New Year’s Eve and everyone’s a critic
It wouldn't be New Year's Eve without someone weighing in on the perfect party.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
ABC’s New Year’s Eve broadcast pulled a huge 1.37m viewers for its midnight fireworks, 100,000 more than last year.
It may well prove to be the broadcaster’s biggest audience of the year (as it was in 2014).
There was another 92,000 watching on ABC News 24, taking the total metro audience to 1.46m.
Adding Regional viewers, the numbers boosted to 2 million on both channels.
There was also 1.01m for the Family Fireworks at 9pm, up from 984,000 a year ago, plus 64,000 on ABC News 24.
According to ABC, in Sydney more than 1 in 4 tuned into the coverage.
Justin Holdforth, ABC Head of Sport and Events says: “The Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks are an iconic and much loved event. I’m delighted that the ABC was again able to deliver a spectacular night of family entertainment to audiences across Australia.”
But some media and social media were more divided over the broadcast, again criticising the broadcaster’s technical skills, some of the presenting and editorial choices.
Last year ABC was widely castigated for its inaugural broadcast. This year there was improvement, relying on more pre-recorded segments rather than asking presenters to freewheel for 4 hours.
But it wasn’t without some hiccups with vision freezing, shots of the backs of presenter heads while watching the fireworks and Julia Zemiro’s unfortunate”Oh thank God” at the end of the broadcast before her microphone had been switched off. Watching Tom Ballard’s helicopter supposedly go down amid a barrage of fireworks was bad timing, given recent news incidents.
Such vast Live broadcasts are not easy. ABC would do well to put former Nine exec Adrian Swift onto the case next year.
But while some media insisted the event was a waste of money and it should be handed back to a commercial broadcaster they are possibly forgetting such a grand event usually attracts criticism no matter who has it.
In 2010 readers criticised Nine’s broadcast for erratic vision switching, lack of HD, presenters (Cameron Williams, Alicia Gorey), news wrap (Peter Overton) and music party (Richard Wilkins).
The 2009 broadcast by TEN was scoffed at for using cheerleaders and Seven’s Melbourne fireworks were criticised for network self-promotion.
Similar big ticket events such as Olympics and Logies also attract plenty of opinion. Even the ABC Network in the US was criticised for its broadcast -which is not to say such opinions are without merit.
But context is also important.
At any big party, it’s inevitable that some guests will weigh in on the hosts, the music, the food and yes, sometimes even the fireworks.
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- Tagged with Logie Awards, New Year's Eve, Olympics
36 Responses
I think really the only way you can succeed at a NYE telecast is to come on solely for the fireworks window, show them quite simply, and get off again. Trouble is the investment required in covering the fireworks only justifies a more significant amount of time on-air. Once you start wrapping stuff around the explosions it smacks of “fill”. A concert is probably the best way to go, but it’s difficult getting decent acts to perform when they can take a far more lucrative gig performing at a NYE party or commercial event elsewhere. You also usually wind up with a second-rate crew, as most of the A-grade operators won’t work on NYE, or commit early to other things like cricket.
Yes I agree, all the interstate crosses were bizarre, to say the least. Dave O’Neill in Footscray Park in Melbourne? Why? There was nothing happening. Lawrence Leung in Brisbane’s Chinatown pretending he thought it was Chinese New Year. There was nothing happening. And the cross to Perth, perhaps was an attempt to be humerous but, again, There was nothing happening.
I liked the telecast, but can someone from the prod team please explain why there was a cross to the other states at all. It is now two days and I still cant justify any value in that. It would have cost an arm and a leg.
Agreed, the ABC-cuts gags were tired after the first airing. Alan Koehler was tired after the first airing and the guy in the helicopter was tired before he even started. More pub quiz next year. Its a super idea
If I hear one more mindless fool use “waste of taxpayers’s money” when it comes to the ABC: I will scream.
We all pay for everything, you pay the CEO’s of BHP Billiton $5m annual bonus as much as you pay for the ABC.
