Once the new set is in, then the eventual plan is to go 24/7. That’s obviously a huge staff cost, probably doubling, if not tripling our staff numbers. It’s a fine balance when you rely on commercial partnerships but I’m working on a plan for it.
To be honest if I wanted to be rich I’d do 8 hours a day Monday to Friday LIVE and then just do social posts out of those hours. But that’s not my plan. To make our biz model work for 24/7 we need more commercial partners in the US and Europe. We have about five overseas partners at the moment. But obviously if we want to make shows for their 2pm, and do it live from Melbourne, that’s middle of the night here.
So a lot to consider, and like everything at Ticker, we dow act we can and grow as quickly as we can without going into the red.
Their facility is so cool. I’m a bit of a geek so walking around their warehouse and spotting parts of other sets. Part of the old Ten News set, part of the Sky News set I used to host from. Next time I’m rocking up with a ute.
Our analysis says Europe and the US are big, especially the US. We are working hard on Asia, thus building a bureau in Singapore and anchoring out of there live. But TV these days is more than “build it and they will come”.
One of the things I constantly remind our editorial team is that “covering the world” isn’t just what’s happening in Australia and the US. You’ll notice us adding more voices and interviews from Asia, particularly Jakarta, which I think is completely underserved given it’s importance in the region.
I’m also advertising for a reporter in New York and London at the moment. Plan is to have dozens of reporters going live and filing packages.
Remember guys, Ticker is a work in progress. I’d love to have the entire plan done from launch day. But that requires huge money, and as we’ve seen with some new streaming channels lately (not naming names), even huge investment doesn’t lead to perfection.
But more than that, my vision for Ticker is broad. We try lots of things to see if it works and if it doesn’t we quickly correct course. We have a very public business and so we wear our failures on the outside, which I’m fine with.
The key is to remember we have a different business model. Subs and ads don’t work when you’re a new news brand. People won’t pay for something they’ve never heard of, especially advertisers. So we had to build a sustainable business model that allows us to grow. Seems to be working.
Ticker now employs 20 journalists from 6am to 10pm. And it’s just the start. Cannot wait for the new set.
Anyway I’m off to paint the studio ceiling black. Later.
I don’t think that’s how it works. I think it’s part of the service when you build a set that you take it out when the new set comes in, but not entirely sure. They seem to store some as well when not in use.
The main LED behind anchor is from vMix so we can use it for live OB guests.
The other three and the LED tower (which is still under construction) is controlled by a system we are developing with our newsroom software. So either for a show or a story, they will automatically change to whatever we upload.
Hey MS crew. Of course! We are rebuilding our control room over the next few weeks (helps us to monitor the sound).
The LED screens are due to arrive this Saturday from China. And then next week they are installed along with a few other things in the new studio. We have a lighting and sound engineer coming in to make the final adjustments. Once the set is on air we’ll make a BTS video.
I might even have time to host a show again.
New London correspondent announced tonight. US one coming soon. Deciding between NYC and SF atm.
Also about to finalise a major global distribution partner.
We are also about to host a major production featuring Julia Gillard and Magda.
