ITV Discussion Thread

Not strictly ITV, but notice the Christmas ads seem to have started tonight.

With DFS recycling the same ad from last year and the year before.

It's suddenly dawned on me how ridiculous it is that ITV1 has stayed with the current idents so long . In less than a month they will have been on our screens for 3 years.

Are we ever going to get a f*cking refresh at ITV1? All we want is a new set of glossier, bigger "yellow" idents with good music! How hard is that? I suppose they're too preoccupied with working out when to axe The Bill or failing to address weak points in the schedules. [/rant]

In all seriousness, I'd love to see some new idents on ITV1. It would be lovely if they introduced a new set along with the ITV News relaunch. Everything would come together so nicely on that day.

Why? Really? WHY?

ITV needs to speed money on programmes not 10 sec worth of music .

Idents cost money! The current ones are fine (*in my opinion) and 36 months isn't really long at all.

We've had this discussion before but if they do introduce new idents next year, I hope they'll be completely CGI. Live action idents are beginning to seem terribly dated now (*in my opinion) .

Actually 3 years without a refresh is one of the longest times ITV1 has gone in recent times.
Agreed on the CGI front

It could be argued that that period of constant relaunches coincided with ITV1's lowest point, the Love Island/Celebrity Wrestling era, so maybe they were spending too much on presentation back then.

Haven't Channel 4 had their idents even longer?

Yeah, and even they are dated now. They're very good, so it's fine they're staying. Unlike ITV1's, which aren't very good.

I've never had a major issue with these idents, and personally think they're better than they get credit for, though the later additions were not as well executed. Three years is nothing really.

However, as they're going to the trouble of revamping ITV News to fit in with the ITV1 identity the way these things work I wouldn't be surprised that six months down the line ITV1 got a major overhaul and then a bodge job had to be done with the news.

They're boring Brekkie - the music is so dreary and they're OLD.

As Chie said, some nice yellow and black CGI idents are wanted now, live action is old and the only thing the current idents have going for them is the yellow motif. The rest is atrocious.

For ITV, 3 years is an age but in generally accepted TV branding life cycles the current idents are just past their half-way point.

Putting the dreadful audio to one side, the original six 'Alive with Colour' idents aren't bad at all; the ITV1 logo is neatly integrated into each piece (not a case of logo slapped on live action). I would argue that they are the best idents the station has used post-centralisation of continuity. The four which were added to the pack almost 2 years ago are poor relations to the originals; the logo is simply slapped on this set.

But do the idents accurately represent the ITV1 of 2009? A common criticism is that they lack a distinct hook, something they've belatedly attempted to shoehorn in with 'The Brighter Side' tag. Whilst the original six at least are excellent pieces of film I'm not sure they fit in with ITV's aim to turn ITV1 into a dedicated entertainment broadcaster. They're too moody and deep.

The current idents could be likened to the original E&P Hearts which never made it to air: classy films deemed too artsy (and arguably too good) for ITV.

I think though when people (aka marketing companies) begin to think too much about what idents should mean that's when in the end they simply don't work. All they need to be is short pieces of film which can be played hundreds and hundreds of times and make the viewer aware programmes are beginning - and ITV's do just that.

Try and do anything more and you often end up with something that actually not only doesn't mean anything to viewers, but doesn't grab their attention either.