Dan Walker joins 5 News

[all new Phil]

I don't really get who 5 News is supposed to appeal too now.  When it started it had an obvious target audience but it's point of difference has gone now and it feels like a bulletin on a budget hosted by BBC cast offs.

Nail on the head there. It feels like quite a complacent show, not daring to do anything new or different to grow - totally at odds with its initial remit. I’d hope that Walker injects some much-needed warmth and wit, but in all honesty I haven’t even been inclined to tune in to find out.

[soupie]

He's still doing better than Piers Morgan!

It's an unfair article because 5 News is never going to have the same reach as BBC Breakfast, it's on at a much more competitive slot and TBH the value of Dan to Channel 5 is having in other parts of the schedules.

I suppose it shows that Breakfast remains high regardless of presenters quitting. Dan’s boast about the 70% percent boost on his first day felt a lot like he was taking credit for it, so I don’t think it’s unfair for us to now see the actual picture regarding the ratings

[XIII]

I don't really get who 5 News is supposed to appeal too now.  When it started it had an obvious target audience but it's point of difference has gone now and it feels like a bulletin on a budget hosted by BBC cast offs.

Nail on the head there. It feels like quite a complacent show, not daring to do anything new or different to grow - totally at odds with its initial remit. I’d hope that Walker injects some much-needed warmth and wit, but in all honesty I haven’t even been inclined to tune in to find out.

TBF I think Dan has been quite good so far. His interview with Mick Lynch was very calm and informative compared to Piers and Kay Burley who were trying to provoke him,

[London Lite]

Dan has been a welcome addition, but he's working within the format of the relaunched 5 News which hasn't been too good if I'm honest instead of working a bulletin around him.

I can't help but think that 5 News since the relaunch has lost direction instead of the tighter 5pm bulletins of the past which were more female skewed, not helped by Sian leaving and then a mix of generic but solid presenters covering. Even when Dan joined, he's hardly worked with his co-presenter Claudia-Liza and the wheel of correspondents are still being used for pres shifts.

The Mick Lynch interview last week has to be the high point since they relaunched using Dan's impartial but still probing questions could be the start of the recovery of 5 News, but please get rid of the gimmicks and have at least the same line-up for four days out of five per week.

[Luc]

I think the Mirror's story a bit catty and harsh. Barring that one post from Dan, I don't think he or Channel 5 have crowed about ratings? I think people harking back to the Kirsty Young perch on a desk days are wide of the mark as 5 is a very different channel now. It's settled on aiming at an older, less well off audience, much of which is based in the North, so its news programmes should reflect that.

At the end of the day news is news and it's effectively an obligation for Channel 5 which I imagine Paramount will drop the moment they're permitted to. The only way of trying to liven it up is going down the Talk/GB route and the day that happens on a mainstream broadcaster we'll be in worrying times.

[London Lite]

A slightly different open today with Dan and Tessa doing a walk up, but then it reverted back to the floor up shot.

[Steve Williams]

I think the Mirror's story a bit catty and harsh. Barring that one post from Dan, I don't think he or Channel 5 have crowed about ratings? I think people harking back to the Kirsty Young perch on a desk days are wide of the mark as 5 is a very different channel now. It's settled on aiming at an older, less well off audience, much of which is based in the North, so its news programmes should reflect that.

At the end of the day news is news and it's effectively an obligation for Channel 5 which I imagine Paramount will drop the moment they're permitted to. The only way of trying to liven it up is going down the Talk/GB route and the day that happens on a mainstream broadcaster we'll be in worrying times.

I do find it a bit rich for the papers to start laughing at TV shows' ratings when the circulation of all newspapers is falling off a cliff. One of the Mirror's sister papers is the Sunday People which these days is a total irrelevance for most people and I don't know why it's still going.

Actually I suppose if 5 News reminds me of anything it probably is the Sunday People, in that it doesn't really get on the radar very often but it has a loyal, if small, audience. I don't buy any of the tabloids anymore but when I used to on a Sunday when I wanted a light read with lots of football and stuff, I used to get the People because it was the least worst option, suitably bright and breezy and readable enough, without the terrible self-aggrandisement you get for other tabloids (presumably as its circulation is so small, it had no influence whatsoever). And presumably it's still profitable for Reach to publish and there's still people who buy it every week.

And the same is true with 5 News, I think, I pretty much never watch it (I'm either in work or watching Pointless, mostly), but it seemingly does have a loyal audience who put it in their schedule and watch it every day, it's certainly a decent alternative to the quizzes on the other channels and something you can dip in and out of while making the tea. Reminds me of when I was a student and then, cough, between jobs and I used to watch the 12.30 ITV News every day, it fitted right into my "schedule" and was a suitable accompaniment to lunch.

