If you’re a regular viewer of Good Morning Britain on ITV 1 you may have noticed a little change last week.
The regional news bulletins have been reconfigured.
The bulletin previously shown at approximately 8.10am has gone although the regional weather forecast remains.
But the two other bulletins – at approximately 6.25am and 7.10am – are now slightly longer, running to three minutes including the weather.
A change like this to the programme architecture will not have been taken casually.
The team will be well aware of the fact that the programme’s audience usually peaks at about 8am – so the opt which has gone will be the one with the biggest audience.
They will also have detailed audience information about exactly who watches the programme and how long they watch for.
I cannot help but wonder if the regional opts during ITV Breakfast are on borrowed time though. This change might be right for Good Morning Britain as a whole and its audience – you hardly notice that the 8.10am bulletin has gone – but it also risks marginalising the bulletins.
For the first 10 years of breakfast TV, the franchise was held by TV-am which did not include regional news bulletins. The regional opts were an important part of the BBC’s breakfast offering from day one.
On ITV, the regional bulletins arrived in 1993 with GMTV. The company’s backers saw this as a positive improvement – evidence they might provide a better service than TV-am.
While generally the 1991 franchise round did viewers and those who believe in public service broadcasting no favours, there’s no doubt the introduction of regional news to ITV’s breakfast hours was a good move.
But the service was in addition to the legal commitments to local news carried by the regional Channel 3 companies.
There were contracts to provide the local service – usually given to the regional C3 companies but for many years UTV did not provide the early morning bulletins in Northern Ireland and STV lost the Scottish contract for a period.
The changes to the format last week undoubtedly reduce the potential reach for the bulletins – anyone who switches on after 7.15am will miss them.
There is no evidence so far of an adverse audience reaction.
Who’s to say whether, in the medium to long term, ITV may look at whether the remaining opts are necessary and an appropriate use of resources, then discuss the matter with Ofcom.
Would the remaining bulletins be missed? Could the resources be moved to the main regional bulletins on ITV 1 later in the day or spent on the company’s news website and app?
But does the change to Good Morning Britain provide the BBC with an opportunity?
There is no doubt that regional bulletins are an important part of BBC Breakfast and valued by its audience.
The bulletins were missed when they disappeared during the pandemic.
Politically, the BBC needs to provide early morning news in the nations. Practically, they are valued by viewers across the UK.
The 7.55am opt was reinstated by public demand and the last bulletin of the morning at around 9.15am was lengthened when the programme was extended earlier this year.
You don’t need to be a late riser now to miss ITV Breakfast’s last regional bulletin.
In the meantime it would be no bad thing if the BBC did some promotion to remind the wider audience – rather than just its own regular viewers – of its early morning regional service.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: Good Morning Central presented by Lois Swinnerton. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc.