The CBC is changing the format of The Hour, its news and entertainment show hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, trimming it from 60 to 30 minutes and, obviously, changing its name.
Changes to the program–now called George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight–have been rumoured since before the network’s June upfronts when the host himself announced an upcoming switch in program strategy.
And while such a change might suggest a drop in advertising revenue or audience demand for the show, CBC said the changes were initiated by Stroumboulopoulos himself and the show’s producers.
Stroumboulopoulos told Marketing the goal behind the shift is to refocus the television property as one part of the overall content offering that will include an increase in multi-platform efforts across online, radio and mobile media.
“The TV show is just one aspect of it–there’s also the radio show on Sunday nights, our YouTube channel and other stuff–so we just wanted to shed some of the handcuffs of the past, which was to be married to this one idea of a TV show,” said Stroumboulopoulos. “We just broke the show down and went through everything and evaluated what was there and what genuinely belongs there.”
The new half-hour format, debuting Sept. 20, will largely consist of The Hour‘s most popular segments–the news of the day and in-depth guest interviews. The Friday show will be more of an open format, with a concentration on music and new voices in culture.
Meanwhile, the show will step up its efforts in integrating the TV show with original web video content, podcasts and radio streaming, as well as unveiling a new app for the iPhone and iPad.
While the show’s overall time is shortened, Stroumboulopoulos said certain content will remain the same.
“What this show ‘is’ isn’t changing. It’s the execution,” he said. “When we launched the show we wanted to create a new kind of late night talk show, and we think we did that. I don’t think people are doing the full hour anymore. Moreover, they don’t need to. So we talked about taking the resources that went to 11:45 at night and applying it to the web where people are, or to radio where the audience also is.”
Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports and general manager of media sales and marketing, said the changes reflect Stroumboulopoulos’ growth as an interviewer and personality.
“When George came to the CBC he was in his early 30s. He is in his late 30s now and as anyone goes through the aging process, their image changes and gets more sophisticated and more mature,” said Moore.
The CBC has not announced what it will do with the half-hour of airtime left open by the change, saying only that “further programming decisions are currently under consideration.”
For an more in-depth look at changes to The Hour and a post-Richard Stursberg CBC, see the Sept. 13 issue of Marketing.
