New Alternative News Channel "GB News" chaired by Andrew Neil launching - read OP before posting

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 08:25AM

The channel is now doomed no matter what they do. There's no way back from here. People simply aren't interested and those who want news entertain are already well catered for on social media.

Everyone knows this, especially those involved in GB News which is why many of them are jumping ship.

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 08:34AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888340#Comment_117888340

I strongly disagree. The "democratisation" of discussing politics is a very old business. Smart , informed people have sober discussions of policy and substance. But that takes huge knowledge of what's going on in Parliament. Very few people have that knowledgeable they have very few people to chat with because there are few other people with similar levels of knowledge.

So the rest of us have to add in elements of entertainment if we're going to have a discussion that lasts longer than 30 seconds without honestly saying "well I don't know the answers to any of the relevant questions". But turning news into entertainment involves cutting out the argument and skipping straight to the answer based on emotion rather than reason.

I think k they were doomed as long as they tried to do any honest, sober news. Their target market is perfect for an entertainment channel like fox news.

Quin_Dub · 14-09-2021 08:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888340#Comment_117888340

They are a YouTube channel pretending to be a TV Channel.

Their target demographic don't consume "news" in 30 minute or 1Hr chunks - They consume it in sub 5-minute videos that they can watch on their phone and then rage tweet about.

The sort of people that sit in front of Tucker Carlson, Hannity et al all evening in the US just don't exist in the UK.

They are all watching Corrie ,EastEnders and Googlebox etc. instead.

People might be interested in the story-line from GBNews , but they are absolutely not interested in the format.

Quin_Dub · 14-09-2021 08:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888382#Comment_117888382

Ofcom rules mean that they can't be an "Entertainment" channel like Fox News though.

So they are stuck in no-mans land and the result ends up catering to nobody in particular.

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 09:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888447#Comment_117888447

They pretty much are though. Ofcom is pretty much powerless to stop them from going full on Fox News. Arguably, they have already. You can't have a program called "Wokewatch" and pretend to be impartial. The problem is that the "entertainment" is just the same old thing over and over again which, as you've pointed out works in 5-minute servings, not hour long broadcasts.

L1011 · 14-09-2021 09:23AM

I suspect they'd be booted out of the News section on EPGs if they try the "we're actually entertainment" approach.

14-09-2021 09:25AM

Didn’t GB news have a broadcast recently for which the official viewing figure was zero?

Quin_Dub · 14-09-2021 09:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888605#Comment_117888605

Indeed - They can get away with "segments" like the "Wokewatch" guff , but eventually they'll get pulled up on it.

Ironically , they probably haven't been pulled yet because not enough people are actually watching to generate a complaint to Ofcom.

The audience for multiple hours of that sort of stuff simply isn't there as evidenced by their rapidly declining viewing numbers and the fact that there average viewing duration is a stunning 21 seconds.

Their target audience want tweetable soundbites , not hours of listening to Farage moaning.

breezy1985 · 14-09-2021 09:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888382#Comment_117888382

The people who want "light entertainment news" are already happy and we'll catered for by the likes of Sky which for the most part doesn't require a deep interest in politics to enjoy it's programming.

Even among people who support it's politics I don't think there is an audience for the extremely dumbed down red faced shouting arena that is Fox

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 09:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888653#Comment_117888653

I just don't see Ofcom actually doing anything though when you consider the state of HM Government. I find it hard to believe that Ofcom are unaware of what's going on.

The thing with Fox News is that they hit the ground with a captive audience and then ramped things up with the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan so they've had decades to build a brand. GB News on the other hand began life in the social media age. It might as well be a radio station.

pixelburp · 14-09-2021 09:31AM

Makes one wonder was wokewatch even named thus to try and poke the bear. Get some OFCOM complaints going as to generate some victim complex, viral traction. Feed into the narrative of a counter balance to those mean lefties. In which case, it's doubly sad when an attempt troll fails cos nobody's watching. Hard to interpret any channel as a serious intellectual competitor with a name that openly obnoxious and confrontational.

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 09:34AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888669#Comment_117888669

That'd be my take. The modern conservative narrative hinges on pretending to be oppressed and never shutting up about it but if nobody is watching in a country where Boris Johnson has a stonking majority then there's nobody to sell controversy to.

Penn · 14-09-2021 09:43AM

I think the trouble with things like "Wokewatch" is that it's aimed at people who hate all the "Woke" stuff, yet that probably puts some of those people off watching because it's talking all about that where some people probably prefer to ignore it as much as possible.

pixelburp · 14-09-2021 10:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888709#Comment_117888709

Well exactly. The blindspot these people who get really, irrationally angry about woke stuff is by and large, at best, people don't care. I've lost count of times from chatting with people in RL, and they have never even heard the term "woke" before (usually accompanied by my halting, embarrassed attempt to explain the concept); yet here's a TV channel, full of adults, trying to make it a foundational principle to their business. It's mad stuff.

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 10:26AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888432#Comment_117888432

I think you underestimate the people in the UK (and probably Ireland) if you think hey wouldn't watch entertainment news. There hasn't been an English Tucker Carlson for the English to watch so they cant have watched it in the past. But I think they would watch it as much as any of the other entertainment you listed above, then i think that's where you underestimate them.

I think they would lap up a right wing entertainment news channel in the same way that they keep the Daily Express going and Twitter and Facebook are full of emotionally based guff.

The Daily express has headlines on their front page including Pensions getting screwed, anti climate change protesters, EU bloc on the ropes, "Brexit Gamechanger! Truss demands UK firms get ready for major new trade boost", Nicola Sturgeon should resign and I sh! t you not there's a headline about the Argentinean President and the Falklands. The target market for this sot of stuff and Facebook and Twitter guff, would love a news channel that caters to their prejudice. They have neither the intelligence or the resources to discuss politics in reality so they can only discuss it in the way people discuss their favourite football team. James O Brien calls it "the footballification of politics" and i think he captures the mood nicely.

But I must be honest and say i don't know how much power Ofcom has or if it can stop GB News from becoming Fox News GB.

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 10:33AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888886#Comment_117888886

But this is effectively entertainment news or as close to Fox as it's possible to get in the UK and nobody's watching. This is pretty good metric to gauge the British public's interest in such things.

Quin_Dub · 14-09-2021 10:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888886#Comment_117888886

The evidence would suggest that it's GB News that's has underestimated things.

Their viewing numbers are dreadful and have declined each and every week since launch. If the audience exists they have failed to find each other so far.

I think you are correct that there are people interested in the idea of GB News insofar as they agree with the "angle" being pitched, but they don't seem to have any interest in sitting down of an evening to watch several hours of programming - They'll watch the clips and retweet the headlines etc. , but they just don't seem to be interested in switching off the Soaps and Reality shows on a wet Tuesday to actually watch GB News in any meaningful way.

As others have said - It would have been far cheaper and probably just as effective if they simply launched a GB News YouTube or TikTok account and hadn't bothered with the whole TV station thing.

Their current 24/7 broadcast model just will not work long term , it's just not financially viable , regardless of content.

A relaunch as an "Exclusive digital only News Channel" is their likely next path , meaning they'll simply fall back to the only bit that currently works for them - short snappy tweetable soundbites on YouTube that go quite well with a few longer form videos that will get hardly any views but help them justify the "news channel" angle.

The Raging Bile Duct · 14-09-2021 11:10AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888886#Comment_117888886

I think they would lap up a right wing entertainment news channel in the same way that they keep the Daily Express going and Twitter and Facebook are full of emotionally based guff.

They clearly haven't been lapping it up based on the viewing figures.

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 11:15AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889128#Comment_117889128

Ah yeah but it's new and evolving so it's hardly fair to judge whether it will gather a following in the future yet. The format changes from week to week it seems.

I see Neil Oliver as an interesting case. I see him as a serious person so I wonder if he will stick around when it goes full-on entertainment.

Tony EH · 14-09-2021 11:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888801#Comment_117888801

I think it's an age thing. The late middle aged investors were probably duped by someone telling them that "woke" is what the kids are talking about these days and there's loads of easy money to be made about it. "Here look at this thing on the internet which proves it..."

But unfortunately they hadn't a bull's notion that in the real world that term is rarely even used and its concepts (as vague as they are) don't even register in most people's lives.

Andrew Neil and others must feel like proper numpties at the moment.

Penn · 14-09-2021 11:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889128#Comment_117889128

Agreed. Even if it hasn't gone as far as Fox News, it's closer to that than anything else on TV, and it's still not attracting viewers (and in fact, losing viewers at a fairly substantial rate).

