Youth aimed news service launched by ITV News

ITV News has announced the launch of a new youth focused news service, The Rundown.

ITV previously aired, ATV produced, Kidsworld; a youth-aimed news and features programme in the 1970s.

“For decades ITV News has been telling the stories that matter to a diverse television audience. With the introduction of The Rundown, we’re going beyond TV to speak directly to digitally savvy teenagers, with engaging, accessible news that meets the high standards expected of a PSB news provider. I am sure that The Rundown will become highly-valued viewing for young people across Britain.” – Michael Jermey, Director of News, ITV

There’s Newsround from the Beeb and FYI from Sky News. Now ITV News is aiming for the youth, however, ITV’s service will be broadcast daily through Instagram and other social media platforms, to reach an audience aged between 14-17 rather than on ‘traditional’ television such as the CITV channel.

Now live, The Rundown has been created after research with the target age group of 14-17 year olds and is tailored to suit their style of news consumption, whilst meeting the same high broadcasting standards as ITV News.

Made for mobile, content for The Rundown will be produced daily by a dedicated team of producers and presenters. New episodes will be released at 3.45pm to coincide with school and college closing times. The service will explain the most important international, UK and regional stories of the day, without trivialising the subject matter, something which participants in the audience research revealed was very important to them. Viewers will also be able to swipe through directly from some items to more in-depth coverage of the same story on the ITV News website.

The bulletins will be fronted by a team of presenters, hailing from across the country to ensure representation of the anticipated viewership.

“The Rundown is designed to put our award winning journalism right into the hands of switched on teens, who told us that they wanted to engage more directly and deeply with the news. It is our hope that this new Instagram service will begin to answer their needs, become an essential part of the daily routine and the next step in ITV News reaching new audiences.” –  Stephen Hull, Head of Digital, ITV News

Initially, new episodes of The Rundown will be released every weekday at 3.45pm before moving to become seven days a week, every day of the year. ITN Produce the news services for ITV. It isn’t the first time the broadcaster has attempted ‘children’s news’. ATV Network’s Kids World series launched in 1979 as a weekly half-hour news programme for young viewers, presented by children.