For TV programs in various regions made with police support and seeking information from the public on unsolved crimes, see
Crimewatch (disambiguation)
.
Crime Watch Daily
is an American
syndicated
investigative
news magazine
television series
. Premiering on September 14, 2015, the program was originally hosted by veteran Australian television journalist
Matt Doran
. The remaining two seasons were hosted by former
NBC News
investigative reporter
Chris Hansen
.
Produced by
Telepictures
and distributed by
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
,
Crime Watch Daily
features a mix of investigative reports,
true crime
stories and caught-on-tape police and security footage. The show was cancelled on June 8, 2018, though the website and social media components remain fully active under the new title of
True Crime Daily
. Reruns of the second and third seasons of the series began airing in February 2019 on what is now
Court TV Mystery
, a digital network with an emphasis on true crime series.
The program showcases current and ongoing crime stories (including those surrounding unsolved
murder
and
missing persons
cases) and feature reports on undercover investigations from across the United States and around the world as well as limited coverage of ongoing court cases. As an example of such investigation segments, during the
Crime Watch Daily
'
s first week of episodes, the program showcased an undercover investigation into how
Uber
screens those applying for positions as drivers before being authorized and hired, revealing that the three applicants mentioned in the piece were convicted felons, who were cleared after their background checks were completed.
[1]
[2]
Franchise features fill the final three segments of each episode, which deal with other criminal cases and arrests, both of a serious and unusual nature:
- Crime Watch Local
? originally titled "APB" (in reference to the abbreviation for "
all points bulletin
"), it is a daily segment highlighting in-depth a particular criminal case or mystery covered by one of the program's affiliate stations, followed by an interview with a reporter from the station to provide additional information on the story;
- Daily Watch List
? a segment, seen in most episodes, which highlights various top crime stories from around the United States;
- Bad Seed of the Day
? a weekly segment profiling a particular criminal and the crime they committed;
- Crime Watch Daily
Heat Map
? usually serving as the penultimate segment of each edition, it is a blotter-style segment ? which includes
mugshots
of the acts' perpetrators ? consisting of a selection of unusual crime stories from around the U.S. that are tied to a particular theme;
- Wild About Trial
?
Crime Watch Daily
maintains a partnership with the trial-focused news website, whose founder
Alison Triessl
serves as a contributor for a weekly segment (usually seen on Tuesdays) highlighting ongoing criminal cases being covered by the site;
- CrimeTube
? a daily segment that concludes most episodes, featuring videos of criminal acts,
sting operations
,
police pursuits
and footage of law enforcement activity culled from
public domain
security camera
,
traffic camera
, and police
dashcam
footage.
Telepictures had previously produced a syndicated program with a similar format,
Celebrity Justice
, from which most of the staff and format of the
TMZ
online and
television
entertainment news platform arose out of; however, that program ? which ran from 2002 to 2005 ? focused more on celebrity legal issues than the reality/true crime focus which
Crime Watch Daily
is based around (though some notable non-celebrity true crime cases were covered on
Celebrity Justice
).
Production and distribution
edit
On September 15, 2014, Warner Bros. Television Distribution announced that it would order
Crime Watch Daily
for the 2015?16 season, with
Tribune Broadcasting
carrying the program on stations owned and/or operated by the group in 29 markets ? covering 42% of the United States (including its three largest,
CW
affiliates
WPIX
/
New York City
,
KTLA
/
Los Angeles
and independent
WGN-TV
/
Chicago
) ? most of which would air the program as a lead-in to their early-evening newscasts (
Crime Watch Daily
also airs on Tribune-run stations that either do not air any local news programming, or outsource news production to a co-owned or another local station). Through the distribution agreement with Tribune, the group also struck a news sharing partnership with the program to provide video content of crime stories filed by its news-producing stations.
[3]
[4]
[5]
Through the spring of 2015, Warner Bros. expanded clearance of the program through distribution deals with other station groups (including
CBS Television Stations
,
Media General
,
Cox Media Group
,
Graham Media Group
,
Raycom Media
,
Sinclair Broadcast Group
and the
Meredith Corporation
), gaining carriage on stations covering 98% of the country. Through the Tribune agreement and subsequent group distribution deals,
Crime Watch Daily
expanded its content partnerships to provide video from crime-related stories filed by the program's affiliate stations, serving as an "extended newsroom", with reporters employed with stations that air the program contributing to the "APB/Crime Watch Local" segment to provide additional details on the segment's featured story.
[6]
On May 5, 2015, Warner Bros. Television announced that Australian journalist
Matt Doran
(formerly an anchor/reporter for
Network Ten
and host of the similarly formatted newsmagazine
Wanted
) would serve as anchor of the program, with Michelle Sigona (former correspondent of
America's Most Wanted
and
48 Hours
), Andrea Isom (formerly a crime reporter for
Fox
owned-and-operated station
WJBK
in
Detroit
) and Jason Mattera serving as reporters.
