Revived News at Ten struggles against BBC rival

The BBC’s 10pm news bulletin has attracted double the audience of its ITV rival since the two went head to head in January. News at Ten has averaged 2.5 million viewers since it returned from a later time slot, compared with the BBC bulletin’s five million. If the regional news bulletins that follow the national programmes are included, the BBC attracts 4.8 million compared with ITV’s 2.2 million.

The ITV figures have dipped since the opening night of the revived News at Ten, when Sir Trevor McDonald returned to news presenting, although News at Ten does have 100,000 more viewers than the bulletin it replaced, presented by Mark Austin at 10.30pm.

News at Ten was moved to 11pm in 1999. It was revived in 2001 but then ran at 10.30pm from early 2004. The BBC moved its bulletin from 9pm to 10pm in 2000.

Peter Horrocks, of BBC News, said yesterday: “It is gratifying that audiences are coming to us. However, it will take a long time before audiences fully settle down. I don’t think it is anything to do with ITN underperforming . . . The real issue is the length of time they were out of the 10pm slot.”

On Monday the BBC unveils a rebrand of its news services, featuring a globe symbol. ITV has denied reports that it is planning to axe News at Ten.