A television channel, regardless of genre, without a programming guide is expected to rate poorly as viewers struggle to find their way around the schedule, yet ANN7 has trended positively on Twitter more times this week than I can ever recall (excluding SATY weekends). These were trends for reporting news and not trends for negative things at the channel.
This must mean that viewers are still watching the channel, even more than before if it is trending, so what gives?
A news channel's programming guide alerts viewers to what the different news bulletins are that are shown on the screen. When you watch CNNi (DStv 401) for example, if you tune into Quest Means Business at 10pm CAT daily, you expect a business news show with a relaxed tone hosted by Richard Quest from a home-like studio and editorially based in New York. However, when you tune into Connect The World at 5pm, you expect to see an international news bulletin with a Middle Eastern perspective from a newsy studio and editorially produced from Abu Dhabi.
However, when you tune into any programme on one of the local news channels, the look and feel of every news bulletin is exactly the same. The studio setup is the same. The music is the same. The editorial decisions are made by the same people for the full 24 hours of the day. There is really no difference between eNCA's News Night and the mid morning news slot other than the anchors. The same can be said for ANN7 and SABC News Channel.
So, without a programming guide, ANN7 was in fact making things easier for viewers, especially casual ones, who might struggle to navigate between shows like 'News' and 'Newsroom,' even though they are essentially the same, other than for anchors. Though ANN7 has many show names, the only three shows that are essentially different from anything else are SA Decides, GameOn! and Newsroom Live.
Sometimes simplicity is the best way to attract casual viewers.
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