A familiar Newsburst
This week Nine’s digital channel Go launched a cut down, informally styled 60 second news bulletin.
Sadly Dr Mumbo missed Newsburst on its first day. Each occasion he turned on the television at the appointed time, the bulletin had just ended. (Programming running early rather than the customary 15 minute overrun marks an immediate difference between the digital and analogue channels).
But finally, he today got to see a bulletin on YouTube:
you didn’t seriously think that Channel 9 would be doing something original?!??
It’s a newsburst … with nuggets of news thorn together with a smiley announcer, some colourful graphicsand a bit of newsy music. So what on earth is your point Dr??! Surely the similarities between the 2 are somewhat inevitable no?
I wonder if sponsor Mitsubishi chose the colour of the presenters dress…
One significant difference – the BBC version treats viewers like adults and news as news. Go treats viewers as idiots and news as entertainment.
@ Dazza, agree, the bbc one is smoother.
@ Anon agree with you too. How much leverage does Go! really have to ‘change up the formula’?
But maybe the Australian viewership is different to the British one, necessitating the format change.
Dr. mumbo, why aren’t you putting forward a more positive take on this? Why try to beat it down? Why aren’t you celebrating companies trying things, change and innovation like this? Do you have any proof, other than a ‘nagging feeling’ that they were “inspired”?
Why don’t you just say they copied the idea? I have a ‘nagging feeling’ it’s what you really meant.
Hi Ro,
We watched the bulletin with an open mind (as I say, it took a few tries because Go wasn’t running to schedule.) But it’s a bit hard to celebrate innovation in this case though when it seems to borrow heavily fro , or at the very least follow a very similar format to, elsewhere. Either way, that’s not innovation.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Hey Tim, I see your argument but it’s pretty weak. You barely talked about the product at all, simply describing it as ‘new’ and ‘a 60 seconds news bulletin’. Instead you bemoaned the inability to ‘drop in’ to watch it and then compared it to another product overseas.
Maybe the Go! audience really likes this format and the sponsorship is handy cash. Maybe it’s not and the product will be dropped.
Either way, at least they’re trying something. Better than them doing nothing and having someone – like an editor of a marketing, advertising or media website – say ‘look what BBC3 are doing, why don’t Australian networks ever try anything like that?’
Cheers,
Ro
Hi Ro,
It’s true that the product was barely talked about. But that’s not entirely surprising, as the above piece is not a lengthy review of the bulletin.
And maybe you’re reading a bit too much into it too. As you point out: “Maybe the Go! audience really likes this format and the sponsorship is handy cash. Maybe it’s not and the product will be dropped.”
I agree entirely, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t point out the similarity when it leaps out.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Look on the bright side – at least they’ve started producing Australian content!