"Gitchi gitchi goo goo voters!"

Good Day Readers:

Is it little wonder Stephen Harper's 24 Seven video series is failing miserably - audience viewing numbers falling through the floor?

It's Pablum for the great unwashed masses (taxpaying voters).

"Gitchi gitchi goo goo voters!"

B-o-r-e-i-n-g ..... b-o-r-e-i-n-g ..... b-o-r-e-i-n-g. To get it's ratings through the roof what's needed is a candid discussion within the Prime Ministers Office of the latest developments in catching the mole(s) who have been leaking the Conservatives' 2015 election/dirty tricks strategy to the Toronto Star. Or what about an update on the Duffy-Wright-Wallin-Brazeau-Harb cover up in the PMO? Then there's the ongoing Jim Flaherty-Jason Kenney feud. Finally, Flaherty versus Harper on income splitting. This is what will get the audience and ratings back not the feeble, self-serving political puffery currently being disseminated on 24 Seven.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Stephen Harper 24 Seven video series losing about half its audience every week

Marc Weisblott
Thursday, February 13, 2014

Stephen Harper counting on former Men Without Hats drummer Bonhomme to get his numbers up. (Photo: Prime Minister's Office)

Stephen Harper’s weekly wrap-up debuted at the start of January as something a leader wary of the news media could live with: Rather than depend on reporters to explain what he has been up to, the Prime Minister’s Office would issue their official video version, with the title 24 Seven.

Well, now that the project has gone into its second month without being cancelled, it is sort of possible to measure just how much public interest there is in watching this old-fashioned narrated newsreel format — which is dominated by meta-footage of the PM posing with others at photo ops.

The debut gained enough attention to draw over 10,000 viewers of the English-language version, which dipped to under 8,000 in the second week, under 3,500 in week three — which featured Harper’s high-profile delegation to Israel, which also had its own special edition, with roughly the same viewership — 2,220 for the fourth round and just over 1,000 for the fifth.

So, the interest among Canadians to see the PM’s version of events is on trend to drop about half from one installment to the next.

French-language numbers fluctuated in the low-hundreds. But a sixth episode was posted on Thursday in which Harper holds his annual summit with Quebec Winter Carnival mascot Bonhomme:



The concept of politicians producing their own journalism is only bound to become more popular, though, as reflected in Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s debut on YouTube — where the Ford Nation webisodes were watched by an audience of 30,000 at most, yet were widely reported as newsworthy, no pesky reporter interaction required.

Of course, YouTube also provides an opportunity for parodies that incorporate the original footage, like this Truth Mashup version of an earlier episode below: