GB News: Launch

[Inspector Sands]

A news channel though discussing issues around Covid should be getting on people from the WHO, not The Who.

Brilliant.

Although, you don't think they actually.... surely they didn't? :o

[johnnyboy]

More companies look set to withdraw their advertising from the channel:

https://twitter.com/kopparberguk/status/...90401?s=21

Seems like companies believed the spin of what the channel was supposed to be like…. Then upon realising what it is actually like are now pulling their ads. The content counts for nothing if you haven’t got the ads to pay for it.

That's a pity.

I just hope that most of the advertisers have the balls to stand up to these cancellers.

To conflate the views generally expressed so far on GB News with "hate" makes no sense to me. "Hate" covers so much nowadays that the Overton window is fast getting narrower from my perspective.

However, given the earlier comment in this thread about the turnover per hour of the adverts being around £1,000, there may be plenty of smaller companies who see this as an opportunity to advertise on the telly. But then again may be not because it can be expensive to set up and it is a hassle.

[Inspector Sands]

Wooten nodding along to Roger Daltrey’s ridiculous misinformation about Covid and letting it go unchallenged really sums up all you need to know about this channel. He said ventilators were killing patients. Ofcom really should be coming down on this mess like a tonne of brinks.

To be fair there have been medical reports that artificial ventilation should be avoided if possible, as it can cause more harm than good.

I don't think any medical professional would disagree with that, it's a horrible procedure. That's why they don't do it unless necessary.

Also that could apply to all major medical procedures - they all cause more harm than good if they were needed in the first place!

[TIGHazard]

More companies look set to withdraw their advertising from the channel:

https://twitter.com/kopparberguk/status/...90401?s=21

Seems like companies believed the spin of what the channel was supposed to be like…. Then upon realising what it is actually like are now pulling their ads. The content counts for nothing if you haven’t got the ads to pay for it.

That reply tweet makes it seem like companies didn't even know they were on at all - like Sky Media didn't tell them

[johnnyboy]

That reply tweet makes it seem like companies didn't even know they were on at all - like Sky Media didn't tell them

I'm not in this part of the advertising industry so I could be wrong on this but I think they probably don't.

I just checked Ahrefs - StopFundingHate's site seems to get 320-ish visitors a month.

However, its Facebook figures are more impressive with 231,135 likes and 120.9K followers on Twitter. If they do pile onto GB News's advertisers, I wonder how many will comply?

[derek500j]

More companies look set to withdraw their advertising from the channel:

https://twitter.com/kopparberguk/status/...90401?s=21

Seems like companies believed the spin of what the channel was supposed to be like…. Then upon realising what it is actually like are now pulling their ads. The content counts for nothing if you haven’t got the ads to pay for it.

Has Farage been officially blacklisted* from appearing on TV in the UK?

* is that still allowed to be used? It's hard to keep up these days!

[news727]

That reply tweet makes it seem like companies didn't even know they were on at all - like Sky Media didn't tell them

I'm not in this part of the advertising industry so I could be wrong on this but I think they probably don't.

Mystery officially solved... or half-solved.

[Inspector Sands]

The paraellels between this and the early days of TV-AM are almost scary. The only difference is GBN clearly want to be populist, they've just not worked out how.. But, they're going to need to find their equivalent of Greg Dyke - and fast. There's certainly not going to be any sort of repeat of the Gyngell era - there's nowhere to cut back. Indeed, I'm sure any members of "The 234" who are still alive today may well still have their jaws on the floor at how low the bar has dropped.

The difference with TVam is that the content was awful and misjudged at launch but at least it was technically competent and done to high technical standards (the same with L!ve TV) That's not just because there was a regulator ensuring all that sort of thing but also because there wasn't the range of technology to choose from... they couldn't go down the cheap route because there was only one way to do it - with proper broadcast quality kit and trained professionals to use it.

Of course TVam had the opposite problem - the content improved but then there was a strike and the technical quality declined.


It'll be interesting to see what happens, problem is that people's perception of channels tends to get fixed once they enter the public consciousness. For those who have seen the channel a lot more are talking about it and its a bit of a laughing stock already. I'd have thought that either The Last Leg or HIGNFY will mention and show a clip of GBN on Friday and then its reputation will be cemented.


I'm sure it will improve, it'll have to to survive. I think part of the problem will be that they've committed themselves to live studio production from 6am till 10pm 5 days a week... doesn't leave much time to do major work to sort it out

[william]

That reply tweet makes it seem like companies didn't even know they were on at all - like Sky Media didn't tell them

That doesn't necessarily mean it's true though - frankly companies will say anything to customers as a quick exercise in damage limitation, when in reality they simply didn't bother to check (and social media reps are unlikely to have had anything to do with it). I'd imagine some advertisers will withdraw from specific hours - after 9pm being particularly risky at the moment.

[Worzel]

Watching this morning, it doesn't seem to be much different. Sound problems still. They've just interviewed Michael Gove on the Great British Breakfast via ULive OB from College Green and his microphone was running hot and was totally distorted through the whole interview.

Edit - Now graphics issues with the caption on screen not tallying up with what's being discussed

[TIGHazard]

In what must be the modern equivalent of a VCR having issues with sync tracking the switch between Thames and LWT - someone on DS said their PVR won't even record, saying there isn't even a channel coming in, despite them being able to watch it.

[Alexh2021]

This morning has been much more watchable IMO - hasn’t noticed as many errors.

[Markymark]

In what must be the modern equivalent of a VCR having issues with sync tracking the switch between Thames and LWT - someone on DS said their PVR won't even record, saying there isn't even a channel coming in, despite them being able to watch it.

That'll most likely be a metadata thing, or something in the SI tables that's wrong, or the event is deliberately 'locked out' as a non recordable item, a bit like the 'This is BBC 2' overnight barker is

[Worzel]

This morning has been much more watchable IMO - hasn’t noticed as many errors.

The Brazier hour was until they ran what looked like yesterday evening's weather forecast for Monday night again.

But yes, it is better.

[Jack]

Seems that at least some of the issues have been ironed out this morning.

Dipped in and out of breakfast and it was fine. Brazier & Muroki is running fine but they have zero chemistry; you can almost sense Colin's frustration. Imagine we'll see some pairing changes and talent being repositioned before long.