Channel [V] viewers “in steady decline”
Numbers for [V] have been going down over the last 2 years says Brian Walsh, explaining a decision to act.
- Published by David Knox
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Foxtel executive director of television Brian Walsh has commented on a decision to move Channel [V] to the clip-based Hits format.
“Viewers for music channels have been in steady decline over the past few years as audiences fragment. People under the age of 30 are getting their music from a number of different sources now,” he told Mediaweek.
“The ratings for Channel [V] over the last two years have declined more dramatically than we would have hoped and we had to make a commercial decision about what the format should be.”
Foxtel experimented 12 months ago with longform on the channel, but it did not meet expectations.
Three staff are understood to have been made redundant this week. Of the on-air staff who remain, Danny Clayton is contracted with Foxtel until midyear, but his contract will not be renewed.
“We certainly understand that Channel [V] is a heritage brand, but the channel is not what it once was. The change is an evolution of our music strategy. Our view is the investment in music will now be skewed toward MAX and Smooth. The older demographics who love those channels are the ones who are still watching a lot of linear television.
“Younger viewers are just not watching television in the numbers they used to. It’s not more complicated than that really.”
6 Responses
Like most other Foxtel channels fantastic when they commence then end up in a tape to tape repeat loop
Go back to the ethics of Channel “RED”. there was a dedication to dance music that was way left of centre in whats playing now….Full on mixed dance music on Fridays and Saturday nights. It really was something to look forward to…..:Sigh”
Channel V back in the early 2000’s was brilliant, live music, WhatUWant, concerts, international guests. Then all that part of it disappeared and they came a sub-par MTV with their terrible reality shows. No big loss the channel is gone, but long for something similar to the early days of V to return somewhere, somehow.
When I was in high school, my friends and I used to love watching WhatUWant and trying to get our request on. From memory we succeeded once in getting a Good Charlotte one once. Such a great show and great memories.
Hear hear BB. Although, I’d extend that to even the late 2000’s. As MTV did, they forgot that it was all about the music, not reality shows, etc… And as JBar stated, the ‘B430’ show was indeed a hint. It wasn’t just people below 30 that saw the Foo Fighters & many others play fantastic live sets for the channel.
A big problem was restricting their target to viewers under 30 rather than keeping them and adding new ones. Having a show like B430 on the channel was like sending a message to older viewers that they were not welcome.
I don’t understand why they are saying that they are announcing it as shutting down the channel and hurting their [V] brand. I think it would have made more sense to quietly merge with the newer [V] Hits and slowly make changes that aren’t as shocking to viewers.