ROSEMARY ABBOTT | Politics
VIEWERS ON DEMAND
TVNZ executives have reportedly turned to the unlikeliest of consultants to help with their ratings woes – ACT Party leader David Seymour.
It comes after Seymour attracted over 35,000 people who were part of the Hikoi in Wellington today to protest the Treaty Principles Bill at Parliament grounds, but also engaging those watching from afar online all around the country.
“This guy got 35,000 people to physically show up in one place,” marvelled one senior executive at TVNZ. “Do you know how hard that is? We couldn’t get that many people to watch 1News if we paid them.”
TVNZ has so far this year made mass job cuts, canned popular iconic TV shows and also recently proposed more cuts across its newsroom as they attempt to save $30m in revenue.
Seymour, for his part, remains amused by the situation. “It’s funny, isn’t it? TVNZ spends millions trying to figure out what people want, and here I am, getting an audience of people engaged in something they actually care about.”
When asked about his secrets, Seymour didn’t hold back.
“Look, people want to feel heard. They want to debate ideas, even the uncomfortable ones. TVNZ’s trying to play it safe with feel-good content, and it’s not working. If you want an audience, you need to spark some real conversations – not just ask viewers to vote for the best pavlova recipe.”
More to come.
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