Shaw Media‘s Global News believes that its new 24-hour television news channel, BC1, will prove attractive for both regional advertisers looking for a cost-effective choice and national advertisers seeking a younger demographic.
BC1 launches in Vancouver March 14 and will target an 18-to-35 demographic as well as females aged 35 to 40 – both of which are younger than the traditional news audience which tends to skew 35-plus.
The station’s sets, which feature bright colours, a punchy red forward slash and updated graphics, are clearly designed to appeal to a younger audience, as is an advertising campaign created in-house that leans heavily on transit, digital boards and social media.
“To tell each other more about the province that we live in, we need more time,” said Robyn Rudolph, creative director for Global News. “So we played on this 24 hours and we played on one because one is very significant for us – it’s a first to have a 24 news channel, and we are number one in the market.”
A super board for instance is based on a map of BC and said “because covering 922,509 sq. km. takes time – 1 province, 1 channel, 24 hours news.” Television ads show iconic places in BC such as Canada Place, Point Atkinson and Victoria’s Inner Harbour.
Brad Kubota, director regional sales for Global BC, said the new channel’s format is more radio-like than a typical news program.
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“We don’t anticipate a huge audience at any point in time, but rather a consistent audience over the course of a day,” said Kubota, adding that smaller audiences will be reflected in lower ad rates. “You’ve got to buy a lot of spots if you want to get good reach, it’s about frequency.”
The new format opens up opportunities for advertisers, he said. As well as the traditional model of 12 minute of ads per hour, BC1 offers up an ‘L frame’ giving advertisers the opportunity to buy display ads without audio that run along the bottom and up the side of the screen. Ads will air for about 10 seconds at a time, he said.
Kubota said up to 20% of the audience will be out of home, which is about double that of a regular news broadcast.
Sheila Malanchuk, broadcast manager for OMD, believes it will give regional advertisers a much needed option, but she’s taking a wait and see approach before buying space for her own clients.
“We are interested in looking at the actual content,” she said. “The interesting thing is how this is going to affect their own audience. If they are not currently Global viewers, what are they doing? The other networks really don’t have much impact on this market.”
Kenton Boston, vice-president Global TV and national news, said they’ve hired 30 young new staffers for the newsroom, and he believes that the new younger audience will embrace a news channel that’s accessible online, on mobile, through tablets and via a steady stream of video. “For us it’s not just a news channel. It’s a platform to disseminate content whenever you want it and wherever you want it,” he said.
David Bray, president of Bray and Partners Communications, said it’s a cost effective way for retailers to jump into television advertising. “This would be the polar opposite of advertising on the Super Bowl where the reach would be astronomical,” he said. “But the cost of entry for the local car dealer is not as great.”