On the occasions I have watched it, most obviously Dan's first day, it seems suitably bright and breezy and it's clearly made to the highest standards, obviously it has a well-established newsgathering operation behind it and I know through reading Broadcast and the like it it is highly regarded throughout the industry as a well-made programme. I mean, it isn't Newsnight, but it's doing the job they want it to and obviously the more people who can find a (reputable) news programme they regularly watch and trust, the better. I don't see why Paramount would want to get rid of it, it's only an hour a day, it serves an audience, it is good for reputational purposes and like on all channels, if you get rid of the news, what do you replace it with? Nothing that'll do any better for any smaller cost, probably. As you say, C5 knows its audience these days and I think it does succeed in reaching it, it strikes me as a really good channel for those homes who only have Freeview, though you wonder if that's sustainable in the long run.

As suggested, I'm sure Dan went into this knowing full well he'd be playing to smaller audiences than he did on Breakfast. I know he tweeted about the audience on the first day but I'm pretty sure that was almost entirely based on what a massive news day it was, he certainly doesn't strike me as the kind of person who considers ratings the be-all and end-all of news coverage. I doubt many people in the industry do, to be honest, they go into it to make good programmes.*

And although he is playing to much smaller audiences there are obviously benefits for him being on 5 News now, in that he's very much the senor anchor (as opposed to being one of four main hosts on Breakfast) and it's a smaller programme so he can presumably make a much larger contribution on the editorial side than he ever could on Breakfast.

* It does tickle me that the one person in UK TV news seemingly obsessed with ratings has pretty much never been the number one in anything they've done, with the Mirror miles behind the Sun when he edited it and Good Morning Britain being beaten every morning by Breakfast. It's almost like he's inviting ridicule.

[XIII]

I've never really got the nostalgia for the old 5 News, it worked in 1997 but it wouldn't work in 2022.

[Newsroom]

I'm surprised anyone takes any notice of those foul articles in that bunch of tomorrow's chip paper about presenters and audiences. Such ridiculous clickbait. I find it all as nauseating as Nathan Rao's reporting of the weather that never actually happens.

Plain and simple - Dan Walker left one channel and went to another.

Anyone remember Steph McGovern who was sent to coventry by the same above trash? Her show that 'apparently' registered zero figures is still on air, and was recently extended into 2023, oh and was nominated for a BAFTA.

[JK1985]

I remember when Steph's show launched, the viewing figures were terrible - but it goes to show you need to give new shows and presenters time. There is no point in slamming them after a week or two on air, time is key.

Channel 4 would not be wasting their time and money if Steph was not attracting a fairly decent audience at lunchtime.

[Steve]

I agree - it's a well-made programme that has a loyal audience and probably deserves more of an audience for the quality produced.

I wonder if they discussed having Dan host from 'The North' which is clearly all the rage at the moment but for good reasons - it would also clearly fit in with the 'across the UK' narrative 5 News are trying to focus on. Channel 4's presenting from Leeds sometimes seems a bit tokenistic, but I think having 5 News hosted out of Yorkshire regularly it would have been an interesting exercise and clearly would have fitted in with bringing in someone based in Sheffield.

Especially so perhaps given that it sometimes seems three-quarters of 5's output is from here in Yorkshire...

(As an aside, I don't know why they just don't make it single-headed - having two presenters seems pointless more often than not, especially when they make a 'big name' signing, as the outlets above would say...).

[soupie]

I remember when Steph's show launched, the viewing figures were terrible - but it goes to show you need to give new shows and presenters time. There is no point in slamming them after a week or two on air, time is key.

Channel 4 would not be wasting their time and money if Steph was not attracting a fairly decent audience at lunchtime.

Her viewing figures are still terrible by the way. I think it keeps getting commissioned solely due to C4 politics and the significance of doing it from Leeds, plus the need to have programmes filmed outside London.

[natashajacobs]

I remember when Steph's show launched, the viewing figures were terrible - but it goes to show you need to give new shows and presenters time. There is no point in slamming them after a week or two on air, time is key.

Channel 4 would not be wasting their time and money if Steph was not attracting a fairly decent audience at lunchtime.

Her viewing figures are still terrible by the way. I think it keeps getting commissioned solely due to C4 politics and the significance of doing it from Leeds, plus the need to have programmes filmed outside London.

Do you have any data? Curious to see what level the viewing figures are at - this discussion seems to be quite subjective atm

[soupie]

Her viewing figures are still terrible by the way. I think it keeps getting commissioned solely due to C4 politics and the significance of doing it from Leeds, plus the need to have programmes filmed outside London.

Do you have any data? Curious to see what level the viewing figures are at - this discussion seems to be quite subjective atm

To pick a random day last week she was getting 2.7% share (an average of 114000 viewers). Similar to cheapo repeats on C5 but about a third of Politics Live. It’s very much the low point of the entire day on Channel Four in terms of share

[natashajacobs]

Do you have any data? Curious to see what level the viewing figures are at - this discussion seems to be quite subjective atm

To pick a random day last week she was getting 2.7% share (an average of 114000 viewers). Similar to cheapo repeats on C5 but about a third of Politics Live. It’s very much the low point of the entire day on Channel Four in terms of share

Not amazing on share but if it’s around 100k then I personally don’t think that’s terrible in context, considering where it started and what its aims are. It’s nice to have a live daytime show showcasing the poorly represented NE & Yorkshire community and the people who live there and that is what C4 is all about.