0/5

Media come out slugging over NYE broadcast again

ABC's broadcast avoided the hot mess of 2 years ago, but that hasn't stopped it from coming under fire.

image

Print media News Corp and Fairfax have both taken aim at ABC’s coverage of New Year’s Eve, drawing upon social media remarks that labelled it “a train crash” and “abysmal.”

Kicking off 2016 it looks like the culture war is far from over.

Stories were also picked up by Daily Mail and NZ Herald.

The headlines are deja vu for Aunty who has drawn criticism ever since it took the rights for the 2014 event.

Back then an ABC executive told me I had “lit a brushfire” after I first reported viewer anger early on New Year’s Day, which was subsequently reported by media far and wide.

I rejected the claim advising that “No, I simply got to the fire first.” I’m comfortable that history has shown I was right -it was a technical hot mess that failed to support its presenters.

But in my view ABC has learned much since then about ways to improve the broadcast, and whilst I didn’t see 100% of this year’s event I saw enough hours to make me feel the criticism this year is not warranted. Sure, it wasn’t without room for improvement, but it is an Outside Broadcast and we seem to be forgetting negative comments that have pervaded other broadcasts of major events. If you look hard enough on Twitter you can find negative comments for any show (the #abcnye hashtag was also used by American ABC viewers).

This year’s broadcast consisted largely of pre-recorded, Live and concert footage with links by Eddie Perfect and Ella Hooper. It was preceded by ABC children’s presenters for the family fireworks (which may explain one Twitter remark that it was “immature.”) Perfect and Hooper may not have developed chemistry as yet, but soldiered on thankfully without having to fill the aimless airtime and battling sound problems of 2014.

Lawrence Mooney’s Pub Quiz 2015 was a hoot -if ABC is still looking to replace Spicks and Specks it’s sitting right under their noses.

If I have any criticism of this year’s event it would be that the music acts chosen, mostly from the Falls Festival, weren’t broad enough for the audience that is most likely to be home (Hilltop Hoods, Peking Duk, The Merri Soul Sessions, Foals, Bloc Party and The Wombats). I also didn’t get a sense of the Entertainment on show in Sydney itself. But compared to what went down in 2014 these are minor misgivings.

ABC remains upbeat about its coverage, drawing 1.33m metro viewers, on par with last year’s 1.37m.

Richard Finlayson, ABC Director of Television said: “The Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks are an iconic annual event that brings the nation together. ABC is the home of big national moments and celebrations and we’re delighted that our night of family entertainment brought so many people to the party around the country.”

57 Responses

  1. It’s the ABC hating Murdoch press driving it, news.com.au had an article about how awful the coverage was online by 10pm. I daresay its only on Auntie because none of the commercials want it.

      1. It was bagged by some people on Twitter, which were then compiled into an article (with a little extra reportage) by News and Fairfax because they believed people would click the headline. While some of their older mastheads (The Australian especially) do have a defined position on some things (ie “the ABC is bad”), most of the material the respective companies puts out online is simply populist.

  2. I Watched the first hour only hated the Pub Quiz so watched pre recorded stuff till midnight then switched back for the fireworks that was the only watchable bits ABC will have to better to get me back maybe they could have a Top 40 Countcdown of hits of the past year between 9.15 and Midnight that would be more watchable than that boring Pub Quiz

    1. Nope! Update: A bit more research I have uncovered: A council spokeswoman told Fairfax, “The contract was awarded to the ABC by tender process for 2013 and 2014 New Year’s Eve coverage. The official broadcaster for 2015 has not yet been determined.”

  3. Family Show was fantastic. Hoot and Play School toys finding Humpty was brilliant. Loved Bananas on boat etc. Really well put together and lot’s of LOL moments even for an adult. Hoot could host the whole thing next year. ABC3 hosts under utilised except for Grace Koh who was a stand out. Eddie Perfect didn’t work here though. No chemistry with other performers. Same with him and Ella Hooper later on.
    For later coverage ABC need to keep in mind who audience is that stay home to watch TV on NYE. Festival coverage is a turn off for most viewers. Answer in front of Producers noses. Coverage anchored to Opera House. What’s going on inside there? I’m guessing Opera Australia and ballet theatre etc. If selective about what is shown, an older viewer would love it and younger won’t turn TV off.
    Pub Qiuz better than last year but still not pacey enough. Maybe do it Live next…

  4. I didn’t think ABC’s coverage was that bad although I didn’t watch the whole 4 hours of it. But News Corp is an embarrassment in their relentless campaign to trash the ABC so it’s easy to dismiss their criticism as just pure sour grapes. Surprised Fairfax sunk to that level though. I suppose click bait isn’t quite dead after all.

