‘That’s what happens when you’re in an industry refusing to change’: Seven boss responds to horoscope and satire backlash on nightly news
Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie has hit back at the backlash the network has received following the introduction of horoscopes and satire into its nightly bulletins.
Appearing on a new episode of Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast, the director of news and current affairs and editor-in-chief at Seven West Media spoke about the decision to introduce a horoscopes segment into the nightly Seven News, as well as other calls such as a satirical segment hosted by Australian comedian Mark Humphries every Friday and former rugby league star Willie Mason delivering a specialised NRL segment.
The reaction to the moves have been divisive, particularly because Seven News more often than not tops the TV ratings each night. But as De Ceglie told host Neil Griffiths, it’s all about innovation.
“Beating Channel Nine or Channel Nine beating Channel Seven is the definition of winning, right? But the truth is, there’s no point being number one if your audience is declining and there is no getting around the fact that the broadcast audience at 6pm for both Seven and Nine is declining,” he explained.
“What we need to do is slow the rate of decline, which we have successfully started doing – both us and Nine.
“But the only way we’re going to slow the rate of decline and actually start growing new audiences is by trying things. I don’t want to be in charge of a company which is just clinging on for dear life, [or] to an audience that’s gradually declining. I want to grow our audience.
“I think everyone in the industry now is starting to go, ‘You know what? Let’s be bold again and let’s take some risks because it’s not good enough to just cling onto the audience we have.’”
De Ceglie said the reminder to innovate is literally in front of eyes every day, with a whiteboard in his office that reads the slogan: ‘Non-stop innovation’.
“I made a pledge to myself when I was a youngster that if I got into a role leading a newsroom, that I would continually innovate because when I entered the profession, especially in a newspaper role, you can imagine 15, 18 years ago, every six months, there was a redundancy call out.
“I just always told myself… I would try things because the worst thing in the world is not trying anything.”
As for those staunchly against any new ideas that move away from traditional news broadcasts, De Ceglie reminds people that the horoscopes segment is “20 seconds a night” and Humphries segment also takes place at the end of the Friday bulletin.
“That’s what happens when you’re in an industry that is kind of backing itself into a corner and refusing to change that when you do small things, they feel like big things,” he said.
“We’ve seen some really good ratings come out of Melbourne in the last little while, and so we’re really excited about how things are playing out. We’re now sitting around thinking about, ‘okay, well, what comes next?'”
Listen to the full episode with De Ceglie here.
Anthony De Ceglie took part in Mumbrella’s first ever Media Mayhem column. Check it out here.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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What they need to do to stop audience decline is sticking to relevant news. There are so many stories that are time fillers, and neither news nor relevant. Go back to 30 minutes of relevant news.
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De Ceglie hasn’t got a clue!
Viewers are turning off in their droves!
Horoscopes and so-called satire in the nightly bulletins have nothing to do with News!
Stokes needs to sack De Ceglie before their TV audience turns it off forever!
He’s a loser!
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I’m confused. Is the horoscope segment the one that is supposed to be the satire?
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Satire in a news bulletin as a fresh idea? Who’d have thought of such a thing? I guess we’ll just ignore the 30+ years of Clarke and Dawe.
Sure the style is different and what Mark does is great but I hardly think the Seven news demos are so young as to not be familiar with the concept…
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Talk about juvenille stupid fluff that is the horoscope for each day. What are you doing to the viewers???
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So he thinks they’ll get new viewers because they have a nightly horoscope and weekly satire segment? Gotta be kidding! They shouldn’t be part of the news. If they must persist with them why not show them after the news is finished (before Home and Away!)/
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Just report actual news, such as the cost of living and how the middle class in Australia is being erased by greedy money hoarding billionaires. (Oh no, you won’t, you’re owned by Kerry Stokes…..)
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He would fit in well working with the New Idea mag.
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Dislike the horoscope, it’s useless information, not revelant in a news broadcast.
Dislike the so called comedian, should not be in a news broadcast. Useless information.
Ch7 l have been a follower for 60years, but the change to your news format has just about turned me off. Your polished presentation of news has always been a leader in all aspects of delivery, but now with the new additions, it’s disappointing with these segments.
Compliments must go to how lovely all the females look in their beautiful attire, very impressive compared to other channels.
Gemma Acton has been missing on our screens during the news, where is she?
Keep up the good work Ch7 forget the unnecessary nonsense please?
Thank you the opportunity to express my opinion.
Patricia.
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he isn’t wrong about the lack of new ideas, and the perception that small things are these huge profound changes that are simply too scary to consider.
the news industry fails to innovate repeatedly. most of those in it would prefer for it to wither rather than change as they love the status quo.
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I think it’s spelt Horror Cope
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Biggest problem for 7news is the now very.poor lead in.program.. the chaser has become a switch off with its entertaimment quality. We are looking elsewhere on the dial with foxtel the likely winner
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instead of reporting on violence in every news bulletin how about a few good news stories
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I do think that SEVEN SHOULD DO AWAY WITH. THE HOROSCOPES I AGREE WITH EVERYONE ELSE PLEASE LISTENED TO THE VIEWERS AS THE TV ADS PAY YOUR WAGES PLEASE LISTENED TO THE VIEWERS AND RATINGS TELL STORY.
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Well channel seven,the new wipper snipper is a joke and news to me is a serious report of events that happen, the changes don’t need the silly joke and horoscope, change the format but don’t treat us like idiots.
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I gave up watching tv years ago. It is such a disappointment, you only get the right wing stories, never the left, unless it’s something unfortunate. We don’t have a fair news service because we have a media controlled by the right wing backers. I can say you will lose half your audience within a short time. Good luck with that.
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Wouldn’t it be nice if horoscope will say … watch out Seven 7 your popularity is going down the drain.
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