The only connection ITV News has with GMB is that they provide news resources to GMB to supplement their own news gathering, hence the reason why you see the ITV News logo on the set of GMB and during the programme. Other than that, ITV News at ITN is a separate distinct organisation to GMB based at Television Centre and White City.
Susanna's statement was evidently carefully worded, clearly distancing herself from Morgan and his remarks. Ranvir's following comments were somewhat interesting though, not sure those at ITV will be entirely impressed (not my own view, I agree with Ranvir).
Putting Morgan aside, it's difficult to see where they go from here with the format of the show. ITV beating the BBC for the first time in this slot for years is fairly significant - going from a Daily Mail article in 2009, GMTV's ratings were believed to have 'plummeted' to 900,000, so ITV have won that slot for the first time since at least 2008, if not long before (I'm looking purely at the numbers here, it's not a comment on the content of the show). On the back of this, do you try and find someone equally controversial?
My suspicion is that they'll eventually roll back to light and fluffy - ITV Breakfast's default panic setting (roughly GMB at the start of 2015). I genuinely can't think of any male presenters who have a bit of a bite, but without being unnecessarily nasty and aggressive who would want to present the show long term. I can only see this leading them back to the classic 'soft' format, which, the last 15 years have demonstrated, is not a ratings winner.
My own personal suggestion would be a soft relaunch - a strong focus on the news agenda, without the nastiness and aggression of the previous incarnation - but keep some sort of bite. Do something different, hire a female co-presenter to join Susanna, with none of the classic tabloid 'rivalry' between two women. Approach difficult subjects, but do it sensitively and intelligently. They'll lose viewers in the short term no doubt, but would hopefully be able to build an audience without the pervasive hostility.
The only connection ITV News has with GMB is that they provide news resources to GMB to supplement their own news gathering, hence the reason why you see the ITV News logo on the set of GMB and during the programme. Other than that, ITV News at ITN is a separate distinct organisation to GMB based at Television Centre and White City.
They know full well that some viewers think of them all as one because when I put my story together last year, the automatic reply to viewer complaints was if its regarding GMB to contact ITV.
One the hangovers of the separate franchise arrangement for breakfast television. GMB continues to operate under a separate franchise arrangement still in 2021 which is amazing. Yes they have abandoned the 9.25am hand over junction, but the separate franchise remains. Maybe one possibility is ITV get rid of that situation sometime in the future?
Have to say being a wrestling fan has strangely prepared me very well for any discussion about breakfast TV. Discussion of both is far mote heated then it needs to be, both have larger than life characters and if you think GMB vs Breakfast ratings talk is tedious and OTT then wrestling ratings talk makes it look like child’s play (and in both cases it’s not as if the ratings are even that good).
One the hangovers of the separate franchise arrangement for breakfast television. GMB continues to operate under a separate franchise arrangement still in 2021 which is amazing. Yes they have abandoned the 9.25am hand over junction, but the separate franchise remains. Maybe one possibility is ITV get rid of that situation sometime in the future?
Would imagine it would continue. There are two ways the status quo would change a) they buy STV and get defacto controll over all the franchises or b) ITV cede the control over the 0600-0925 output in two regions to STV, despite having bought and paid for that control.
Back to GMB, I wonder if Eamonn Holmes might get the gig, if only for a while? He is on the payroll already and can do work with newsier than GMTV formats, as seen in his years at Sky.
Another 'default' choice might be Mr. Madeley. ITV did seem to like having sharable content for social media - he, at least, would provide them with that.
I do hate the way the word ‘cancel culture’ has become so weaponised - there is a reasonable debate to be had about whether backlash online can be too severe and often for things that happened years ago or are taken out of context. Jon Ronsen did a great book on it. And the way some online seem to go out their way to find people to ‘cancel’ isn’t great (the sooner the hashtag #isoverparty disappears from social media the better)
To give an example, actor Hartley Sawyer was sacked from his role as Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man on The Flash because of tweets that he posted before the show even began (and he wasn't there from the start either). And that's an American show, so this doesn't just happen here.
My suspicion is that they'll eventually roll back to light and fluffy - ITV Breakfast's default panic setting (roughly GMB at the start of 2015). I genuinely can't think of any male presenters who have a bit of a bite, but without being unnecessarily nasty and aggressive who would want to present the show long term. I can only see this leading them back to the classic 'soft' format, which, the last 15 years have demonstrated, is not a ratings winner.
Soft and fluffy is a ratings winner, but only when you are the only ones doing it.
GMTV was successful for the majority of the time, and that was light and cosy. The key point being that BBC Breakfast News at the time was neither.
Another 'default' choice might be Mr. Madeley. ITV did seem to like having sharable content for social media - he, at least, would provide them with that.
The Alan Partridge compilations alone would keep Twitter busy.
Well, indeed. It's a format I struggle with. BBC Breakfast and every GMTV clone just seems banal and trivial to me. I appreciate that the ratings prove that more people seem to like light and fluffy though.
The fluffier phase of GMB (with the God-awful lighter theme music) had some great talent on the roster, but none of it particularly did much against Breakfast.
I really think that ITV should be trying to make its output distinct - as it has been - and not trying to get into a competition that it can't win trying to out-fluff the BBC.
Seems like a weird world where the BBC is winning on light and fluffy and ITV has been doing a newsier breakfast programme, but I suppose that's just the way it goes!