Can Stuff win over a TV news audience?
Experts are optimistic about print and digital media provider Stuff’s moves into TV – after the company yesterday dramatically announced it would take over Newshub’s 6pm news bulletins.
But while it’s a brave new world, commentators say the deal is no solution to the industry’s structural problems. There are also questions about how Stuff will retain Newshub’s audience while carrying out its planned modernisation and innovation.
Traditionally, local research shows that under-39s are more likely to turn to digital media, while those over 40, particularly those over 60, are largely television viewers. Newshub’s 6pm audience was about 214,000 last month.
Stuff and Warner Brothers Discovery’s (WBD) partnership for 6pm news delivery on Three and ThreeNow will see Stuff providing the news service from early July.
Stuff owner Sinead Boucher called it the “next step in our acceleration into our digital future”, and has promised that while the partnership is not about moving into linear TV, it will deliver a modern and innovative 6pm news bulletin.
Given the reach of Stuff, which owns a number of regional newspapers and maintains a national website, TV news bulletins are likely to be more geographically diverse, and shorter and more pithy, recognising that viewers are now often short on time and want concise information.
The partnership had the potential to be a multi-year deal and fruitful commercial venture for both parties, Boucher said.
Former MediaWorks chief executive Brent Impey said the innovation – a print entity partnering with a broadcaster – was the best solution to a sticky problem.
“It’s as good a result as any, given the circumstances. I wish Stuff all the best with it,” he said. “There’s really only two choices. One is you allow the market to determine it, which is what this is all about, or
have the Government setting up some sort of broadcasting fund, which in today’s world is very difficult to justify.
“Leaving the market to sort it out is the right way to go, and the market has sorted it out. The challenge remains making it work off a declining advertising base.”
Victoria University media and communication Associate Professor Peter Thompson said the partnership “clearly” was no panacea.
“However, it’s good news that Stuff has stepped up. It’s a bold move to move into some form of televisual news production,” he said.
“The question I’d raise is whether the new format is going to deliver the level of ratings and revenue that Warner Brothers Discovery will consider acceptable. Clearly, it was unhappy with the performance of news, and it wouldn’t be doing a deal with Stuff if the ... proposal was going to cost more than running Newshub.”
Stuff could not recreate Newshub on the same scale and cost, then sell it off at a lower price, so it would have to cut costs somewhere, he predicted.
He was also uncertain how the Stuff format could change to a more televisual focus. “The way that you set up the studio and the way that you have to tell a visual story for television is obviously a little bit different.”
The move comes against the backdrop of a decade-long fall in advertising, particularly in free-to-air TV, which led WBD to announce Newshub’s closure. Some jobs will be saved by the Stuff venture.
As well as a fall in advertising, news is expensive to produce. Even levying ad-heavy Facebook, Amazon and Google would not cover those costs. Nor is a Government bailout likely.
Long-serving broadcaster Sean Plunket, of The Platform, was positive, saying the challenge for both Stuff and Newshub would be to rebuild public trust.
“It’s important that we maintain another six o’clock TV bulletin,” Plunket said.
“It’s good news, obviously, for a limited number of people at Warner Brothers Discovery, because some people keep their jobs. It’s probably good news for Stuff, which is searching for critical mass against the stronger behemoth that is NZME.
“We’re in a massive time of change in the media. They now need to reimagine and reform a genuine connection with their audience.”