Unfortunately, with the way things are going at the moment I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if local 5pm bulletins are reduced or axed entirely within the next five years.
While I think that the current branding (mainly in terms of graphics/sets/theme music, obviously promotion needs to be greatly improved) isn’t the biggest issue with Ten’s news service that needs fixing right now, it wouldn’t hurt to consider planning for a relaunch sometime later this year or Early 2017.
um, few holes with the comments about the ratings… it’s summer time. There are always less viewers in summer and the premium sports that 7 & 9 have as lead ins are helping them enormously.
Exactly. The ‘eyewitness’ brand should actually mean something.
The whole focus towards technology and social media for news-gathering that they had before the launch undoubtedly would have worked- viewers would have seen a noticable difference in news content compared to other networks. It’s also substantially cheaper and more in-depth having ‘eyewitnesses’ in remote or regional locations, or where breaking news is occuring, than having to send reporters or do V/O stories.
I would have liked (and would still like) to see a campaign similar to ABC7 LA’s (KABC-TV) Eyewitness News service:
I think something like this doesn’t even go far enough, although the marketing and integration is good.
Ten should have made a decent app, available on all platforms, not just on iOS like they did, that integrated contribution and breaking news services together. Considering that most people have access to high speed internet on-the-go around Australia, I think the app should allow people to contribute not only pictures, footage and story details, but also allow staff in the newsroom to alert people in the area of a story to contribute. Maybe if it was a big story they could have a ‘live contribution’ option on request from back in the newsroom, where an eyewitness on the scene of the story could take footage that could be broadcast live, or even have interview facilities available. Have requirements, such as only filming in landscape mode, to make sure quality remains adequate.
All within one app. The funny thing is, this sort of thing isn’t that difficult to create- It just needs a bit of investment, but it would promise to revolutionise television news within Australia, and increase viewership due to the noticeable difference in coverage that Ten would offer compared to others. Their coverage of breaking news stories would be vastly superior, and would bring a whole new meaning to ‘live’.
Then it really would be ‘Eyewitness News’.
Ten News have got to do something NOW.
Well below 100k most nights for Queensland? Dual-header hasn’t done a thing. Shocking.
Even Sydney’s looks poor.
Melbourne’s the only market that has been pulling decent nunbers for summer. I mean a couple of weeks ago, it saw 180k (highest in a year I think).
Are they scared of promos or something? Boy oh boy.
gotta do something in primetime, 5pm too crowded now.
To be honest, I think that the ratings of Ten Eyewitness News: First At Five would be even worse than they are now if it wasn’t for Sandra & Hugh in Sydney and Georgina & Lachlan in Queensland. The co-presenters are hardly the biggest problem with Ten’s 5pm news in either market IMO.
What REALLY needs to be changed is the promotional strategy for Ten Eyewitness News. Seven and Nine’s bulletins are constantly promoted during primetime and major sporting telecasts. Seven and Nine News usually get their highest ratings when the lead-in program to the news is a major sporting telecast. Not to mention those 10-15 Second Promos for what’s coming up on tonight’s news during every second break during drivetime radio on weekdays, among other things.
What does Ten do? Very little if any promotion for it’s news service at all. Instead of taking advantage of a sporting telecast to promote the news service and expose it to a wider audience, there’s been several occasions when Ten Eyewitness News has become “Ten Nowitness News” in major markets like Sydney and Melbourne because the news isn’t airing that night or even a full weekend. And when was the last time you saw a major promotional push by Ten for it’s news service in external media such as radio, print or outdoor/digital media? It’s been a while as far as I can tell!
However the 5pm Ten News is not in direct competition with 6pm 7 and 9 bulletins that are promted. Ten’s 6pm offering is Family Feud that is heavily promoted across their schedule as their alternative. Their 5pm news is outside prime time ratings period and they obviously prefer to promote programs like Family Feud and The Project that are contribute to the prime time share. I would say that Family Feud gets about the same promotion as the 7 and 9 6pm bulletins do.
I’m well aware that Ten’s 5pm news isn’t in direct competition with Seven and Nine’s 6pm news service. But that certainly doesn’t mean that Ten shouldn’t be promoting it’s news service better (or even at all) than it is right now.
Honestly, I think that even ABC News at 7pm is promoted better (those “I’ll Take You Home” promos that aired late last year were quite good) than Ten Eyewitness News: First At Five. 
I’m liking the idea of Ten Eyewitness News @ 9.30pm (Local editions), using the same news teams as the 5.00pm editions.
But this would require a larger investment into news resources.
By why are comparisons constantly being made between the amount of promotion that 7 and 9 give to a prime time news bulletin to what 10 give to an out of prime time afternoon program. Of course, more promotion of any program would be great but the priority across all networks is always going to be prime time. Try comparing 10 5pm news promotion to that given to Hot Seat.
By contrast, the amount and type of promotion that Family Feud gets is comparable to what 7 and 9 give their news. It is extensively promoted during sports coverage and not just with generic promos - there is usually a promo specific for that or the next night’s program.
I mean you could try Family Feud at 4:30pm and the Bold & The Beautiful at 6pm?
I think the prime-time B&B experimwnt in late 2008 failed though?
OR… Ten News as a 30min bulletin and make Family Feud 1hr, keeping many from switching to Seven/Nine 6pm news.
But really, they need promos for the 5pm news, well thought-out and eye catching ones AND AIR THEM FREQUENTLY like Seven/Nine. Espwcially in prime time.
They’ve done so well with ratings growth, MasterChef revival big time, Bachelor/Bachelorette, etc.
But this is a problem.
From what I’ve seen, both Hot Seat and The Chase Australia are regularly promoted in primetime. Not as much as Seven/Nine News of course, but still considerably more than the near nothing promotion that Ten gives it’s news service.
Exactly, Ten can promote their 5pm offering regardless of it being outside of prime time. It is all about branding. The quality of the bulletins aren’t as good as they were pre 2012.
Family Feud gained viewers last year, Nine and Seven News lost viewers. Ten increased its commercial share at 6pm. Why change from a schedule that is gaining viewers?
I believe the audience for Ten News (on weekends specifically) would be much higher if Nine and Seven didn’t run their 5pm news services. Both get nearly as high as Ten’s bulletin.
not that much as the same teams would be used, yes there would need to have reporters on duty after 7pm to do live crosses etc. but the resources are all there. If they are running an expensive news operation, then airing a bulletin that has more eyeballs would make better use of the capital they are putting in anyway.
Of course. Ten has all but given up 5pm on weekends and they only have themselves to blame. They moved their weekend 5pm bulletin to 6pm in the news revolution and Nine quickly filled the void. I recall prior to the news revolution, 700k was the norm on weekends.
That’s certainly right!
As much as I hoped the news revolution would work for them, it left them in such a dire state 
I think that was the biggest blunder in the whole news revolution, not really letting viewers know that the weekend news had changed timeslots!
There is no way that they can use the same team for a late bulletin as 5pm. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but working hours have been regulated to 38 hours a week for a long time now. And that means 8 hours a day. People dont walk into the studio at 4.50 for the 5pm news.
They need to promote the news, and wait until the ratings season begins again and everyone is back in their routine.