  5. 1.33m was the midnight fireworks (a monoploy). The NYE show including Pub Quiz rated 531k 40% of that. The NYE party while people were waiting the fireworks 689k 50% of that. The Family spectacular rated 432k or 50% of family fireworks.

    The ABC tried to use NYE to boost their narrow younger demographics, while deliberately annoying most of the community. Perfect and Hooper have Zero experience doing live variety TV, which was obvious from the way they stumbled over inanities talking to each other while the nation cringed and flicked over to something else. The music was obscure, pre-recorded with no life and totally boring to 95% of the ABC audience. Dirtly Laundry live is fast moving, about pop culture, well written and with good guests. The Pub Quiz was drawn out and boring.

    Epic fail, train wreck almost as bad as 2013 almost as bad a 2013 are accurate descriptions.

    1. Perfect does host the Mental As extravaganzas each year, so he does have some experience of the form. The issue is not so much with the presenting as it is the preparation. It takes a brilliant entertainer to make something good in an environment devoid of stimulus, unless they have lots of things prepared beforehand.

      The best way to resolve the situation would be to turn the event into “Sydney harbour’s got talent”, with some Hey Hey style flashmobbing and Adam Hills style audience participation. How about a live version of “Guess What”? Sydney harbour has hundreds of thousands of people standing around just waiting to be part of something fun.

    1. That’s what I’m thinking of – I want to enjoy not just the fireworks but also the music countdown. I want decent presenters like Erin Molan, Ken Sutcliffe to host the coverage.

  6. Well, I have a complaint about the Melbourne fireworks on Seven. The actual fireworks part was so damn blurry. Dunno what was going on but it was all sorts of wrong and, in the end, I decided they were going for some sort of artsy, magical liquid effect. I’m sure it isn’t my tv cos the Sydney recording came out just fine.

  7. Maybe they should try doing it from Melbourne for a change. Why is always Sydney’s fireworks which is covered? It’s all become a bit same old, same old I’m afraid. Each city of the world all trying to outdo each other, spending billions between them and leaving god know how much detritus behind them. All this stuff doesn’t just explode into nothingness – surely.

  8. I felt very annoyed with this coverage of ABC NYE’s telecast because the pub quiz contains some sexual references. While there was a countdown happening, the presenters weren’t prepared for this. This was really disrespectful.
    IMO, hope that Nine will broadcast the NYE2016. Nine should do better than ABC.

    1. Clearly the Nine-fans did not see Nine’s last effort, with the last half-hour comprising of 20 mins of commercials and promos, missing the start of the countdown.
      As for “give the coverage back to 9”, Nine would have to be interested.

      1. If 9 were to get the rights, this channel should show it in clear HD. Less of pub quiz, more of music countdown. Nine does show more respect than ABC

  9. I watched it all. Great to see the prerecorded Falls Creek acts. Preferable to trying to do it ‘live’ on the night in Sydney. Minimal cross-promotions. 3.5 hrs of entertainment. With 7, 9 or 10 would have had 1hrs 50 mins, plus 1hr 10m of commercials, 30 minutes of the same 4 or 5 promos-on-a-loop, non-stop cross-promotions, pixilating 9 helicopter shots. Criticism is OK so long as it’s constructive. What “should” there have been? Giggle & Hoot were “immature” according to people who ‘tweet’? Um, it was for an ‘immature’ (infantile/child) audience, OK? Our family, 20-72 y/olds, all thought it was very good, and “thank God ABC did it again this year”. Thanks ABC. Ignore the party-poopers.

  10. I didn’t think it was as bad as tweeters implied. It’s becoming fashionable to knock these events on Twitter – Logies,Carols,etc.
    I agree that it would have been nice to see a bit more of the Sydney event. NYE broadcast seems to be aimed at the Melbourne audience, which is understandable given how difficult it is to get Melburnians to watch anything from Sydney.

  11. I agree with the criticism of the music. While it might suit really young revellers, they were probably out amongst the New Year’s celebrations. My husband and I are in our mid-30s, and while it’s not what we listen to, we didn’t hate it. My parents though, who were just waiting for the fireworks, abhored it. They complained bitterly, and at one point resorted to a channel search, determined that this shouldn’t be the only way to watch the Sydney Fireworks. Paul Kelly and Megan Washington were the only acts they could stomach. Rage afterwards was much more on point with a broader range of music.

