Signing off from yesterday evening’s edition of Brill-O-Vision™, former Murdoch editor Andrew Neil
told viewers of Gammon Broadcasting News (“
Bacon’s News Channel”) “
That’s it for tonight, and from me for the next few weeks, but I leave you in the safe and professional hands of Colin Brazier. I’ll be back before the summer is out, and popping up before then when you least expect it. So stay tuned”. And there was more.
“
But before I take this break, let me say this. Yes, we had a bit of a rocky start in the launch of GB News - we’re a start-up! They’re always a bit rocky, these start-ups, but we are up and running, as you can see. We get better every day, and there’s clearly an appetite for what we’re doing. In under two short weeks we’ve already built a loyal audience which has beaten all of our expectations. It’s often bigger than the other news channels, and it’s growing. That’s the real story about GB News to date”. But enough.
While he continues to boast about ratings, Brillo is (albeit temporarily) quitting after just nine shows (two sets of Monday to Thursday, plus a launch night special on June 13). He has railed at so-called “
cancel culture”, but has now cancelled, er, himself. And that “
growing” audience isn’t. His nominated stand in, Colin Brazier, had an audience of just 35,000 last Friday for the show he co-hosts with Mercy Muroki.
The numbers coming in from overnights.tv show that GB News scored a peak viewer rating of over 160,000 on Monday June 14. A week later, that peak had halved. So Brillo scored 95,000 viewers when the football was on the other evening? Big deal. There is no competition at 2000 hours: Channel 4 News has finished, and the BBC and ITV main news bulletins don’t air until 2200 hours, with
Newsnight to come later.
Moreover, both BBC News Channel and Sky News have no flagship shows in that time slot. Most of the country is watching soaps, drama, sitcoms or sport. While Brillo shuffles off to St Pancras International to begin the trek back to his upmarket Petite Maison in Grasse, he knows that GB News is not getting enough viewers to make it viable.
The GB News predictions show that: numbers between 135,000 and 150,000 were being pitched before the channel launched. Heck, there was even an expectation of securing more than 100,000 “
superfans” prepared to pay extra for exclusive content. And all the while, Stop Funding Hate and Ripples are working through that roster of advertisers.
Diehard fans of GB News have variously claimed that they are looking forward to seeing Brazier step in, that it won’t stop them tuning in, that it’s a deserved sabbatical after all that effort getting the channel “
off the ground”, and of course that Brexit won, and anyone who criticises GB News is a Bitter Remoaner who should get over it.
But it’s clear from Brillo’s demeanour last night that he’s badly stressed. The pool of talent that GB News has assembled is shallower than the proverbial puddle, the likes of Dan Wootton have been shown to be out of their depth, the technical backup has been woeful - because it’s being done on the cheap - and no amount of braggadocio will paper over the cracks.
Some pundits gave GB News 12 months.
That is now looking hopelessly optimistic.
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12 comments:
Oh my aching sides.
At this rate that gaggle of wannabe nazi cunts will shuffle into the dole queue sometime in September.
Their end is in their beginning.
What fun!
Surely by now GB news should be the default channel in every Wetherspoons, rather than Sky news!!
Absenting yourself after only two weeks on air is just bizarre.
Neil is one of the better presenters on screen but that's not exactly difficult when the others include Tory troll Tom Harwood and the obnoxious Dan Wootton but if he's jumped ship after less than a fortnight then the channel is doomed before it even got going.
I hope beyond hope that this gross shite implodes sooner.than soon
Britain deserves better
Brillo has already got a replacement, Shaun Ryder, a balding red faced and overweight man who being interviewed by Neil 'Bestie' Oliver started dropping F bombs all over the place..
With viewers emailing in with prank names akin to Bart & Lisa Simpson to Moe the Bartender, Simon McCoy lost the plot and called out his audience...
Comedy gold..thanks Brillo!
Wonder if Murdoch's been casting an eye over the books?
Have they booked the man with 3 buttocks?
“But before I take this break, let me say this. Yes, we had a bit of a rocky start in the launch of GB News - we’re a start-up! They’re always a bit rocky, these start-ups“ quoth Brillo.
Either they didn’t do dress rehearsals, in which case they richly deserve the opprobrium heaped upon them, or they did do them and they were – improbable as it may sound – even worse, in which case they richly deserve the opprobrium heaped upon them.
Also, if you book as a guest a former member of the Happy Mondays you shouldn’t be surprised if he gets a bit sweary. What next, Bez as a parliamentary sketch writer?
"a balding red faced" - careful Jon there are a lot of these chaps about!
I think it's naive to think this project will sink or swim in a couple of weeks. The backers are committed to a long term project of brainwashing, having done extremely well in the print media. Eventually this will be a pitch the youngers who don't read print, but they have plenty of time, capital, and media goodwill to play the long game. The left should be thinking about its long term media plan. Don't think any 'important people' there have one.
GB News might claim to be aiming for a mass audience (haha), but the real target is the little Westminster bubble of right politicians and the other media which already continuously and incestuously reports on itself. They don't need an audience of humans in the country at large, just the appearance of one to convince the real audience, the intellectually lazy third rate ex-"journalist" in Downing Street, that they speak for "the people". Tell Johnson what he wants to hear, and he'll do what you want.
Neither ratings nor withdrawn advertisers will stop this channel.
Its backers are in it for political influence.
So their "movement" can post little snippets on YouTube and the like.
Just like Breitbart, it's a loss leader for the backers, and wingnut welfare for the hosts.
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