Feature: RI:SE Fails To Shine For Channel 4
The advertising campaign that accompanied the launch of Channel 4’s new breakfast show RI:SE featured the strapline ‘Are you awake?’. After just over a month on air, the answer so far seems to be a resounding “No”
The programme, which has been conceived by Sky and Princess Productions to fill the void left by the Big Breakfast, couldn’t be more different from its predecessor. Where the Big Breakfast was all bright colours and intimacy, RI:SE presents a cold and uninspiring tabloid-style mixture of news, entertainment and sport, forming a contrasting, but perhaps not a tempting, alternative to the sobriety of BBC Breakfast and the cosiness of GMTV.
Panned by the critics from day one, RI:SE has so far failed to engage any audience of notable size, and unofficial overnight viewing figures from BARB show that in its first four weeks the programme has seen audience levels hover around the 200,000 mark (see below), with share of viewing failing to exceed 6%. In the last month ratings have risen above 200,000 less than a dozen times and have frequently slipped below 190,000.
To put this in perspective, BBC Breakfast averages around 1.5 million viewers and GMTV close to 2 million. BBC2’s weekday children’s programming attracts an average audience of 500,000 between 7am and 9am and even Channel 5 manages to attract a core of 173,000 viewers between these times.
RI:SE has defended its poor performance, claiming to deliver advertisers a smaller but more valuable 16-34 year-old audience. However, Andrew Canter, broadcast director at Media Planning, says: “Channel 4 was obviously hoping for bigger and better things. The breakfast slot is important for any broadcaster as the more commercial impacts you get, the more revenue you can generate.”
Despite rumours to the contrary, Channel 4 insists that it has no plans to remove RI:SE from the schedules. Subtle changes have already been to made to the more irritating aspects of show’s format and further alterations are expected in an effort to hike up ratings.
However, according to Canter, Channel 4 could be fighting a losing battle. He says: “It was a brave move to try and fill the gap left by the Big Breakfast and RI:SE seems to do this fairly well. The show looks good and production value is high, but it could be that the market is just not ready for something of its kind.”
He adds: “Channel 4 is obviously hoping that RI:SE‘s audience will grow over time, but the market is very different now to when the Big Breakfast was launched over ten years ago. In the multi-channel world less people are watching TV and 16-34 year-old viewers are increasingly difficult to pin down.”
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