On-demand services oust tradition at ABC as Comedy, Life and news cut
The ABC will cut news and current affairs and slash jobs as it makes a dramatic shift towards on-demand content.
The ABC will cut news and current affairs programs and slash jobs as it makes a dramatic shift towards on-demand content such as podcasts and online video.
Under its five-year strategic plan, the public broadcaster will end its ABC Life lifestyle division, axe its 7.45am radio news bulletin and cut the number of Foreign Correspondent and Australian Story programs put to air.
The ABC will also shift hundreds of jobs away from its inner-city Sydney headquarters in Ultimo, with up to 250 editorial, production and management positions to be made redundant.
David Anderson, the ABC’s managing director, told staff that audiences increasingly wanted “to watch, read and listen to the ABC when and where it suits them”.
“In the next five years, the ABC will focus more on digital innovation, delivering the on-demand and personalised services that Australians expect in their information and entertainment,” he wrote to staff. “In common with those commercial businesses, the ABC also needs to evolve its on-demand digital services to stay relevant to audience needs.
“We need to maintain our broadcast services on a more sustainable footing, while increasing investment in the on-demand services that our audiences expect from their national broadcaster.”
Under the changes, the ABC will cut its annual independent production budget by $5m and reduce funding for investigative reporting, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story and 7.30.
The five-year plan comes after a tumultuous period for the ABC, which lost its managing director Michelle Guthrie and chairman Justin Milne after a boardroom clash in 2018.
ABC Life, which will be rebranded ABC Local and operate under a “new editorial director”, was one initiative introduced under Ms Guthrie’s management. ABC Comedy, one of the broadcaster’s channels, will now also air arts, science, education and religion content. Comedy, however, will continue to be commissioned for the ABC’s main channel and iView, its streaming platform.
Mr Anderson said the organisation could save $4m by leasing spare capacity in its Ultimo headquarters, as a pause in funding indexation introduced by the federal government reduces the broadcaster’s budget by $84m over the next three years.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said he was pleased the ABC had committed to not cutting regional positions. “The ABC needs to reflect all of Australia, and Sydney is not Australia,” he said. “I welcome the commitment to the ABC being managed in an efficient and accountable fashion … I think that’s what taxpayers would rightly expect.”
Anthony Albanese, however, said the cuts would affect “jobs and the quality of service” provided by the ABC.
“During the bushfires the ABC literally saved lives … people were relying on the ABC, it was the thing they could depend upon to tell them whether to go or leave,” the Opposition Leader said. “It’s appalling that the government hasn’t recognised that.”
The ABC has long faced criticisms from some Coalition MPs — largely Nationals — that it is too focused on Sydney to the detriment of regional areas. It now aims to have 75 per cent of its content producers outside Ultimo within five years.
“We have also been reviewing our travel budget with a view to increasing our use of technology to connect with each other,” Mr Anderson wrote to staff. “The COVID-19 pandemic proved we could rely more on technology to stay connected and we have now reduced our travel budget by 25 per cent across the ABC. This target will remain in place beyond the lifting of current COVID-19 related restrictions.”
Of the 250 jobs expected to go, 70 will be from within the news division, 53 from the entertainment and specialist division and 19 from regional and local.
The five-year plan comes in response to an efficiency review commissioned by the Turnbull government in 2018, which recommended that the ABC and SBS “clearly identify those areas of content that are at the core of their charter obligations and ensure they are adequately funded”.
“Where necessary to protect and grow those core areas, the ABC and SBS should reconsider expenditure in other content areas with the goal of stopping expenditure where necessary to reinvest in the core,” the review, conducted by former Foxtel chief executive Peter Tonagh and former Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman Richard Bean, found.
ABC News director Gaven Morris told staff in a separate email that the audience figures underpinning the shift to on-demand content were “compelling”, with a 200 per cent increase in monthly podcast downloads and a 500 per cent increase in YouTube live-streaming.
“Most Australians now use a (video-on-demand) service, almost 60 per cent using one weekly, with usage growing fastest among people aged 50+,” Mr Morris wrote. “In five years streaming video on demand will be being used in more than 90 per cent of households.”
The ABC changes follow the closure of BuzzFeed’s local operations, the shuttering of the Ten Network’s 10Daily website, and job losses at News Corp Australia.
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