CI
Indeed - Breakfast Time hammered TV-am when it launched, then the BBC hardened it up, and the ratings shifted in ITV's way. Breakfast News was harder news still and gave GMTV a very easy time. It softened a bit in the late 90s, and by the time Breakfast launched, it was ripe for a newer approach. This was also coupled with a move to less formal presentation across BBC News.
Couple the more informal Breakfast with the scandals that hit GMTV (where it was clear a significant chunk of management despised their audience and treated them as nothing more than competition-entering cash-cows) and you can see why ITV Breakfast have had issues ever since.
Piers bumps GMBs share up a little bit when he's on - but it doesn't seem to be building hugely, and it's probably not sustainable long-term.
Exactly. Piers helps, but not much, and the current format helps, but not much.
GMTV was basically done in by their own attitude to their audience, and once the audience knew, the trust was gone. GMB is the best attempt so far at restoring that trust, but frankly, with them still running competitions on GMB and Lorraine, they're undermining their own efforts.
And whilst BBC has been very different at breakfast, compared to what it has been since 2000, the fact that TV-am and GMTV were well formatted, meant they were able to pick up the viewers that left BBC Breakfast Time when the sofa went. Had they not been, it's possible that those viewers might have just switched off breakfast TV entirely.
But you’re comparing the performance in the ratings now against much stronger competition on the BBC. Breakfast was a completely different show back in the TV-AM and GMTV days.
Indeed - Breakfast Time hammered TV-am when it launched, then the BBC hardened it up, and the ratings shifted in ITV's way. Breakfast News was harder news still and gave GMTV a very easy time. It softened a bit in the late 90s, and by the time Breakfast launched, it was ripe for a newer approach. This was also coupled with a move to less formal presentation across BBC News.
Couple the more informal Breakfast with the scandals that hit GMTV (where it was clear a significant chunk of management despised their audience and treated them as nothing more than competition-entering cash-cows) and you can see why ITV Breakfast have had issues ever since.
Piers bumps GMBs share up a little bit when he's on - but it doesn't seem to be building hugely, and it's probably not sustainable long-term.
Exactly. Piers helps, but not much, and the current format helps, but not much.
GMTV was basically done in by their own attitude to their audience, and once the audience knew, the trust was gone. GMB is the best attempt so far at restoring that trust, but frankly, with them still running competitions on GMB and Lorraine, they're undermining their own efforts.
And whilst BBC has been very different at breakfast, compared to what it has been since 2000, the fact that TV-am and GMTV were well formatted, meant they were able to pick up the viewers that left BBC Breakfast Time when the sofa went. Had they not been, it's possible that those viewers might have just switched off breakfast TV entirely.