What I think is THE most interesting point to note is that News at Ten seems be attracting new news viewers! The total number of people watching a News Bulletin at 10pm has suddenly almost doubled.
Well ITV keep releasing the figure without regional news to make the ratings look better.
The BBC don't need to, so haven't so far - but I imagine without regional news the difference would be roughly the same.
Anyhow, regional news bringing down the ratings of News at Ten - there's another bit of ammunition in ITV's campaign to rid itself of the responsibility!
Interesting they never released these figures for the ITV News at Ten Thirty - it be interesting to see the difference in regional news figures before and after it was taken out of the main bulletin.
Well ITV keep releasing the figure without regional news to make the ratings look better. The BBC don't need to, so haven't so far - but I imagine without regional news the difference would be roughly the same.
It's BARB who release the figures, not the BBC or ITV.
"BBC1 maintained the lead over its commercial rival in the nightly news ratings war as The 10 O'Clock News drew a million more viewers than ITV1's News at Ten.
4.5m viewers (21.5%) watched BBC1 compared to ITV1's 3.5m (17.1%).
The corporation's news bulletin began with 4.6m (21.6%) but fell away slightly to 4.4m (21.9%) by 10.15pm. A further 4.5m (23.6%) saw the channel's regional news and weather reports.
While the 10 O'Clock News comfortably won its slot, the number of people watching the bulletin was less than the channel's slot average of 5m (25.3%).
ITV1's News at Ten also saw its audience decline over the time it was on air from 3.7m (17.5%) to 3.4m (16.8%). However, the audience for the entire 35-minute programme was up on the channel's slot average of 2.7m (13.5%).
When the two national news bulletins went head-to-head, between 10pm and 10.25pm, News at Ten averaged 3.7m (17.6%) compared to the 10 O'Clock News on 4.5m (21.5%).
After two day of direct competition between the two services the audience gap between them is roughly the same.
When the News at Ten returned on Monday (14 January) the gap was 1.1m while last night (15 January) this was 1m."
It's certainly close, but News at Ten is doing very well against the established Ten O'Clock News.
Well ITV keep releasing the figure without regional news to make the ratings look better. The BBC don't need to, so haven't so far - but I imagine without regional news the difference would be roughly the same.
It's BARB who release the figures, not the BBC or ITV.
Well BARB seem to be releasing the whole figure from 10-10.35pm, then ITV let MediaGuardian know that the breakdown shows News at Ten is doing a tiny bit better.
I think though the head to head isn't what ITV will be too concerned about, but the improvement on the 10pm slot performance. Worth remembering too they haven't had a strong 9pm advantage yet over the BBC either.
How is ITV1 doing in the 10.35pm slot? The trouble at the moment is if viewers switch off for the regional news, they probably switch off for the night too.
I think if the programme is going to be around 22 mins long they'd be better off having the break within News at Ten - people are more likely to come back for the second half of the national news than hang around for the regional news. Then if they go straight into the regional news at 10.25pm, the switch-off factor should be alot lower - in theory!
And then ideally return to News at Ten for the "... And Finally" item as they did back in 2001-2004.
"BBC1 maintained the lead over its commercial rival in the nightly news ratings war as The 10 O'Clock News drew a million more viewers than ITV1's News at Ten.
4.5m viewers (21.5%) watched BBC1 compared to ITV1's 3.5m (17.1%).
The corporation's news bulletin began with 4.6m (21.6%) but fell away slightly to 4.4m (21.9%) by 10.15pm. A further 4.5m (23.6%) saw the channel's regional news and weather reports.
While the 10 O'Clock News comfortably won its slot, the number of people watching the bulletin was less than the channel's slot average of 5m (25.3%).
ITV1's News at Ten also saw its audience decline over the time it was on air from 3.7m (17.5%) to 3.4m (16.8%). However, the audience for the entire 35-minute programme was up on the channel's slot average of 2.7m (13.5%).
When the two national news bulletins went head-to-head, between 10pm and 10.25pm, News at Ten averaged 3.7m (17.6%) compared to the 10 O'Clock News on 4.5m (21.5%).
After two day of direct competition between the two services the audience gap between them is roughly the same.
When the News at Ten returned on Monday (14 January) the gap was 1.1m while last night (15 January) this was 1m."
It's certainly close, but News at Ten is doing very well against the established Ten O'Clock News.
Thanks pad, interesting stuff. I guess we could debate the merits of including the regional news in the overall figures or not till the cows come home. But given that it's the national slot that's been revamped and refreshed for ITV and provides the main competition for the Ten on the BBC, the head-to-head figures seem the most relevant to me. It'll be an interesting fight between the two.
To those members who watch Sky News, has she been on top form the last two nights? If not, then it may just be nerves and/or getting used to ITN, in which case she'll most likely improve with time. I would, however, like to see Mary Nightingale present NAT at some point.
I think it's difficult for her because she realises I think that when she's with TMcD she'll always be second best in a way.
It will be interesting to see how she is on Friday at 11 with Mark.
Maybe there should be an ad break in the middle of News at Ten?
People say it would make people turn over to BBC News, but surely once you've started watching one, you can't turn over or you may end up seeing the same story twice
Also they definally need to match BBC News's finishing time, last night they finished about 10:23 meaning it will have felt like they were getting a less comprehensive bulletin
I think the new format would be perfect for Moira to pop in as the second presenter, alongside either McDonald, Etchingham or Austin as lead anchor.
The old original NaT had a four or five presenter pool, with three main anchors (namely Burnet, Gall and Ford/Scott/Barnes/Armstrong's 1 and 2/Somerville) as the third presenter.
I think the new format would be perfect for Moira to pop in as the second presenter, alongside either McDonald, Etchingham or Austin as lead anchor.
The old original NaT had a four or five presenter pool, with three main anchors (namely Burnet, Gall and Ford/Scott/Barnes/Armstrong's 1 and 2/Somerville) as the third presenter.
I would like to see that format again.
Would be so good to see Moira on New at Ten even if it was as a "2nd presenter." As she's not technically a "trained journalist" she wouldn't have many live, in depth interviews to do - and afterall, she's a well known, trusted figure who may even bring further people to News at Ten.
What rubbish - nobody here cared about her until she was axed. To most people she's in the same league in Trevor McDonald - i.e. should have been retired long ago and more likely to put them off watching a bulletin than encourage them too.
And if Moira was bought back in News at Ten would be falling even more into the trap of making a programme for it's audience of 10 years ago, not it's potential audience of today.