If TVNZ can’t make news profitable and are making cuts, what hope do other companies have?
I don’t disagree with you, just seems like a tough environment to be running a legacy news business in.
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Part of me thinks they just weren’t innovative/bold enough.
They tried the extra news bulletins, but it didn’t really resonate. Perhaps if they’d gone full news 24/7 (CNN NZ or similar under WBD - utilising CNN content as well as 7/other affiliates if able) they could amortise the costs more as well as boosting their news profile and moving high rating entertainment content to Eden/ThreeNow exclusives, which would be good for both platforms.
They were severely lacking in the digital space. Yes their website did okay numbers - although well behind the big 2, but why weren’t Mike and Sam hosting a daily news podcast (ala The Detail/Front Page) for example.
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Also - no idea what it would cost, but buying Sunrise/Today would be at least something they could do in breakfast to cover the absence of the AM Show, especially as both shows essentially start at 7am with news bulletins.
Used to be good when Prime showed Today for a few years.
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It would have to be Sunrise as 7 are Three’s affiliate as you know (Nine are tied up with TVNZ). If they have an agreement anyway I can’t imagine it would cost that much? Presumably Three would have access to the 7 news feeds anyway. Realistically they will probably just replace AM with informercials.
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Not for very much longer, though. But yes, good point.
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Are Kiwis ready for the Cash Cow? 
I think the issue with the extra bulletins was they either aired at awkward time slots or were on multichannels that no one watches. Plus they weren’t well advertised. No wonder they flopped.
What they could have done instead was turn Three itself into a rolling news channel during the day. From AM Early at 5.30 through to the big one at 6pm, just keep it going all day. As you said, they had CNN, 7 News, ITN all to rely on for international reports. Pad out each hour with some interviews and just keep it flowing throughout the day. Maybe some ITV/7 News bulletins during back half hours. Overnight they could either stick with informercials or relay CNN.
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Exactly. They didn’t follow the audience. More bulletins and even a 24/7 news channel weren’t going to save it, they needed to move to digital platforms, and to have been doing so for the last 5-10 years. That’s there the eyeballs are, that’s where the advertisers are, that’s where the news needs to be.
I’d really love to see the staff there try to launch a garage-project that could do the above. Work largely from home, use green-screens or printed backdrops, keep it cheap as chips, see what happens.
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In case anyone missed this:
WBD will leave Flower Street as soon as they are able. If +HR=E survives past 2025 - and I don’t think it will - playout will move Stateside. Luxury apartments, anyone?
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[Labour MP Kieran McAnulty] said the Government could have fast-tracked a bill in front of select committee that would force large overseas tech giants to pay for the New Zealand media used on their sites.
This. This right here. Why are news organisations putting up content on social media on a daily - nay, hourly basis… and making no money from it? It is scandalous. This is what’s killing journalism worldwide. Social media giants should be forced to pay for the news articles that they make money from.
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Meta will just block news on Instagram and Facebook. if they are doing it in Canada and Australia they do the same here in a heartbeat.
Sadly.
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I like Kieran but i seem to recall his party was in power for six years until late last year. These problems aren’t new and his party could have done exactly that .
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Very fair point. Talk is cheap…
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NZ news orgs willingly put content on social media as that’s increasingly where viewers are especially young viewers
They know if they don’t - they be left behind
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That’s exactly the case NuStraya. Developers own the Flower Street site with bulldozers at the ready the second the lease runs out in 2025.
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Do I recall Jacinda Ardern had some kind of media reform on the agenda, but Hipkins canned it when he became PM to refocus on the bread and butter issues around cost of living etc?
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Believe that was the proposed TVNZ-RNZ merger, yes.
Patrick Gower, for the first time (ever), appeared on TVNZ this morning, speaking on Newshub’s closure.
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Well they’re damned if they do, and damned if they don’t…
I reckon news orgs the world over need to be creative about this. Why not buy some digital advertising screens around the big cities, and show headlines on them?
LBC in the UK (think Newstalk ZB with British accents) does this and it’s very effective (though admittedly their owners are also an outdoor advertising company… a bit like MediaWorks! God, what a missed opportunity…)
If memory serves, Today FM was doing this before they shut down on OOH advertising (with Mediaworks assets obvioisly).
It was saying a hook line eg. “Mark and Leah are talking has NZ gone woke enough…join the discussion”. Or something similar.
I’ve noticed TVNZ cricket do similar this summer online, with updated scores and highlights incorporated into web sidebar ads.
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