watch the news, they knew it was on at Ten and switched to BBC One, and people have become use to this. I very much doubt things will swing round just because its an iconic programme.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
Moz posted:
I'm sorry, I just don't buy any of this. ITV want NaT to beat the Ten. If they don't, then they'll consider the programme to be failing. Of course they won't say that publically.

I'm not saying NaT is a bad programme - it is better than what went before - it's just not as good as the Ten.

Of course the main problem is Sir Trev. What ever happened to the thing when Trev would do one week with Julie and then Mark would do the next, again with Julie? Has Mark ever been on it yet from the desk?


You're being very narrow-minded there. Ratings aren't everything. Surely the journalistic and production quality is of equal importance to the number of viewers watching? As OTP said, people are used to switching to BBC One for news at 10pm - ITN has been out of that slot since 1999 so I think you're being a bit quick to judge. It could take a long time to establish a loyal following but I think they've done tremendously so far. When you compare the resources of BBC News to ITN, the ITN folks are doing an excellent job to come anywhere near the BBC's standard.
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
Could you two maybe edit your quotes next time round so this page doesn't go off into infinity?

Ta.
RE
reggieB
itsrobert posted:
You're being very narrow-minded there. Ratings aren't everything. Surely the journalistic and production quality is of equal importance to the number of viewers watching? As OTP said, people are used to switching to BBC One for news at 10pm - ITN has been out of that slot since 1999 so I think you're being a bit quick to judge. It could take a long time to establish a loyal following but I think they've done tremendously so far. When you compare the resources of BBC News to ITN, the ITN folks are doing an excellent job to come anywhere near the BBC's standard.

Strongly agree. When you consider the journalism, effort and imagination that has gone into ITN's coverage this week from Afghanistan, I think it's very hard to argue that the Ten is simply a better programme. Viewing habits will take time to change, inevitably. The real question is whether the bosses at ITV (never noted for their long-termism) will have the patience to stick with it.
GS
Gavin Scott Founding member
OFFS.
ST
Stuart
Gavin Scott posted:
OFFS.

It annoys me when people also quote lots of screen grabs unnecessarily! We then end up with one or two meaningful replies per page until people get bored with the length Confused
BR
Brekkie
News at Ten hit it's lowest figures so far last night - just 1.7m.


There are many factors why it's not been as successful as ITV wanted - a bit of misguided nostalgia and the unnecessary exhumation of Sir Trevor's career play their part, but so does the performance of the ITV1 schedule as a whole, and not only has the News at Ten been let down by it's 9pm inheritance, but even more so by the lack of programming in the 10.35pm slot too keep viewers with the channel.


I think if viewers are planning to watch something on the BBC at 10.35pm, even if watching ITV1's 9pm offering they'd be likely to switch to the BBC at 10pm - but if ITV1 were offering programmes to keep viewers around after 10.30pm, I think more would be sticking around for the News at Ten too.


Then again though, last nights Champions League / News at Ten / CL Highlights kind of disproves that theory - but I'm sure you get my point.
NG
noggin Founding member
Football isn't a great ratings winner - whenever the Champions League is on on ITV, the BBC gets a good ratings boost - particularly during the tail end of Emmerdale - for some reason non-football people switch over to the BBC if they think football is coming up.

(The One Show ended with 5.9 million viewers in its second quarter hour...)
PE
Pete Founding member
StuartPlymouth posted:
Gavin Scott posted:
OFFS.

It annoys me when people also quote lots of screen grabs unnecessarily! We then end up with one or two meaningful replies per page until people get bored with the length Confused


I've noticed that metropol now balks if you try to nest more than three quotes.
IT
itsrobert Founding member
noggin posted:
Football isn't a great ratings winner - whenever the Champions League is on on ITV, the BBC gets a good ratings boost - particularly during the tail end of Emmerdale - for some reason non-football people switch over to the BBC if they think football is coming up.

(The One Show ended with 5.9 million viewers in its second quarter hour...)


That makes sense, as most people either love or hate football. It isn't the sort of programme that you think 'I'll give it a go". Indeed, not all football fans will be watching, either. The audience would most likely comprise mainly of fans of the team playing in the match accompanied by the more enthusiastic and/or general football fans. Probably not the best programming to follow on from for any show!
AN
Andrew Founding member
Brekkie posted:
News at Ten hit it's lowest figures so far last night - just 1.7m.


There are many factors why it's not been as successful as ITV wanted - a bit of misguided nostalgia and the unnecessary exhumation of Sir Trevor's career play their part, but so does the performance of the ITV1 schedule as a whole, and not only has the News at Ten been let down by it's 9pm inheritance, but even more so by the lack of programming in the 10.35pm slot too keep viewers with the channel.


I think if viewers are planning to watch something on the BBC at 10.35pm, even if watching ITV1's 9pm offering they'd be likely to switch to the BBC at 10pm - but if ITV1 were offering programmes to keep viewers around after 10.30pm, I think more would be sticking around for the News at Ten too.

As you are quoting ratings, Has anyone mentioned that ITV4 beat Channel 4 last night?

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