GBNews: anyone watching?

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

This launched last night and was more damp squib than space rocket. However, early days yet.

My initial impressions - and in fairness I don't think I was ever likely to be in their target market - are

- Andrew Neil has got to do a lot of the heavy lifting as he's the only heavyweight they've got

- they are very studio based and rely on their presenters generating viewer interest and loyalty. They are (to put it as kindly as I can) an eclectic mix

- they make a big play of being outside the London media bubble (er, the Beeb is now in Salford, guys), but have they got the resource to develop regional content that will engage anyone outside the region being looked at (e.g they have a 'Yorkshire' correspondent)

- it's hard to see the target market market (Red Wall?), as I suspect much of the target market isn't that interested in the news (if they are the silent majority perhaps it's because they aren't much engaged and never will be or want to be)

- there will be resource issues in that they will never have the reach of the BBC or Sky News; they can't and don't want to be a rolling news service and that leaves an awful lot of space to fill with talking heads (not sure how they will get sports coverage)

- the obsession with being anti-woke/proud to be British will only get them so far (and I'm not convinced that their voices have been hitherto unheard as many of their presenters crop up on the BBC and Sky). And when did good (upbeat) news sell more papers than bad?

- the could drive ratings by being Fox-type ranters but they don't want to and they are not allowed to (thank goodness)

- the more controversial they get, the more they risk upsetting advertisers

It's a ratings game ultimately. If they get the numbers, they get the advertisers. I don't think they'll get the numbers but we'll see.

Given that there must be some NSCers who are sympathetic to their cause (if our very own Bear Pit is any evidence), so any views, or even viewers?

 

[Is it PotG?]

There's only so much news to go around.

Yet another source, too much info?

I shall stick to my long-term stalwarts of The Mail and The Express for my daily facts.

 

[Weststander]

They’ve got the studio sound and camera distances all wrong …. it’s awful.

 

[Brian Potter]

I put it on for a while this morning just to see what it was like. Distracted from what they were saying by the fact it looks like they are streaming it using a mobile phone, the sound is out of sync and kept varying and the set is depressingly dark. I will give it a try at some point to see what their content is about, but if they don't sort out these issues people are unlikely to stick with it.

 

[Albumen]

“- the more controversial they get, the more they risk upsetting advertisers“

The daily nazi has no issues with advertising.

It’s for people who love shouting at clouds. An echo chamber to scream the word woke as many times as possible. I’ll
Leave them to it.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

This launched last night and was more damp squib than space rocket. However, early days yet.

My initial impressions - and in fairness I don't think I was ever likely to be in their target market - are

- Andrew Neil has got to do a lot of the heavy lifting as he's the only heavyweight they've got

- they are very studio based and rely on their presenters generating viewer interest and loyalty. They are (to put it as kindly as I can) an eclectic mix

- they make a big play of being outside the London media bubble (er, the Beeb is now in Salford, guys), but have they got the resource to develop regional content that will engage anyone outside the region being looked at (e.g they have a 'Yorkshire' correspondent)

- it's hard to see the target market market (Red Wall?), as I suspect much of the target market isn't that interested in the news (if they are the silent majority perhaps it's because they aren't much engaged and never will be or want to be)

- there will be resource issues in that they will never have the reach of the BBC or Sky News; they can't and don't want to be a rolling news service and that leaves an awful lot of space to fill with talking heads (not sure how they will get sports coverage)

- the obsession with being anti-woke/proud to be British will only get them so far (and I'm not convinced that their voices have been hitherto unheard as many of their presenters crop up on the BBC and Sky). And when did good (upbeat) news sell more papers than bad?

- the could drive ratings by being Fox-type ranters but they don't want to and they are not allowed to (thank goodness)

- the more controversial they get, the more they risk upsetting advertisers

It's a ratings game ultimately. If they get the numbers, they get the advertisers. I don't think they'll get the numbers but we'll see.

Given that there must be some NSCers who are sympathetic to their cause (if our very own Bear Pit is any evidence), so any views, or even viewers?

