It’s not about comparing Ten Eyewitness News with the game shows; on that measure it’s probably fine, and I see the reasoning behind Ten airing Family Feud at 18:00, it provides a fun/non-serious alternative at that time.
However as @CTC7-9-10 said earlier Ten Eyewitness News at 17:00 starts too early for many so it’s a poor lead-in to the evening, and many people aren’t going to put WIN local news on at 18:00 (with the Project providing a just brief overview of major national & international news at 18:30), enough people want (or are used to) a comprehensive news service from 18:00.
This reality is, I think, a big reason for 9News doing so well, even in Canberra with still so many irrelevant Sydney local stories & lacklustre presentation (below the standard we’d expected from 9News), and the lack of good competition outside the metros certainly isn’t hurting ABC News Canberra at 19:00 (although it starts a bit late for many viewers too).
Realistically, the only way that WIN can get into the 6pm market is:
air a strong lead in at 5:30pm. Perhaps Family Feud with more viewer interaction or maybe Neighbours (although with its lacklustre ratings, it would need a bit of a revamp)
If Ten reduces The Project back to a 30 minute format (or allow WIN to edit it)
If a WIN Eyewitness News can deliver a higher quality service than the alternatives. But that said, with Bruce Gordon’s cost cutting measure in recent years, that’s highly unlikely.
A new host for WIN Eyewitness News, maybe someone like Hugh Riminton, if Ten are willing to work with WIN on a project like that given the recent court challenges
There’s no way that will ever happen.
CBS may not hold grudges but I suspect Bruce does, and wasn’t Hugh the Ten employees’ representative, when they all voted against Bruce & Lachlan?
Nine didn’t give SCA the 9News regional bulletins for free; it was part of the affiliation deal which included getting the Nine brand out there (since Bruce had done so much to try & expunge it).
It’s well known CBS want their brand known worldwide, so if CBS are going to do something it won’t be “WIN”-branded, and Bruce (with his love for his WIN brand & huge blobs/shitstains) should be worried that the next affiliation deal won’t just stop him rebranding Ten Eyewitness News, but CBS may want the US situation where affiliates show the CBS watermark unobstructed all during network programming.
I am not suggesting it would be for free. I am suggesting a partnership. I suspect with Bruce Gordon’s ego, that won’t happen til he is no longer with us (or WIN). Ultimately, you need a trusted newsreader to present national stories, otherwise you have a bulletin like Prime National News.
The other alternative is, if they maintain the half hour bulletin on the back of (or front of) Ten Eyewitness News. Maybe delay Ten Eyewitness News til 6pm (and edit out the words “First At Five”. Air WIN News at 5:30pm (after Family Feud). This would only work if WIN are allowed to start The Project at 7pm
Sorry not being difficult - when you say ten news at 5 is a poor lead in. Have we seen ratings of ten news at 5 on win to know this? Or are you making that call based on metro ratings? And if so - ten news at 5 actually outperforms for ten In that slot relative to the rest of ten’s schedule. Yes it often places third, but ten places often all timeslots and is the 3rd rated network. NEws at 5 is actuakky one of their better performers. Family Fued is a terrible performer. Not sure why you think FF would do better than Ten News aa a lead in?
Ten News pulls a bigger aud than FF. And it’s on an hour earlier when far less people are watching TV
Is it well known that they want their brand worldwide?
Anyway yes the US networks like to be the only brand in their slots. Though their affiliate gets their name in during the local news and some promos.
I agree with TVAct… CBS is more likely to want to keep control of their time slots. Though that model might imply an open local news slot in each market (locally branded), before a national bulletin.
If I remember correctly, the daytime programs were similar across various locations but varied, and I think they were locally branded in those places. But the main network shows were the network identity.
Perhaps you’ve misunderstood/I was unclear; I’m not focused on 17:00 - 17:59, but what happens from 18:00 and so the mention of lead-in was about for the rest of the evening.
I was agreeing with @CTC7-9-10 that a significant number of viewers aren’t home early enough to see Ten Eyewitness News from the start, so they’re more likely to not put on Ten/WIN but instead go for Nine or Seven (where the news starts at a better time for more people).
Relatively few people will watch WIN local news by itself (having missed the start of Ten Eyewitness News); some are OK with The Project’s news summary, but ratings declines since WIN became the Ten affiliate (& 9News regional bulletins appeared in areas where Seven/Prime7 didn’t already provide local news) suggest many viewers are preferring the alternatives over WIN.
Let’s not get distracted by FF as this thread is primarily about the areas that get a full WIN local news bulletin instead of FF, but yes some people will get home early, watch Ten’s news, and it’s easy to imagine another family member gets home a bit later & wants to watch the news so they switch to Nine or Seven.
As an example, let’s look at last week’s ratings (25-29/9/17). Ten’s Five O’Clock news was beaten by The Chase on five days and by Hot Seat on four days. Yes, these are metro figures, but it gives an indication of the viewing preference of certain demographics.
The discussion really is about what WIN should do about being knocked down to third. Of course Ten is used to it, but WIN isn’t. It’s a fascinating time in regional television as it really is a ‘go hard or go home’ environment right now. SC and Prime7 are going hard, while WIN is floundering. Their decision now is, do they invest heavily in their early evening - or slash budgets and be content with low audiences?
My guess is Bruce is hedging his bets, judging by his snap investment in Prime, waiting to see what CBS might do with the network.
Sadly, a consequence of a pre-recorded bulletin. Canberra Times published the story at 6.15pm - which possibly could have been mentioned towards the end of the bulletin if it were live and local.
Certainly, in the olden days it could have made it into the evening update (recorded after the main bulletin).
Well Prime7 were tweeting about it from mid-afternoon. I guess it’s not only WIN that dropped the ball though. Wasn’t on 9 and not sure about the ABC either…
