News at Ten - Weeknights on ITV1

Well Media Guardian did, and they also mentioned C4 beat ITV1 too!

Oh sugarlumps I don't think any of us thought it would get this bad. 1.7m for ITV's flagship news show really is embarrassing.

I'm not sure what precisely is wrong, I think it's a combination of things. The only things I am sure of is 1) BBC 10 is better and 2) Get rid of Sir Trev ASAP!

Classic tabloid situation here, use the 'lowest ever figure' and talk like this is the average figure.

The BBC News wins regardless of what is better, remember the Harry 'extended bulletin' last week, everyone praised News at Ten on here, BBC News played dirty tricks and extended their bulletin by about a second

I also feel that there is a large part of the country who would see Trevor as some sort of 'legend' and if he'd been axed rather than retired would have been up in arms in protest. I recall Trevor still winning 'Best newsreader' polls in the Radio Times a few years ago. This being the BBC heavy Radio Times and during a period when Trevor presented the half baked 'ITV News at Ten' twice a week. Most RT readers had probably not seen him host a bulletin in years at that point

Yeah I never really said that 1.7 was the average, I mean the fact that it hit that figure at all is embarrassing.

As for the BBC V ITV I do not agree with your presumption that the BBC would win 'no matter what'. I don't think that is the case. I actually think that the BBC produces a far superior new bulletin at 10pm than ITV; that is the main reason why they win. (They are helped by the fact that they have had the slot to themselves for several years too).

The BBC has more content and better journalism. Although I far prefer NaT's titles, graphics, music and studio; this has very little impact on the general public's perception of how good a news programme is. And I know the nation loves Trevor because he seems like a very nice man but he sadly just isn't up to the job anymore. And I have to say I am quite disappointed by Julie- she is playing the quiet assistant role when she needs to be playing the feisty young co-host (a la Emily Maitlis style).

Not to shareholders - and hence the share-price plummeted today. Just watched an interview - admittedly by Adam off of Working Lunch, who's BBC - saying that News at Ten had failed as it hadn't beaten the BBC. So it's not just me!

But the News At Ten was an institution and had a history going back to the 60's I think.. The fact that the show gets a massive lead-in some nights and can't hold onto the majority of viewers says a lot about the programme.

Also more people do watch the BBC compared to ITV when nws bulletins, sports coverage or The Queen's speech go head to head.

For God's sake, it's only been back for less than 2 months! Don't you think you're judging the programme too soon? I'm sure after 2 months on the air, BBC News 24 was nowhere near beating Sky News in the ratings. It's going to take time to build up an audience.

As several of us have been trying to argue here (obviously to deaf ears), ratings do not necessarily indicate how good a programme is. You have to take all sorts of things into account. Channel 4 News is probably the best news programme on UK television but doesn't get the viewing figures the BBC enjoys. That doesn't mean it's a crap programme. Everybody has different tastes. The other things playing into the BBC's hands are the far greater resources and the well-established brand. When something major happens, people turn to the BBC by default. That isn't always an indication of quality, rather habit.

I don't understand why people insist on comparing NAT to BBC News - they are obviously two different programmes aimed at completely different people. Does it really matter who wins the most viewers? So long as both programmes are quality productions, what's the difference?

[quote="Moz"]
There are many reasons why News at Ten was brought back, I can't recall 'to beat the BBC' being one of them. Obviously it's the only one that people care about. If it was all about numbers, surely Channel 4 News should be axed as 'nobody' watches it, it gets beaten by The One Show about 5 times over?

The News At Ten is an editorially strong show and I would say that it was before it was taken off. But ITN has always done good stories over the years. ITV brought NAT back because they couldn't create a regular hit show at 10 o'clock. However they would have loved it to beat the BBC and if they did they would be crowing about it.

One problem is that News at Ten is essentially going for the same audience as the BBC Ten o'clock News, and hence mainly as the BBC is established in the slot, it's never going to break through.


For all it's faults at least the "ITV News at Ten" was offering an alternative bulletin to the BBC version which appealed to a different audience, and hence performed relatively better in the slot (when it was in the slot that is!)

But why does that mean they are trying to beat the BBC?

Of course they want to beat the BBC - every single broadcaster in the UK does - doesn't mean that's their main objective.

It's not their main objective but I wonder if secretly that was rather high up on their list of priorities. They wanted it to do what Emmerdale does on Tuesday, keep EastEnders ratings down and to beat it.