  12. An OK show apart from the Musical acts, which in my opinion were aimed towards a lot younger audience. I loved the Pub Quiz but apart from that I found what I watched OK but nothing really special so I turned over and watched Andre Rieu, with more my type of music. But in saying that a live broadcast is hard yakka, and it is hard to please everyone.

  13. Whining about how awful the ABC’s NYE coverage has almost become an annual tradition. The one thing people always fail to mention is that NYE coverage is always crap! No matter what channel it’s on, it’s was always tedious, boring and filled with “entertainment” that no one wants to watch. It’s all just pointless filler until the fireworks start. That’s all anyone cares about. Just show the fireworks!

  14. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was perfect because News Corp would’ve cherry picked comments to suit their agenda. Having a go at them for what they called shameless cross promotion is beyond pathetic. The cross promotion would be far more shameless if it was on a commercial network. Lawrence Mooney and Marty Sheargold need their own show.

          1. News Corp always have an agenda against the ABC. Always have and always will. Until Sky News or Foxtel has the coverage they will always complain about it.
            You can make a story out of anything is you are selective with the tweets you select.

  15. It was just ridiculous. Who’s dumb idea was it to put humpty on top of the opera house.

    On another note did they really use overlay fireworks vision or was it a drone or what, but it was weird.

  16. It wasn’t just the music that was focused on a particular demographic. The Pub Quiz was relatively narrowly targeted also. Asking Mooney to play things broad leaves him with little material. That was one of the problems with the 2014 broadcast. When he’s on the Agony series (and also trying to play to a broad audience), all he’s got is concise confession.

    As he said on the night, his career is all about saying nasty things about people. He does it very well. Laurence Mooney can be a great host – Dirty Laundry Live is him in his element and he’s brilliant. But that’s a show with even narrower appeal. Compare him to Stephen Colbert. Colbert Report – deeply funny to a narrow set of people. The Late Show – mildly funny to everyone. Colbert is an amazing guy, but inferior to people like Fallon at doing comedy with broad appeal.

    Regarding “Spicks and Specs”, Mooney is almost the…

    1. Regarding “Spicks and Specs”, Mooney is almost the anti-Adam Hills. Adam is known for being nice, while Mooney is a special kind of nasty. I don’t think there’s many people that find Adam Hills hilarious, but nearly everyone finds him amusing. Whereas Mooney is very funny for some people, but is not for general consumption.

      I quite enjoyed the Pub Quiz, but like the Triple J style music, I thought this Mooney vehicle was misplaced. Joel Creasey’s segments even more so. ABC’s adult NYE2015 was too strongly targeted at the “alternative” 16-40 year old group. It was an ABC2 program when it should have been of broader appeal.

    2. I so disagree with those comments on Colbert. He does a great job with a format that’s difficult to sustain over that length and number of days. Five minutes of Late Show with Colbert is far funnier than a life-time of Letterman (IMO) and I also find Colbert far more watchable than Fallon.

      1. Fair enough.

        Don’t get me wrong, I love Colbert, I just think he was more suited to his old show than his new one. Given the choice, I would rather watch The Colbert Report to Fallon’s show. And I’m certainly not defending Letterman – I could never understand why he was feted the way he was.

  17. There is clearly a hidden agenda by the right wing media to trash and bag the ABC at all costs. The coverage wasn’t great but it’s a fireworks on New Years it was fine . Those fireworks were for children 9pm fireworks that all the criticism comes from. It’s aimed at kids what can you do as a broadcaster when you are aiming your broadcast at children .does any one remember the years nine had it ,their coverage was atrocious the constant cross promotions the adds and nine even went to a commercial break slap bang on midnight during the countdown one year . What short memories we . Those calling for a return to nine .geta grip.

    1. Rupert himself said years ago the the ABC and BBC are stopping him from charging all the NewCorp readers for their news.

      The constant attacks are nothing about quality of service but Rupert wishing to charge people for what they get for free now.

    2. i certainly remember when 9 did it & agree it was abysmal, at the very least ABC has no ads, who the hell wants to put up with 1/2 hr of ads & useless boring hosts crapping on just to watch 15 mins of fireworks. Agreed with David the festival music didn’t appeal to a broad enough range of people.

Leave a Reply