As I mentioned last week, the Cheap Seats / Late News ‘double bill’ is a great match.
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Keep an eye on HYBPA next week too then.
Great to have extra eyes on the late bulletin.
I suppose it is always going to be the case for late news that’s one hour long , but the reach of the show is quite large suggesting a big switch off across the bulletin. The reach of the Late news yesterday was 593,000 just short of the 5pm bulletin’s reach.
In some markets last night (sydney, Melbourne) more people (reach) watched the late news than the 5pm bulletin.
Should think of some tactics to keep viewers watching longe.
I thought the promos/previews during The Cheap Seats were good - a mix of headlines and teasers.
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It’s almost like 1 hour news at 9.30pm teased and marketed correctly at 8.30 is a very viable cost effective programming choice that can compete against streaming.
several - well - a lot of us on MS have banged on about this for a decade.
imagine if it was localised “10 News Sydney at 9.30” etc. it would be a real powerhouse
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Keep banging on and we might get our wish one day.
We banged on about this for a decade and it happened 
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I doubt it. There’s no money available to create 5 or more news bulletins actoss the country at 9.30pm. You’re lucky to get one viable national 10 News Late.
If anything, 10 is more likely to consolidate their local evening news bulletins than create more local late night news bulletins.
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I’d trade national at 5pm for local in prime time. The late news already beats the 5pm news in the demos.
But there’s money to do it at 5p? If they changed rotas they can use the same staff for both bulletins… do you think the crews and teams that do 6 and 11p news in the states are different? Or the ITV evening news and news at 10?
No it’s one crew on one shift. I would do News at 7 and news at 9:30. 5p is just too early to waste the resources these days. In their position all resources should be going towards 6-10:30p
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Going into the future, probably not. That’s why I said “more likely to consolidate their local evening news bulletins”.
Populations and advertising dollars available are the big difference. I’m thinking there will be cutbacks happening in the future where there will be less and less local and more national bulletins only. You’re already seeing it in other parts of the world.
That wasn’t your argument.
In response to this - yes, which is why using those resources where they get more value (primetime $$) is the reason doing local news in primetime makes more sense. It’s the highest rated thing on TV and boosts overall share and other programmes. Wasting it once a day at 5pm is scandalous.
You’re alway pitching this and you’re welcome to your opinion. I just don’t agree. I personally don’t like local news. They end up being all about house fires, car crashes, burst water mains and local stories I really don’t care about.
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I agree.
having a news division in each city to do 60 minutes of news outside of primetime is incredibly inefficient.
News gathering takes place across the day, so even with ‘rotated shifts’ you’d still need to have people spread out at all hours to get the stories across the whole day. Local news needs even more resources, so more editors, directors and producers on hand - it wouldn’t just be rotated shifts, it would be extended hours and therefore more dollars.
I’ve just never understood the obsession in this thread with ‘prime time news’ on commerical channels. There have been a few experiments done with the concept, and none have been successful. (7 News at 7 with Mel Doyle on 7Two saw no love - yes it was on a secondary channel, but experiements like that should still show growth if there’s an appetite).
The news cycle for Australia has also wrapped up and concluded with regular buisness trading hours, so rarely would there ‘breaking news’ of a local flavour. 5 and 6pm are still on the cusp of the buisness day, so at the very least they can get a car crash on the commute home.
The Late news has only ever really broken international news or extreme weather events, which can be covered on a national level anyway.
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Should they do daytime news instead, when 10 is lucky to get 60k 5CM? Prime time has better RoI, which is what commercial channels are all about.
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Entertainment based prime time programming, with decades of actual ratings data, is a return on investment. The content is what brings advertisers on board.
You replace that with news content, without any credible data to demonstrate that it will rate, will not bring advertisers, and therefore, is not going to return any investments.
Daytime news is Australian-made quota filling putty. It is also during business hours, so has content to report on live.
There is no business case for prime time news.
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I think because it’s something that’s been a success in many other countries, people assume it would work here too.
It’s more that 10 News would be exposed to a greater audience in primetime than at 5pm. So for a news division with very limited resources and low brand awareness, it’s better to invest in primetime than daytime. The late news is doing well for 10 in primetime. At 7pm, you can still provide the recap of the day’s news.
I get that entertainment programming should be 10’s focus (no one is suggesting a news channel), but they need to focus on alternative programming because that is when they can shine. If you’re going to do news programming, don’t do it at 6pm because they can’t compete with local news on Seven and Nine. 10 News needs to occupy another timeslot.
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Nine’s 9.30pm Sunday news does massive business. And when 10 is running the late news at 9.30 it’s also a very solid performer.
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Presume you mean post 7pm news?
Because primetime is 6pm-12am.
that said, the success or nines 930pm Sunday news and 10s late news at 9.30 - the performance of these two “late primetime” newscasts is what a few of us here a citing.
I would argue these two broadcasts show there is a business case.
I don’t understand why 10 hasn’t got Late News on a sunday.
Seems a no-brainer to increase sunday viewership
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