A leaked email has unveiled Channel Ten’s “experiement” to boost 10News+.
TV Blackbox revealed on Tuesday that an internal email had surfaced showing Ten’s plans to improve the flagship news program and prevent viewers from switching to competitors’ 6pm bulletins.
“Next week, we’re going to experiment a touch, to try and hold people better over the 5pm/6pm changeover,” Channel Ten’s Vice President of News, Martin White, wrote in the leaked comms.
One of the proposed changes involves scrapping the 5pm news host’s “goodnight” message and, instead, ending the segment with a weather forecast.
A graphic of the weather report will be aired and the weather presenter will close the bulletin before proceeding to its 10News+ offering at 6pm.
“No music, no goodbye, disclaimer along the bottom of the screen over the graphic,” White stipulated in the email.
“Then we go straight into the Plus opener – pics and VO, not on camera.”
Data shows Ten loses most of its viewers, who switch channels to 7News and 9News, at around 6pm.
The new format hopes to transition the audience directly to 10News+, thus upping numbers of the flagship news program in the viewership wars.
According to the email, the experimental shake-ups will be trialled for one week.
“We’ll see what difference it makes next week before deciding what we’ll do next.”
Channel Ten declined to comment when approached by SkyNews.com.au.
It comes after Ten trimmed down 10News+’s run time to just half an hour.
In October, it was revealed the evening new program would reduce its run time as part of the media company’s refreshed 2026 line-up.
“The revised 30-minute edition of 10 News+ will continue to deliver sharp, credible, and distinctive journalism each weeknight at 6:00pm,” a spokeswoman for Ten shared.
It is followed by a “refreshed” entertainment line-up, with Deal or No Deal hosted by Grant Denyer at 6:30pm and Millionaire Hot Seat hosted by Rebecca Gibney at 7.00pm.
The current affairs show, which has been met with lacklustre viewership since hitting screens in June, replaced The Project after sixteen years on-air.
Fronted by Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock, 10News+ was introduced as a “premium, in-depth news, current affairs and insights program”.
It also promised “extended context and deeper reporting on the day’s biggest stories”.