The Ground Rules:
Our focus, in Content Survey Live traditionally has been monitoring Ten’s five capital city news services (a benefit of technological change, now allowing us to watch interstate bulletins on delay), in order of their ratings position within the network (with each market covered once) over a week, using the same criteria we used in the “Great Local News Study” from Kuttsy's Pitch XI in August, 2019.
-Locally sourced stories: that is stories reported by local journos. Really big local market stories with national impacts, also fit here. Voiced over local stories are counted separately.
-Live crosses: stuff that is used to embellish a story.
-Weather is not counted.
-Sport is not counted if it’s done by obviously freelance journos, or voiced over pieces: you gotta have dedicated reporters there, with their mug on air reporting a sports story for it to count.
-And finally: Ten Brisbane will have it’s Gold Coast content tracked again during it’s nights: something that has become a tradition in itself.
However in 2022, we have expanded to a two week format, with a entirely new way to rank bulletins
The first week, will seed bulletins based on comparisons with 2021 figures.
The second week, will seed bulletins based on comparisons with pre-pandemic and pre-centralization figures sourced from 2019.
A reminder now of this week's seedings:
Monday (22/8) Adelaide.
Tuesday (23/8) Brisbane.
Wednesday (24/8) Perth (Kuttsywood's Couch's 150th post).
Thursday (25/8) Melbourne.
Friday (26/8) Sydney.
Now, let's begin today's heaping bowl of broadcast news mediocrity.
And, a reminder: to purchase merchandise related to Content Survey Live 2022, head on over to our shop over at Redbubble.
Sydney's results in 2022 were headed for a similar ratings correction to Melbourne in 2021, although it's a lot harder: as Sydney's YOY results freefalled. It's a known fact: as this time last year, Sydney was in the midst of it's own lengthy lockdown and numbers for 10's news were actually higher than 2020. We just didn't know by how much a correction would be at the time.
This ratings correction has also created something unprecedented: due to the nature of Content Survey Live being a two week event this year, with every market being covered twice: Sydney has the dubious honour, of being the first market covered twice on it's own merits (thanks to not just coming last in the 2021/22 comparisons, but also being the market that has lost the lowest percentage of viewers since 2019: i.e. the first market to get a combined score): thus, both the Friday post and Monday's will be pretty much a indepth look at 10 Sydney's news effectively over two consecutive days (without being connected to Brisbane's news like last year), because of 10's reluctance to invest in local weekend presentation for the whole network: hence, the "Part 1/Part 2 split".
Now, let's look at the news that consisted of 10 News First Sydney, on August 26, 2022.
We open with another twist in what seems to be a constant story: John Barilaro with a live cross at 5, with a heaping helping of train strike: a full story at 5, a tight cut at 6 (however, the 5pm cut of the train strike retained a potty mouthed transport minister at NSW budget estimates), This is followed by a suburban drug bust (replayed at 6 for those in Queensland that have forgotten that after the second segment, is pretty much a hybrid bulletin for both markets) a funeral for a gangland shooting victim and a inquest into a 2020 shooting at Wahoongra.
Outside, a apology for a story in May with a mislabeled picture, there was very little "Sydney" input into the hybrid section of the bulletin.
However, the sports segments were probably the worst I've seen so far this year, due to one critical absence: It's Friday night, it's a bulletin serving two huge NRL markets, where's the mention of Storm/Roosters in Melbourne that was due to kick off a hour after the end of the bulletin (a game which turned out to be action packed until the final gasp).
And, those segments went out to both Sydney and Brisbane viewers.
Overall, another reason of many why the forced marriage of Brisbane and Sydney news by 10 needs to end sooner, rather than later.
The scores:
Four local stories, two rerun after 6pm.
Just one live cross.
Sports coverage too dismal to write home about.
A V/O'd apology from months ago.
In 2021, Sydney scored 5.25/10.
In the first of two surveys in 2022: Sydney scored: 4/10.
Ratings figures for 10's news made the national top 20 on Friday: Sydney's numbers are still languishing under the 80k range. In addition, Nine's afternoon news, outrated 10's 5-6pm shares in Melbourne and Adelaide.
I remember saying just three days ago, that the Brisbane bulletin is aiming to drag Sydney's down with it. The hybrid concept for these two markets is worse than Adelaide/Melbourne: where at least, some local content and some immediacy is seen after 6pm. I wouldn't be surprised if the competition ran heaping bowlfuls of the biggest NSW story of the day at 6, while 10 rather take the strategy of short and sweet, get onto other stories, because it is impossible to insert a detailed piece on this big story into a bulletin as nearly fifty minutes after the first window also has to be "relevant" to Brisbane viewers.
Any wonder Sydney on it's first night of survey, ended up getting under 5/10 for the first time ever.
We now leave for the weekend, and will see you guys on Tuesday morning: with a wrap of Sydney's second night: and the first overall scores of Content Survey Live 2022.
But, before we go: we have yet again, advertising that is more extravagant than it's own good.
This time, we look to auto advertiser, extraordinaire, Dominelli Ford (not to be confused with Victor Dominello: member for Ryde in NSW parliament (retiring at the next election), whose own major departmental story today (David Chandler staying on as NSW Building commissioner until 2023) didn't even make 10's Sydney window tonight!)
This 1984 Dominelli classic, featuring no less than four Ferdie Bird puppets and a jingle likely recorded by someone trying to emulate a Smurf, is one to watch.
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