[DTV]

This is not unique to World News, it's happened across BBC News bulletins over the last decade. The 1/6/10 headline sequences often have vox pops as well, and can take up to 2 minutes. I often get so bored of the headline sequence, if I've recorded the bulletin to watch later, I'll just skip the headline sequence altogether.

I've actually been looking a bit into this recently because I was curious when it started and who started the trend - which I agree is very annoying. I know that they claim it is to act as a summary, but the 1999-style fast-paced headlines were so much more impactful and the inclusion of reporters, vox pops and 'we'll be asking...' are just so redundant and slow everything down.

Longer headline sequences began with network bulletins around 2004, with the preset thunderclap beds being dropped on big news days. Then, with the 2006 relaunch, the preset beds were dropped altogether and the lead story would get maybe 20 seconds or more, with the rest only about 7/8 seconds. The 2008 relaunch was when it really began to drag out on network bulletins, with the Six and Ten in particular typically reaching 90 seconds or longer. It's stayed this way since, with the lead story now often getting about 30 seconds or more to itself. At the time of the 1999 relaunch, the whole Nine O'Clock headline sequence + titles was 32 seconds!

On the channels, News channel headline sequences were still quick-paced (though including more stories) as late as 2011. They only really got the network-style elongations around the time of the March 2012 restructuring of the News channel hour - which was also when they cut down the half-past summary.

Worlds is a bit different - in terms of the 'white-and-red' bulletins, though not as short as they once were, TOTH sequences are still only about a minute including titles. The stranded programmes were where you often saw longer sequences, though this depended on the programme (WNA were always particularly short). But even as late as 2019, most kept it to just over a minute - it's only with the Covid simulcasts that World seemed to catch the bug.