We all pay for everything and considering the limited funds (less than any of the commercial networks ) whilst having to produce more and cover more, the ABC more than delivers.
The only network that covers more than the ABC costs for everything, HD, sport, movies, farting and at much greater cost with no charter to keep them honest.
My neighbor is typical of what we are up against, she honestly believes the ABC is left wing and should be a propaganda arm of the ruling party.
Considering she thinks Andrew Bolt is a reasonable middle of the road moderate, no wonder she thinks it is left wing, everything is to the left of her, including the middle of the…
Its better off on the ABC, the commercial networks do a worser job and stick in ads everywhere they can. Its live TV so you can’t expect it to be perfect and constantly interesting to watch throughout the whole three hour duration. If you don’t like, it don’t watch – simple.
How hard is it to not have 4 hours of endless self promotion? The commercial stations just use it as a self promotion opportunity and chance to plug thier new shows. I was hoping the ABC wouldn’t lower themselves to that level and yet they did. Last year was a trainwreck, this year wasn’t much better. Having Aussie ‘comedians’ who are not remotely funny is part of the problem. The whole ‘ABC funding cut’ joke wasn’t funny after the first time – hearing it more than 20 times was just boring. Yes live TV is hard but if all the material you have is for 30 minutes during the 9pm fireworks and maybe slightly more for the 12pm, don’t bother trying to ‘fill’ the rest of the time – put something else on.
I found it generally well done. Both Julia and Toby did well hosting. I really enjoyed the pub quiz.The only thing that was a bit hit and miss were those crosses to other cities.
I remember the Nine/Richard Wilkins years…and no Shoudy….I dont want to go back there….
It may not have been ‘perfect’…but really people….these folk worked …while we all sat around and watched…
The drones…big fail…they kept cutting out…I did not like that….
I am grateful ABC gave us something to watch….
Having said that…I did watch the movie New Years Eve…again…then switched over…
Love the segment with The Tap Dogs and extra fireworks…excellent.
Watched it all again on NY day… 🙂
I thought they got it completely wrong leading into the new year. We tuned in with about 10 minutes go to see the big event in Sydney and what we saw was the end of some quiz show, ABC promos, Tom Ballard crashing, a montage of some pictures and a bunch of hosts babbling about not having a drink – bizarre! The coverage of the fireworks was appalling too. Was that quiz show another Australian rip off of an English show – The Big Fat Quiz?
I think people’s expectations must be unrealistic, if they thought that was terrible. I was entertained by it all except for the crowd interviews. Who cares about random strangers’ resolutions? Who cares about the people watching it live at all? Enjoyed Julia and Toby, Adam, Alan Kohler, pub quiz, bloopers (bonus Margaret and David!). The crosses were a bit disappointing, some very funny people not up to their usual standards. Except Tegan – the time difference gag was amusing.
They needed more musical performances instead of those pre-recorded unfunny crosses. The Moonman was on fire though in the Pub Quiz, best part of the broadcast for me.
Pub Quiz gets a full airing next Tuesday night, presumably without the throws to NYE hosts. Both this and the NYE broadcast were produced by the team behind Friday Night Crack Up and Spicks and Specks.
Atrocious coverage for ABC. I have seen some segments that were very offensive particularly with the Crossing over to Perth where it was daylight. This was not a good way to end a year.
But on the other hand, I would like to see Nine or Ten win back the rights in the next few years.
No matter what happens people will always complain about NYE coverage, although I’m old enough to remember when we got no NYE coverage at all and it was just mediocre repeats on NYE from all channels. Yawn.
I only saw parts of ABC’s coverage (I switched over to Eurovision reruns on SBS) and it was OK though I should have stayed around to see more of the Pub Quiz. That seems to be getting the most positive feedback.
But ABC did such a great job with the Friday Crack Up a few months ago, something like that could work on NYE even if pre-recorded but run that between the 2 fireworks shows.
Would’ve liked to have seen more drone shots but it seemed like the firework smoke was wreaking havoc with the wireless cameras. Also, bring back Lawrence Mooney as host.
It was terrible.