[7]
Despite the show's primary focus and title,
Crime Watch Daily
is designated as a news program by the
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) by way of a ruling made by the agency on August 11, 2015, through a declaratory ruling sought by GHN Productions; because of the ruling, the program therefore is exempt from FCC requirements that would have obligated it to
provide airtime
to political candidates featured in coverage of trials, criminal cases and other "crime-related" matters.
[8]
The program's premiere episode on September 14, 2015 earned a 0.9 rating/2 share in 53
Nielsen
-metered markets, with its strongest viewership in
Kansas City
(where it airs on Fox affiliate
WDAF-TV
), scoring a 3.2/10 in that market.
[9]
For the week of September 14,
Crime Watch Daily
earned a 0.8 rating/2 share in all metered markets for its primary runs (resulting in year-over-year ratings increases in several markets, and performing strongest in
St. Louis
? on Fox affiliate
KTVI
? where it scored a 2.5/8, a 32% increase in its timeslot over the same period in September 2014).
[10]
On August 22, 2016, it was announced that veteran journalist and former
NBC News
correspondent
Chris Hansen
, best known for his recurring
Dateline
series
To Catch a Predator
, would become the new host of
Crime Watch Daily
for its second season. Hansen anchored the program from New York City, but maintained its Los Angeles-based newsroom. The second season also saw the premiere of
Hansen vs. Predator
, a revival of his previous
To Catch a Predator
series. Hansen's entry brought further ratings gains to the program, with household ratings increasing by 20% to 1.0, and a 23% gain among women 18?34. On January 4, 2017,
Crime Watch Daily
was renewed for a third season.
[11]
[12]
In 2017, the series was nominated for a
Daytime Emmy Award
for
Outstanding Special Class Series
.
[13]
At the 2018 NATPE convention, the Tribune and Sinclair stations airing
Crime Watch Daily
picked up the rerun package of
True Crime Files
from
Investigation Discovery
for their lineups. This move resulted in the loss of
Crime Watch Daily'
s major market clearances, as the stations were intent on replacing it with their new acquisition. Facing a continued ratings struggle, Telepictures and Warner Bros. ceased production of
Crime Watch Daily
at the end of the season with its final new episode airing on June 8, 2018.
[14]
[15]
Second life as web-only
True Crime Daily
edit
On September 20, 2018, the show's website returned, this time under the new domain and website name of "True Crime Daily", continuing to use their resources (scaled down for a web operation) and those of their former stations to report current true crime news in a web-only form.
[16]
- ^
Erik Pedersen (August 5, 2015).
"New Syndie Series 'Crime Watch Daily' Investigates Uber ? TCA"
.
Deadline Hollywood
.
Penske Media Corporation
. Retrieved
September 25,
2015
.
- ^
"Crime Watch Daily: Uber Investigation: EXCLUSIVE"
. Crime Watch Daily. August 5, 2015 ? via
YouTube
.
- ^
Paige Albiniak (September 14, 2014).
"Exclusive: Tribune Acquires Warner Bros. Strip 'Crime Watch Daily'
"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. NextTV
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Tribune Stations Add 'Crime Watch Daily'
"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media. September 15, 2014
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Compelling Package of Promos Precedes Launch of "Crime Watch Daily"
"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. NextTV. September 14, 2015
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
Paul Greeley (June 29, 2015).
"Syndicated 'Crime Watch Daily' Locked Up For Afternoons"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
Seth Kelley (May 5, 2015).
"
'Crime Watch Daily' Names Matt Doran Host"
.
Variety
. Penske Media Corporation.
- ^
John Eggerton (August 11, 2015).
"FCC: 'Crime Watch Daily' Is News Show"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
.
NewBay Media
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Three New Shows Debut In Syndication"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media. September 15, 2015
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"
'FABLife' Tops Newcomers First Week On-Air"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media. September 22, 2015
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Exclusive: 'Crime Watch Daily' Renewed for Season 3"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. 4 January 2017
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
"Chris Hansen Will Be Catching Predators On 'Crime Watch Daily'
"
.
Deadline
. 22 August 2016
. Retrieved
31 August
2016
.
- ^
"Amazon's "Eat the World" among Daytime Emmy winners"
.
Realscreen
. Retrieved
2019-12-04
.
- ^
Albiniaklast, Paige (January 15, 2018).
"NATPE 2018: Tribune, Sinclair Pick Up 'True Crime Files' for Fall"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Retrieved
February 7,
2023
.
- ^
Albiniak, Paige (June 26, 2018).
"Syndication Ratings: Soccer, Golf Drives Down Shows"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Retrieved
February 8,
2023
.
- ^
https://truecrimedaily.com/2018/09/20/crime-watch-daily-is-now-true-crime-daily/
Crime Watch Daily is now True Crime Daily retrieved 9/22/2018