ITV News has launched its first social media news series focused on young people, which it hopes to put “into the hands of switched-on teens”.
The Rundown, which is aimed at 14 to 17-year-olds, started on ITV News’ Instagram, Facebook Stories and Snapchat channels this week.
Daily made-for-mobile episodes will be released at 3.45pm to coincide with school and college finishing times, and will explain the biggest international, UK and regional stories of the day.
ITV’s news director Michael Jermey said: “For decades ITV News has been telling the stories that matter to a diverse television audience.
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“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.”
The bulletins are fronted by a team of newly-hired presenters from across the country. The show’s dedicated producers are a mixture of new hires and existing ITV News staff.
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ITV News said the service had been tailored to suit how teenagers like to consume news while maintaining the same broadcasting standards as its traditional TV programmes.
It added that it has conducted research with its target age group which showed young people said it was important to them to have the most important stories explained without them being trivialised.
ITV News head of digital Stephen Hull said: “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.”
New episodes are currently being released every weekday, with a seven-day service due to start soon.
ITV News has 2m likes on Facebook and 260,000 Instagram followers.
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