Is television news dead? That’s the question we asked our panel of senior national television news bosses at our annual Big Talk, on Wednesday 14th May. Not surprisingly, we had a packed house and an incredibly insightful look at what the UK’s national TV channels are doing to keep audiences interested. In the first of four blogs, summing up what our speakers had to say, we hear from Richard Burgess, the BBC’s Director of News Content.
Richard is responsible for more than 800 journalists in the UK and around the world who provide content for BBC News across digital, television and radio. News Content has an international and UK bureaux, as well as specialist teams covering a range of subject areas including politics, money and work, UK affairs, health, climate and culture. He is also responsible for the on the day news desk team, planning and BBC Verify, a unit working on forensic open source journalism and fact checking.
Richard explained that despite misconceptions of dwindling viewers, TV news still the most common way people consume news in the UK. In fact, the 6pm national and regional news programmes put together by teams across the country are still the most popular shows on television today. This is in no small part down to the unique connection those programmes are able to create, by the delivery of news on a national and regional level, in a way that talks to audiences not at them.
The challenge to TV news That said, TV news is evolving – it has to! Despite strong viewership for linear TV, people are consuming news through digital forms more than ever before. Traditional TV remains the go-to for older audiences, where younger, more savvy viewers consume on a more on-demand way, such as through the BBC’s streaming service, iPlayer. Unlike 10 to 20 years ago, these younger audiences aren’t making appointments to sit down and watch the news at a certain time, they are picking up bits and pieces of the news as and when they want.
With this in mind, the BBC has had to diversify their output onto other platforms and tailor it to specific audiences. In short, they need to be where their audiences are and deliver the news in a format different audiences want – and it’s working. Richard highlighted recent content successes including 9 million views on TikTok for their coverage of the Pope’s election, and a long form interview with Prince Harry on YouTube too.
Heading off the competition Richard believes the BBC needs to continue to set itself apart from other broadcasters in the way it offers transparency and trust too. With so much news content to compete with online, the BBC has a role to play in ensuring what audiences are consuming has been verified. This is why the BBC’s sub-division BBC Verify was created, so that audiences know that the news they are watching is fact checked and trustworthy.
Finally, the BBC’s USP is and should always be quality journalism. Richard explained that with the exception of BBC Breakfast, the BBC’s news output is predominantly quality news reporting, not news talk. While there is a place for news talk from other providers, the BBC’s consistency of approach is designed to ensure audiences know exactly what they will get before they even hit play!
In summary, for BBC News, TV is not dead. In fact, it’s as popular as ever pulling in some very impressive viewer numbers for the 6pm news. The biggest issue is, the viewers for sit down news remains much older, while younger audiences are choosing to receive their news on a more on-demand basis, when they want, across a range of platforms.
Playing them at their own game With YouTube, TikTok and Instagram becoming increasingly popular it would be foolish not to take the news and deliver it to audiences where they are. Also, with the BBC’s unique level of quality and style of explaining stories to the communities watching, the plan is for their output to continue to thrive well into the future.
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