ITV Evening News to become an hour-long programme from March

ITV has announced “the biggest expansion of jobs in ITV News in 20 years”. Schedule changes will see the ITV Early Evening News programme extended to one hour and new start times for Emmerdale and Coronation Street.

The extended news programme will have “even more focus on reporting from outside of London feeding into the programme, to reflect the whole of the UK.” Twenty-seven new journalists, producers and skilled video editors are being recruited for a magazine-style format.

Emmerdale will move to 7.30pm, with hour-long episodes of Coronation Street on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, starting at 8pm.

Kevin Lygo, ITV managing director of media and entertainment said: “As viewing habits rapidly change, live audiences to our national and international news programmes remain remarkably strong. Our evening news programme reached an impressive 35.6 million viewers in 2021. We are very excited to be announcing this investment in what is an important public service strength of ITV – high-quality, impartial, trusted broadcast journalism – at a time when it could not be more important.

“The nation’s two most popular continuing dramas, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, are fundamental to the success of ITV, and we know that, as with all dramas, viewers increasingly watch them whenever, and however they choose. The new scheduling means that viewers can watch them live on TV in one go in a continuous soap fix, as well as on ITV Hub where they are regularly in the most watched shows every month.”

ITV director of news and current affairs, Michael Jermey said: “The expansion of the network evening news programme and the investment in new roles is an enormous vote of confidence in ITV News’ journalism, which has continued to deliver strong exclusives and insightful reporting year after year, with 2022 so far being no exception.

“ITV’s news on television and digital platforms informs millions of people every day. It sits alongside strong current affairs output such as the Tonight programme, Peston, The Martin Lewis Money Show and the Bafta and Emmy award winning Exposure strand. ITV’s impartial, independent journalism makes an enormous contribution to public service broadcasting in the UK”.

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