[TheGregmeister]

I'd assume now that Rees-Mogg, Anderson & Farage* will be off air for the duration of the GE campaign (regardless of the eventual results) the 7-8pm hours on Mon-Thurs will effectively be what we got yesterday evening in place of both Farage and JRM respectively for the next several weeks. As for the 7pm hour on Friday evenings ... extended editions of Friday Night Live, or perhaps randomly selected re-runs of The Dinosaur Hour!


*Rees-Mogg, Anderson & Farage ... sounds more like a firm of solicitors!

[TVViewer256]

I don't think Farage stepping down for the campaign is that much to do with OFCOM. By the sounds of it from his interview tonight he'll be going all-out in terms of campaigning for Reform with rallies, etc so I'd imagine it's more that he wouldn't be available to present.

[Jon]

Purdah officially begins the day that Parliament is dissolved, which in this case will be 30th May.

I think it's already been confirmed that JRM will be standing again in his constituency, so I would expect his last programme to be on or before 29th May.

I think GB News are playing it safe, because Farage and Rees Mogg already have been relegated to guests in their slots with Tom Harwood presenting. I guess it makes sense to make sure they can get the balance correct before they’re obliged too.

[LDN]

Forgive me if I'm telling you something you all knew (I haven't seen it mentioned here before), but I hadn't realised until today that GBN America now has its own set of presentation, along with dedicated content specially recorded for the US market.

After the GBN America brand launched online in January, the first set of videos published under that brand were nothing more than cuts and edits of content that had already been broadcast on the GB News TV channel in the UK, with a GBN America logo slapped on top.

Over the last couple of months, GBN America has been creating original content for the US market -- with GB News presenters -- including bespoke presentation elements, as you can see here:
ibb.co 

gbn-america-with-mogg hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image gbn-america-with-mogg hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

This isn't just an edit of existing GB News content -- in addition to the 'GBN America with Jacob Rees-Mogg' sting, Mogg introduces the clip with "Welcome back to GBN America" and goes straight into interviewing his guest, while also sitting in front of a GBN America background. The full video is here: www.youtube.com 

Some videos also include L3s that mention GBN America, but the actual design of the L3s is identical to that of the GB News channel, including the Union Flag:
ibb.co 

gbn-america-L3s hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image gbn-america-L3s hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

Many of the videos are recorded with a single camera in front of a virtual GBN America background, but some content is also recorded in the GBN Westminster studio, with revised branding for the US. (Unfortunately, the GBN America DOG doesn't play nicely with the regular GBN 'LIVE' bug.)
ibb.co 

gbn-america-westminster hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image gbn-america-westminster hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

By the way, that 16-minute video I linked to above that Mogg recorded has received a grand total of 25 views on YouTube in the two days since it was published. Twenty-five.
ibb.co 

gbn-america-video-views hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image gbn-america-video-views hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

And on a broader scale, in the four months since it launched, GBN America has managed to rack up fewer than 4300 followers on YouTube, and barely 1800 on Twitter. Sure, everyone has to start somewhere, but for a brand relying 100% on engaging audiences online, those numbers seem vanishingly small. Just how much demand is there in the US for the opinions of a small British news channel on wokeness, trans rights, and other right-wing trigger issues?

Anyway, as far as the pres goes, I don't hate those GBN America titles, and I appreciate that they made the effort... but they just feel -- and look -- a bit meh.

And that baby-blue-and-Guantanamo-orange GBN America studio backdrop (as seen in the Mogg gif above)... a curious choice, to say the least.

[derek500]

YouTube stats are local. Just went to GB News America using a US VPN and it has 1.26m subscribers and the latest clip has 37,500+ views.

[LDN]

YouTube stats are local. Just went to GB News America using a US VPN and it has 1.26m subscribers and the latest clip has 37,500+ views.

With respect, that's not correct.

Many GBN America videos are, for some reason, published exclusively and listed only under the main GB News YouTube account:
www.youtube.com 

YouTube - GBNews
Keep up to date with GB News at gbnews.com or on X @GBNEWSDon’t let them silence us - support GB News here: https://gbnews.com/support
  Source: www.youtube.com

It's that account (@GBNewsOnline) that you were looking at using a US VPN, and it has 1.26 million followers -- as you can see in the UK, without a VPN. The GBN America account does not have 1.26m followers in the US, or anywhere else (it currently has 4500 subscribers, worldwide):
www.youtube.com 

YouTube - GBNAmerica
British and balanced.
  Source: www.youtube.com

Viewing the CNN YouTube account from the UK tells me it has 16.3 million subscribers. That's not 16.3m subscribers in the UK; that's around the world. YouTube stats are global, not local. (And if you're still not convinced, please explain how K-pop sensation BTS (@BTS) have 78 million UK subscribers.)

There are quite a few GBN America videos that have been published solely under the GB News account which have reached tens of thousands of views -- usually those (and there are many) bashing Meghan and Harry, or other Royal Family discussions.

But bizarrely, that means nearly all of the engagement that the most popular GBN America videos get is from those subscribed to the main GB News UK account, rather than that of GBN America. Even this week's big juicy Steve Bannon interview -- recorded under the GBN America brand -- was published by GB News, with no reference to it at all on the GBN America YouTube account.

So subscribers to GBN America don't get the best, juiciest GBN America content. Instead, they get the likes of Mogg's video from my previous post, which is now up to 44 views. I'm not sure how they expect to build a US following when those subscribed to the US account are served such thin content; and the best content that could help to grow subscriber numbers there is instead published on the UK account, buried among videos relating to UK news and politics that will be of little interest to an American audience. Why would anyone in the US subscribe to this? What's the strategy here?

[Jon]

YouTube stats are local. Just went to GB News America using a US VPN and it has 1.26m subscribers and the latest clip has 37,500+ views.

As far as I know there isn’t a separate YouTube channel for GBN America and 1.26 subscribers is the overall subscriber count of GB News. I never heard of the view count being nation specific before so I’d be surprised if that was the case.

[matthieu1221]

I struggle to see their target audience for their US content. There's a big offering for the sort of views that offer US-side already. Is there really that big of an audience who'd be interested in thinking what (presumably, none-household names, barring a few) UK presenters think of US happenings?

[Scrotnig]

Dunno if it’s me, I’ve always generally been supportive of GB News but it hasn’t half got dull! It’s the same topics over and over. Some shows are still good but some have become shouty arguments between the same people about the same subjects, and it’s coming across as staged and dull. It feels like they’ve shifted focus on some way.

[Yorksman]

GB News still on air post midnight with reaction to the Trump verdict.