If it was appealing to enough viewers, those viewers would be trying to support it. As someone else said on Twitter last night; "Bots don't watch TV". They might get a bunch of tweets and video views etc, and I'm sure many prefer watching quick highlights or main points from some of their shows. But the majority of the output of the channel isn't getting anywhere near enough traction that they need. They've gone as close to Fox News style as they can while staying within Ofcom rules and will likely keep trying to push further towards that, but what Fox News has now was something changed and fostered over decades. They got to a level of huge national news channel, then became what they are now in terms of the more entertainment/discussion side of things. GB News can't push towards that starting at square one.

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 11:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889168#Comment_117889168

I'd say their target market is squarely old, conservative people. Not young people at all. They might have told them that the old people are all in a rage about the young people and their woke ideas, so we can tap into the angry old people market.

I imagine the market to be old, conservative, low socio economic, low resource, low on information, high in nostalgia, high in superficial patriotism. That demographic is probably not ideally suited to the online format but it might take off with them if they want it to. Like the way loads of older people learned to use Skype during the pandemic.

I think loads of people wrote it off before it even started and now it's evolving and they're still writing it off. Just because it's ridiculous doesn't mean it won't find a way to work. Fox news is like a parody of a real news channel and it's been the biggest news channel in the US for ages now.

Quin_Dub · 14-09-2021 11:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889220#Comment_117889220

The key issue isn't really about their content etc. , it's about Financial viability.

News Channels don't make money outside the US , they just don't.

They are either State funded like RTE or the BBC or they are used as "loss leaders" of sorts by wider broadcasting organizations , like Sky News.

Sky News currently has 6X the viewers of GB News and it has never been profitable, its losses are covered by the rest of the wider organization though so it's sustainable.

GB News doesn't have that backstop - It's a money pit and always will be , that's just the cold reality of TV Broadcasting.

The survival of GB News has little do do with finding an audience , it's all about how long the Sugar daddies are willing to keep putting their hands in their pockets.

banie01 · 14-09-2021 11:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889220#Comment_117889220

So their target market is mirroring their viewing numbers? In so far as both are dying.

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 12:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889220#Comment_117889220

But nobody's watching. 17.4 million people voted for Brexit and nearly 14 million voted for Johnson's Tory party. GB News had its launch and it turned out to be not even a storm in a teacup. You seem convinced that it'll evolve into some form of insidious threat but it needs viewers to justify its existence and those barely exist.

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 12:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889286#Comment_117889286

I had no idea that's how it works.

So who is funding GB news so far?

El_Duderino 09 · 14-09-2021 12:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889332#Comment_117889332

Well, yes but you could say the same of FF and FG and the UK Tory party and the readers of the Express. They all relay on older people. You could say that in 20 years half their target market will be dead and you'd be correct, but old people are always being created too. And they can adapt to suit the demographics as they evolve.

Just because old people die doesn't mean there's no future in appealing to old people. There have never been as many old people as there are now and people live longer and longer.

But the poster above pointed out that News channels don't make money in the UK so it's more about willingness to continue funding it rather than anything else

Penn · 14-09-2021 12:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889397#Comment_117889397

I think there are a few big-money backers, with their primary aim being to increase numbers of more right-leaning voters so as it's more likely more Conservative influence in high-level political positions, which will ultimately help increase the wealth of the rich. So to some extent, they're willing to take a loss financially if they feel it will pay off long-term.

But if GB News isn't getting the views and isn't converting some towards switching from centrist to right, they may not see there as being much point and pull the plug.

ancapailldorcha · 14-09-2021 12:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889397#Comment_117889397

From the Metro:

"Who is funding GB News?

GB News has secured £60m in funding in order to make it to the airwaves.

Of this, £20m came from the American media company Discovery (the people behind such channels as Discovery Channel, Science Channel, TLC, Food Network and Animal Planet).

The remaining money came from two other sources; British hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, and Legatum, a private investment firm which is based in Dubai."

https://metro.co.uk/2021/06/16/gb-news-who-is-funding-the-channel-and-how-does-it-make-money-14782333/

American media, a hedge fund manager and an investment firm. That'll show the establishment.

Rawr · 14-09-2021 12:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889603#Comment_117889603

My guess is Discovery were hoping for a Fox News style cash-cow and threw in that £20m in the hope of a good return down the road. They probably won't do that again. As for the other two...anyone's guess what they are up to.

But £60m? How long could that last I wonder? Central London location + a whole studio suite + whatever channel rental they have to pay to Sky etc... + all of the wages. Can't be too much of that left, unless they got more investment since June.

New Alternative News Channel "GB News" chaired by Andrew Neil launching - read OP before posting

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"Who is funding GB News?