Robert Peston says ITV’s decision to move its flagship nightly news programme back half an hour to make way for a topical entertainment show may have to be reversed if the new show fails to quickly win over a healthy audience.
The influential political editor said he hoped the Nightly Show, which is to be hosted by personalities including David Walliams and Gordon Ramsay over the next eight weeks, would succeed in the 10pm time slot it is taking from the News At Ten.
“The simple point is that if it goes incredibly well, then that’s great for the news because it will bring us a bigger audience at 10.30pm. And if it doesn’t, then the truth is we’ll revert back to 10 o’clock,” said Peston.
The format is a gamble for the broadcaster, ceding the coverted 10pm news slot to the BBC and Sky News, and banking on a US-style late-night topical comedy show that has previously failed to take off in the UK.
The Nightly Show is ITV’s attempt to emulate the success of the US talk shows hosted by the likes of Jimmy Fallon and James Cordon, but the decision to bump News at Ten has been the cause of consternation among many at ITV.
Peston said the “proof will be in the pudding” and that those working on ITV News were simply “waiting to see whether it has an impact”.
When ITV moved the time of its flagship news bulletin from 10pm to 11pm in 1999viewers dropped by 14%. It was eventually moved back to 10pm in 2008.
It was only 18 months ago that ITV made a huge investment in revamping News At Ten in a bid to entice some of the 4.1 million people who tune in to BBC News at Ten, presented by Huw Edwards, compared with the 1.8 million who watch ITV.
It brought in Tom Bradby as anchor, who adopted a more US-style conversational tone, and Peston was poached from the BBC to be political editor. However, ratings have only risen slightly, a continual source of frustration for ITV’s director of television, Kevin Lygo.
According to Lygo, the Nightly Show – whose hosts will include Ramsay, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, and Davina McCall – will offer the first “real alternative” to BBC News at Ten, although the focus will be on lighthearted entertainment rather than sharp political satire.
ITV insists the new schedule for News at Ten is still only temporary, though Lygo has said he would consider extending the run of the Nightly Show if it was a success. Bradby declined to comment.
ITV News at Ten’s move to 10.30pm has prompted Sky News to launch its own News At Ten programme, starting on Monday, in a direct bid to draw over ITV’s viewers. Sky said its News At Ten would be a “smart, polished and precise news show”uninterrupted by ad breaks over its 30-minute slot, presented by Anna Botting and Anna Jones.
Cristina Nicolotti Squires, the director of content for Sky News, said the change in ITV’s schedule had given Sky a “a brilliant opportunity to launch a new-look News at Ten”. An internal email to staff said: “ITV’s scheduling has given us a real opportunity to shine.”
Peston had “no inkling” that Sky was launching its own flagship news show, but said: “In general, I’m a believer in the more the merrier view of things. I think currently the news, particularly on the politics side, is incredibly interesting and the signs are that the more that we all just invest in decent coverage, the more we will grow the overall audience.
“For Sky, this might be an expensive waste of money, but they are a serious news provider and it’s great to see them investing in coverage.”
Peston was unconcerned about Sky’s open attempts to draw viewers away from ITV. He pointed to last year’s launch of a Sky News Sunday morning politics show with Sophy Ridge in direct competition with his own on ITV, Peston on Sunday, yet “there’s been no evidence that’s having any impact on our ratings”.
Sky has a challenge on its hands to reach viewing figures close to both ITV and BBC, with currently only around 100,000 people tuning into the Sky News channel at 10pm. Its relaunched News at Ten will run seven days a week.
In the email to Sky staff, Nicolotti Squires described it as ”an appointment to view programme with its content distilled from the best of Sky News journalism across the day”.
She added: “It is being launched on the day ITV move their late evening news to 10.30. We want Sky’s News at 10 to be seen as an authoritative alternative to the terrestrial news offerings.”
