ITV To Relaunch News Programming For Upmarket Viewers
ITV is relaunching its news programming next month following the creation of a new ITV News Group bringing together the network’s national, international and regional news services for the first time.
The initiative includes a brand new on-air look for ITV’s regional and network news programmes, as well as its News At Ten Thirty, which will replace the existing News At Ten when it launches next Monday.
The new-look nightly news will have a strong emphasis on business and financial reports and will target upmarket male viewers with a more series agenda. ITV has invested in new title sequences and a £1 million set reportedly modelled on the format of Imax cinemas.
Last year the ITV bulletin attracted an average of around 3.5 million viewers in its floating slot between 10pm and 11pm. However, the BBC One news, which was fixed at 10pm, pulled in an average audience of more than 5 million.
The moving schedule, which led to the News At Ten being dubbed News at When, helped to alienate large numbers of viewers and caused problems for ITV, which was criticised for scheduling the bulletin against the nightly BBC One news.
ITV’s director of programmes, Nigel Pickard, said: “News is at the very heart of ITV’s public service remit and this re-launch underlines our commitment to providing viewers with a news service that is innovative as well as effective and reliable.
He added: “The current scheduling of the late news bulletin has not served viewers as well as it should. This solution means more choice for viewers and restores a fixed slot for ITV’s late evening news.”
The wider-relaunch will see the introduction of a news hour at 6pm combining the regional and national news programmes in a more effective way than before. The move it designed to give the evening bulletins a more consistent feel, whilst retaining the individual programmes unique to each region.
ITV News Channel will also benefit from added investment, which will fund a move away from rolling bulletins to concentrate more on live items, interviews and breaking news presented by anchors in regular slots.
David Mannion, editor-in-chief of ITV News, said: “It will allow us to deliver the news to our audience in a completely different way and give us much more flexibility. We will be able to tell non-visual stories in a more interesting way and it will also help us to deconstruct complex issues which need clear explanation.”
Earlier this month Carlton and Granada’s shareholders gave the long awaited merger of the two broadcasters their unanimous support in a move that will see the deal go ahead unchallenged. Trading in shares of the newly created ITV plc will begin on 2 February (see ITV Merger Receives Final Green Light From Shareholders).
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com
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