Odd changes turn-off for viewers
Dialogue Poor calls at TVNZ and TV3 like loss of John Campbell mean govt can sleep easier, writes Myles Thomas
What was TV3’s management thinking? Two years ago MediaWorks changed TV3’s target demographic to 24-54 and made channel FOUR their youth brand. Now new CEO Mark Weldon seems to be changing it back to 18-39. And, in the latest Budget, the Government has come to the party.
TV3 management keeps chopping and changing its direction and if I was silly enough to be a TV3 shareholder, I’d be concerned. Not only would I be concerned that the CEO, with self-assured gusto and no TV experience, was getting actively involved in designing expensive new programmes like Paul Henry — three months late and a ratings fizzer — I’d be concerned he then allows one of the stars of the channel, John Campbell, to leave the building. And I’d be concerned the channel is again meddling with its audience strategy, and losing a heap of loyal viewers in the process.
In an attempt to improve ratings, Weldon is championing event television — programmes like X-Factor and The Bachelor that are so huge, so sensational, so in-your-face that people simply have to watch them if they want to be part of the banter at school or work tomorrow.
Maybe event television is the right idea. But the new management didn’t seem to realise they already had event television.
Who can forget John Key finally agreeing to be interviewed about the GCSB and flummoxing John Campbell, or Simon Bridges attempting the same with disastrous results. Many Campbell Live stories such as Gloriavale, synthetic cannabis and zero-hour contracts were so huge and so sensational that they became event television, even without the blanket publicity afforded to X-Factor, etc.
TV3 has never succeeded by copying TVNZ. Its successes have come from taking risks and offering something hugely appealing that is different to TVNZ — Outrageous Fortune, bro’Town and 7 Days, for example. In John Campbell, TV3 had a unique talent that was very different to the opposition and also very popular. If his replacements are a copy of Seven Sharp, they are doomed to fail.
With his departure, TV3 will again lose an audience as it chops and changes to win ratings. Perhaps they should settle for the secondary audience of adults with a mental age over 20. Perhaps they should have fostered talent and tried to build on Campbell Live rather than reinvent it. No doubt they have their reasons. The tragedy is that while John Campbell is a great loss to TV3, he is an even greater loss to New Zealand.
Thanks to bad decisions at TVNZ and TV3 we have lost the ability to watch our politicians squirm on prime time for longer than 15 seconds. Our leaders will be sleeping easier now — business leaders, local body leaders, religious leaders and so on. Not a good thing.
Our loss is the Government’s gain — the prevalence of government-friendly hosts and entertainment shows means it’s unlikely any government minister will face a series of awkward questions on prime-time television. Most people would agree that’s not a good thing either.
And in the Budget the Government has tightened the screws further. Just as NZ on Air was making noises about possibly funding more current affairs, the 2015 Budget introduces new targets that require 70 per cent of its prime-time programmes on TVOne, TV2 and TV3 to reach more than 200,000 viewers.
That rules out any risky new current affairs venture on TV3 — their brand-new show 3D just scraped in over 200,000 viewers last Sunday. You can be sure NZ on Air won’t risk failing to meet targets for the sake of 3D or any other vulnerable shows it would otherwise fund.
This government directive seems tantamount to requiring NZ on Air to get out of current affairs programming altogether. Something already done to TVNZ when it stripped away the Charter and required it to focus solely on profits.
Let’s hope TV3’s replacement show for Campbell Live fills the vacuum. On the upside, TV3 head of news Mark Jennings has a proven track record for quality journalism.
On the downside, Mark Weldon has only committed to the new project until the end of the year. If it doesn’t work out, he’ll chop and change again.