I won’t be watching as I’m happy with BBC and Sky News. I agree with you about local news. It’s important. The only news show I put on every day is BBC North West Tonight at 6.30 pm. The only thing I would take issue with is when you mention people not being interested in the news. That does tend to be an argument put forward by people who wish to suggest people are ignorant and therefore have the ‘wrong’ opinions. The most recent OFCOM report would suggest otherwise;

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/201316/news-consumption-2020-report.pdf

I would say that if anything there is too much news. Rolling 24 hour news channels tend to over expose stories. I find myself only switching on for the headlines rather than letting the repetitive over analysis wash over me.

 

[nwgull]

Seems a terrible time to start a news channel:

- Pubs just reopened
- Sunny weather
- First major international football tournament for 3 years just kicked off

Sod the beer garden and watching footy, I’ll put on some poorly produced studio-based news program instead.

 

[schmunk]

I hadn't given it a thought, but have just turned it on in the background on my laptop. My observations:

* The web feed is not very stable

* They spent a very long time on the weather forecast - presumably because they have little other content

* They're now spending a lot of time just chit-chatting between the current presenters and the next ones - more time-wasting

* Adverts? How anyone can argue that £3 per week is too much to pay to avoid the blasted things, I don't know.

* They broadcast 'earpiece' studio direction noises over the studio chat - amateurish

* They are OBSESSED about footballers kneeling - it's basically the only thing they've discussed in the last 15 minutes...

 

[A1X]

As anyone who takes an interest in ratings will know, local news repeatedly and wholeheartedly beats national news (outside maybe the BBC 10 o'clock or 6 o'clock news as the "flagship" news shows) every time, people want it. If they can't provide it then they're doomed.

 

[BBassic]

It's not for me but you have to admire the people behind it.

They identified a market, created a product for that market and will use that product to sell advertising space.

Smart business.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

Copy and paste from the other thread.

Yep - I watched 5 minutes this morning. Graphics from a 90s Uni project, some bloke outside Wembley with double sound followed by some asshat telling a black woman why booing the knee was OK whilst a convicted drunk driver looked on.

 

[Is it PotG?]

With Partridge and Reid on ITV, who needs this?

 

[ManOfSussex]

I just put it on and there was a live report from Wembley about England players taking the knee, then back to the studio where Colin Brazier mentions the words 'fascinating' and 'John Barnes' in the same sentence whilst his lips moved at different pace to his speech.

20 seconds of my life I'm not getting back.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Good place for certain people to use as an echo chamber when they're banned from the Bear Pit and Darren Grimes isn't tweeting much. Enjoy.

 

[Dick Swiveller]

With Partridge and Reid on ITV, who needs this?

That is the bit I don't get. It is just talking heads spouting the stuff they have been spouting elsewhere. All it means now is you can nod along enthusiastically on Sky TV instead of Youtube. The news is the news. All that changes is the spin on it. And it isn't like this type of spin hasn't been all over the place previously.

 

[JBizzle]

It's basically an angry echo chamber where people can shout "woke" at things they don't like as they pursue the hard right war against empathy.

That said, it'll 100% find an audience (although I won't be in that audience) and if it survives it's first year or so there's a good chance it could be pretty successful.

 

[Biscuit]

Billionaire-funded propaganda? No thanks.

“We are proud to be British” says co-founder Andrew Neil.

Every single one of GB News’ major shareholders is based outside Great Britain.

It's a no from me.

 

[SAC]

It's not for me but you have to admire the people behind it.

They identified a market, created a product for that market and will use that product to sell advertising space.

Smart business.

It's not smart in a business sense, they will need to be heavily subsidised by their wealthy backers.

It's all about click bait, not numbers of viewers. They need to be ultra controversial in order to get people talking about them, however at the moment they don't have the big hitters like Piers Morgan or Clarkson or Nick Ferrari so I can't see where they are going to generate those hits from.

My guess, unless they can get Piers/Clarkson on board, they will go out of business within 6 months. The problem with Piers and Clarkson is that they are happy to be controversial but not necessarily to tow the party line, something the backers wont like.

It's not aimed at me, or (thankfully) most on NSC.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Thread merge needed ?

 

[Live by the sea]

They need to be careful GB news doesn’t turn into a budget version of Fox News . There’s a massive appetite for news without a Guardian type spin on it , ie less woke etc but obviously that doesn’t mean it has to be like Fox News . Most sensible people I guess are somewhere in the middle .