Channel 10 is set to make changes to its 5pm News next week in what is being described internally as an “experiment”, aimed at helping retain viewers for 10NEWS+.
Channel 10 is trialling changes to its 5pm News bulletin next week as it attempts to improve 10NEWS+ ratings, following ongoing concerns about audience retention at 6pm.
The move, described internally as an “experiment”, is aimed at holding viewers across the 5pm to 6pm transition – an area where 10NEWS+ continues to lose significant audience share to 7NEWS and 9NEWS.
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In an email obtained by TV Blackbox, Network 10’s Vice President of News, Martin White, outlines changes designed to prevent viewers from switching channels at the top of the hour.
As White explains in the email:
“Next week, we’re going to experiment a touch, to try and hold people better over the 5pm/6pm changeover.”
Under the proposed change, the local 5pm bulletin will no longer end with the presenter signing off.
Instead, the bulletin will finish on a full-frame weather graphic, with the weather presenter delivering the final line. They will be instructed to say something like “And that’s all your weather details for this Monday”.
According to White’s instructions:
“No music, no goodbye, disclaimer along the bottom of the screen over the graphic.
Then we go straight into the Plus opener – pics and VO, not on camera.”
WHY THE CHANGE?
The intention is to transition viewers directly from the 5pm News into 10NEWS+, which currently loses the majority of its audience to 7NEWS and 9NEWS at 6pm.
The network is hoping the changes will slow audience leakage at 6pm and deliver a measurable lift in 10NEWS+ ratings.
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The email makes clear the change will run as a one-week trial.
“We’ll see what difference it makes next week before deciding what we’ll do next,” White notes.
Viewers of 10NEWS+ will also notice a minor change to the show’s graphics package, with the logo shifting from red to white.
ACCELERATED FLOW BETWEEN PROGRAMS
Accelerated flow techniques have been used across the industry for many years in an effort to retain audiences between programs.
However, insiders at Network 10 have expressed concern the bulletin may feel incomplete without the local host being allowed to formally sign off.
10NEWS+ has been a major cost-saving measure for the network following the axing of The Project.
As previously reported by TV Blackbox, the program effectively “washed its face” in its first half hour. When it ran as a one-hour format, the second half hour was considered pure profit.
Following the unexpected success of Deal or No Deal, Network 10 opted to retain the game show alongside Millionaire Hot Seat.
Deal or No Deal had originally been slated for axing, but strong ratings in the 7pm slot saw it saved — forcing 10NEWS+ to be reduced to a half-hour to make way.
The changes are expected to be implemented from Monday.
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