ITV News "Brand realignment"

I think the key point is that News at Ten ran for over a year looking quite different to the rest of the bulletins (and since Feb's mini-relaunch that brought the skyline backdrop to the daytime bulletins has still looked quite different) and failed to close the gap (much) with the BBC 10pm bulletin. Grade's big nostalgia trip didn't work - so you can hardly blame them for going back to a coherent branding policy across the day. It's not like it hasn't been given a chance is it?

It is also produced by the same people as produce Channel 4 News.

Perception may be in my head, or in anyone elses, but it is important.
Is ITV really as bad as everyone thinks? Probably not.
Has TV really been dumbed down a lot? Maybe.

But the important thing is perception is important, and ITV is perceived as being a lower quality product.
I am also not necessarily talking about ITN replacing ITV. News at Ten had neither, only an ITN credit at the end.
What I am saying is that "News at Ten" as a brand is better thought of than "ITV News" as a brand. I was not bringing ITN into it at all.

But bringing ITN back into though, If STV get the go ahead for there own Newshour, STV would go into partnership with ITN. So how would that work?

No it's not. Some of the production crew may work on both ITV and Channel 4 News, but the editorial teams are separate and those in overall charge of the output are employed by ITV/Channel 4, not ITN.

Nonsense - although the same studio the new set looks much bigger IMO. It probably can't happen, but it looks like there is plenty of room away from the desk for something else to happen, rather than them being crammed into a small studio barely big enough for the desk. The screens now look much more part of the set rather than floating around too. Of course the skyline backdrop was superb, but the atrium never looked right. My only tweak perhaps would be to have the skyline partly visible in some of the panels, especially for News at Ten.

As for the branding question - never seem to see the BBC getting as much flack for their generic branding, and they ditched it a few years before ITN. I don't think News at Ten would have looked right if the other bulletins had taken on this revamp and News at Ten continued in it's current look, but I do think the logo should be used on the opening titles and graphics just to mark it out a bit different.


I'll put this in requests, but can anyone do a bit of audio switching for me please? Basically, I'd like to see the new ITV News titles with the News at Ten theme, and just out of interest, the axed News at Ten titles with the new ITV News theme. Thanks.
UPDATE: Answered here, and kind of works.

Badly worded on my part. Should really have said "company" rather than "people".

It's truly awful.... Fake, looks cheap, just awful!

The voice over makes me laugh. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I second this, however love the music. Good to hear some of the early 90's elements in the theme, far fresher and less 'lightweight' than the 2006 mixes. Shame about the set design and content!

New look gets a thumbs up from me.

In fact the only thing that's really bugging me about it is how the 'itv news' isn't lined up with the on screen graphics.

Also, the shape of the desk seems to aide them in their one-presenter shots when looking over their shoulder, I.e. a shot of Mary with the Chandler's yaught on display in the background. Much better than on the BBC, where the oval desks don't like the camera angles.

The one thing I wish was that they featured Katie more. In my opinion she's easily as good as Mary or Julie (both of whom also get my thumbs up) but seems really underused. I think they should give her the Lunchtime, sorry, 1:30 by her self with Al and Mary as relief, and stick all five main presenters on a roster for the weekends and relief.

Oh, and let's not forget the content of ITV News. But really, that's nothing major, is it....

The more I see of the set the worse it gets!! Surely if it wasn't a relaunch but "brand realignment" they could have changed the backdrop from blue to black, with a bit of yellow thrown in for good measure?

I am a fan of the new desk though, studio interviews work so much better and its good to have the presenters sat at a right angle, whilst using a different shot it can also look like they are sat next to each other! I just wish the whole thing was real rather than half of it. I think that is the main problem, a virtual set. The old one was fine because the set was mainly the backdrop and the floor actually looked real. But now theres all sorts going on and it looks a bit of a mess.

I think they've actually improved the sense of depth in this design to some extent. The over the shoulder shots are the best, whereas the straight on shots are very flat.