I’m Not an ABC basher by any means, but dear god some of the show was boring. Cross promo from ABC “personalities” spruiking dull as dishwater sporting events and reviews of music nobody listened to, crossing to interviews with nobodies… I will say the core team – Julia, Toby, Adam – were great and some of their jokes were very funny, but a cavalcade of stars it was not.
I didn’t see the whole coverage, but I thought the ABC did a pretty good job of it. Julia Zemiro seems to have become their “go-to” person these days, and she always does a good job. And I don’t blame her “Oh thank god” remark either, it’s a huge task to fill in all that time.
I thought the Pub Quiz indispersed throughout was a great idea, and worked well.
I am a big Julia Zemiro fan on Rockwiz but what I saw of her on NYE was pretty ordinary. I won’t complain though because the biggest plus factor for me was…no adds!!
I think you will find it was Cameron Williams at 9.
We didn’t watch much of the ABC coverage, just before and during the fireworks. Both times when we switched on they were doing network promotions and we looked at each other wondering if this was the NYE coverage or a different ABC channel.
Josh Thomas should be pleased. His face was plastered all over the promotions so there should be no excuse for people to forget his appalling show this year.
Seems just petty complaints about the presenters every year yet no real constructive feedback on how to improve the coverage. Live TV is no easy task and I’m not sure what the viewers expects for three hours except fireworks and light entertainment. Here’s an idea if you don’t like the presenters or the coverage just watch the fireworks instead and flick over to a movie, the cricket or some other program in between. There was plenty of choice on Wednesday night if these complainers bothered to look for once.
I’d rather watch NYE on ABC than a commercial network with Ad’s, and get to see Julia Zemiro too.
Look I thought there was a mild improvement on last years. The Mrs and I just sat there like oh wow is this the best they can do?! The jokes were putrid once again – predictable and not funny. The guy in the helicopter – atrocious, the man they had in Chinatown – atrocious, AdaM Richard interviewing people awkward at times and atrocious. Didn’t like how the hosts kept copying bodily movements.
The best part of the night was HG Nelson and the Pub Quiz or whatever it was.
I watched the entire presentation and really enjoyed it! The hosts had chemistry and were personable, the wrap ups of news, sport and music were insightful and great to look back on and the pub quiz was my favourite. Who knew Alan Brough would be bringing up the rear for once?! Yes, there were a couple technical glitches and too many references to ABC funding cuts, and a couple “comedic” bits that just didn’t get there (Tom Ballard, Josh Earl), but all in all a great job in keeping is entertained over the year that was.
I thought it was a brilliant telecast this year. Thanks largely to the two hosts. Whether or not Julia said “Thank God” before her microphone was switched off, she can be well proud of her achievements. It’s a huge gig and Julia held it all together without going over the top. Wish I knew the other host’s name but the ABC (and this article even) must presume I know who he is. I don’t. But he was an excellent co-host for Julia. Both teetered on OTT, but didn’t.
There were some technical difficulties initially and it is apparent to me that some cameras don’t like big fireworks bangs going off in front of them (causing vision to freeze), but overall was a great presentation. A few too many crosses to parties that weren’t “happening” and Alan Koehler’s segment should have been limited to one or two.
The real highlight for me was the pre-recorded Pub Quiz segments…
People have forgotten how bad NYE television used to be. The only option was to watch Richard Wilkins bring in the new year from Sydney. All other networks were showing mostly regular programming. Nowadays, Rage is shown on New Years and there are also music specials, such as Fusion with Casey Donovan, Volumz, Pink concert etc.
ABC’s New Years production was still an improvement upon last year. Though there is still room for improvement.
Four hours of a live show is a hard slog for anyone but on NYE is even more difficult.In future, perhaps they need to split the broadcast with one live show at 8.30pm for ninety minutes and another at 11.30pm for another hour. In between they could have pre-recorded specials that reviewed the year or a chat show.
For example, to fill the two hours in between this year they could have done the pub quiz as a separate show, shown the full Agony show and had a pre recorded chat/review show with all the news/sport/music/entertainment stuff.