Tomorrow (Friday 29 May) sees the end of Re: News, TVNZ’s youth-focused news platform, which made it to nine years old.
In an appropriately youth-focused approach, the news didn’t arrive via a media release, but via a post the Re: News’ Instagram account – three days after Re:’s Zoe Madden-Smith picked up her second Video Journalist of the Year award at the NZ Media Awards. Re: has won that award three of the last four years.
TVNZ’s decision to pull the plug is, like pretty much all decisions the broadcaster’s had to make about staff over the last few years, simultaneously disappointing and financially-driven. Previous rounds of cuts have seen the Re: team cut from 12 to four.
Re:’s work could have benefitted the broader organisation, which has a pretty chequered history when it comes to its ability to engage younger audiences with its online programming. There’s still limited evidence that TVNZ is willing and able to engage audiences where they are. While major broadcasters like the BBC, several European broadcasters and – in an announcement this week – Australia’s ABC are doing more to reach children and youth audiences on YouTube, TVNZ’s latest addition to its YouTube channel is an advert for season passes for the FIFA World Cup.
TVNZ has said the Re: brand may not be dead, but it’s hard to imagine it coming back to life.
