By James Manning

Below are some of the highlights.

Achievements of Greg Hywood years

JC: His legacy will be one of bringing stability to the newsrooms. A lot of people were made redundant during that period. There were some really tough decisions on the printing side as well, and not for a minute am I suggesting it was a particularly pleasant or easy time for people that worked at any of the three metro mastheads.

The days of redundancy rounds are behind us, the budgets are healthy, subscriptions are growing, advertising revenue is growing. We are genuinely in a different era, to the point where our part of Nine is actually the fastest growing.

For us to be in the fastest growing part of a large media company is pretty amazing. It’s not something I would have envisaged seven, eight, nine years ago, and I do think Greg Hywood deserves some of the credit for that. He made some pretty unpopular decisions, but that’s what CEOs have to do.

Publishing under Nine’s ownership

JC: It’s been a really easy transition.

Hugh Marks pretty early on said that he wasn’t going to integrate newsrooms or tell us what to do, and he’s been true to his word, which has been great.

Yet at the same time we have probably increased the amount of collaboration we’ve done. David Rowe went to Syria, one of our camera reporters went to Syria with our great photographer Kate Geraghty.

Nine helped pay for that, it’s not cheap to send someone over there. We did some stories over there for the newspapers and David also appeared on television.

Continued editorial independence

JC: There’s recognition that if you were to start interfering with the direction of the Herald or The Age, there will be economic consequences.

Our readers are very intelligent people, they don’t like to have political views pushed down their throat. They’re smart enough to make up their own minds on matters of politics or any other serious issue. If we started becoming a bit didactic, a bit more tabloid in the way that we approach issues, we would destroy the value of the mastheads, so it would be a self-defeating thing.

Merger’s commercial benefits

DE: One positive out of the merger is it’s really clarified the role of each of the mastheads in the portfolio. The role of The AFR was always clear – it’s a tool for business people and political executives and aspiring executives. What it’s enabled the Herald and The Age to do is really focus on distinctive local, national, international journalism aimed at their core subscriber base.

It’s really enabled us to send a message to the newsrooms. This is about firstly growing that loyal, habitual audience that come back to us every day because they recognise that what we do is different and not something you get everywhere. Ultimately proving enough value for them that they’re willing to pay for our journalism. Coming together with Nine has really enabled that because we’ve got a mass reach online, publication and the portfolio. It’s really enabled us to come up with a clear business strategy for each of the products.

Listen to the full podcast here: What are Nine’s plans for The SMH and The Age?

Print’s importance to subscription model

DE: Fairfax had spoken publicly about a finite lifespan for print without ever putting a date on it. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen enough hard data from a commercial perspective that suggests that lifespan is probably longer rather than shorter. The print ad performance has really improved.

We’ve seen really healthy demand in market for weekend products if we package it up appropriately. We ran a summer sale over December and January where we offered a promotional discount on a digital subscription with the weekend papers. We saw some of the strongest take up we’ve seen since we launched digital subscriptions in 2013.

Another brick in the paywall

DE: It’s been gradually tightened over the last year or two as we’ve built confidence in the subscription model.

JC: It’s a dynamic paywall by definition – a certain type of reader might hit the paywall quicker than another type of reader. We have also plugged the gaps in the paywall. There were big holes in the paywall at Brisbane Times and WAtoday for example.

It is a lot harder now to get huge amounts of our journalism for free.

Three pillars for the newsroom

JC: We talk about breaking news and that can mean two things. It can mean there’s a big event like Christchurch and the Herald and The Age are the place people go when there’s a big event. Readers know that we are quick yet accurate, and we’re not going to be sensationalist. But breaking news also means giving people exclusive news, news they cannot get somewhere else.

It’s an important part of the business and if your reporters aren’t getting scoops or exclusive news, it probably suggests they’re not doing their job.

The second part is setting the agenda. We have a sense of the topic areas that our readers are interested in and we want to be a serious part of the national or the state conversation for those issues. We don’t want to be a publication that just sits back, setting the agenda is really important.

The final thing is quality. If you’re asking people to pay, you need to ensure that the quality of your journalism is rather decent or better than decent standard, a high standard. That goes from the copy itself to the quality of the ideas. Because there’s a lot of commoditised news out there, there’s no point serving that up. If you’re going to write about Israel Folau, or you’re going to write about the federal election, or whatever it is, you have to be doing it in a way where people go, “You know what, that was really a quality piece of work, I don’t mind paying for that.”

Bundling Nine products…maybe Stan and newspaper subscriptions?

DE: We would absolutely explore things like that. In fact, I think we’ve even done that in the past. At the moment our focus is on doing the best job we possibly can of selling the core value of the news products. I don’t want to speak on behalf of our colleagues at Stan, but they’ve got an incredibly strong catalogue, and they’re focused on selling that. In the future, I think we’d absolutely look to do things like that.

Listen to the full podcast here: What are Nine’s plans for The SMH and The Age?

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Top Photo: Nine’s Dave Eisman (left) with James Chessell

The Wellness Collective: PodcastOne’s prolific duo

Two busy podcasters have been covering all things health for women who are keen to understand their bodies, their wellbeing and their hormones on a whole new level.

PodcastOne podcasters Nat Kringoudis, a best-selling author and natural women’s health expert and her long time radio host and now podcast co-host Cecelia Ramsdale love to go to the topics that nobody else talks about and discuss them with leading experts from around the globe to help their growing audience feel happier, healthier and better.

Ramsdale met Kringoudis in 2016 after Kringoudis put out a call on her social media for a podcast partner. “I had no idea who she was, but a friend told me to apply because I had radio experience and it sounded like fun,” Ramsdale told Mediaweek.

“I sent a video in answering the questions she asked and I got a call saying she had chosen me. From the first time we met we hit it off. We soon started making podcasts about fertility and health related issues for women. We used to work with Labsonics before we got the chance to work with PodcastOne.”

The duo had about 20 podcasts recorded before the move to PodcastOne where they have recorded another 50 in 18 months.

Ramsdale has a background in radio, formerly working with Fox and Triple M in Melbourne. “I hosted the Australian Music Show on Sunday nights and also worked on Tony Martin’s Get This.” Ramsdale learnt to panel with another radio and PodcastOne legend – Andy Lee. She no longer works for SCA, but has built a career as a voiceover artist.

The prolific podcast partners pump out lots of content, with a new episode dropping every week this year.

Plans for the future include a live podcast. Subjects that resonate best with their audience include how to be happier and how to have better relationships.

Ramsdale told Mediaweek Lola Berry has been a popular guest in the past and recent subjects have included financial wellness.

“The thing I love most about this podcast is the scope is endless. It started off being about hormones and fertility, but we now cover everybody with information about how to be healthier, happier and better.”

Listen to The Wellness Collective here.

Acast makes its first acquisition – technology company Pippa

This is the first acquisition for podcast platform Acast and it claims the move will significantly expand its offering for a wider range of podcasters. Pippa is a technology company offering hosting, analytics, and monetization for podcasters.

Acast said Pippa will bring it a consumer-facing offering that will enable any podcaster to sign up to host their show with just one click, whilst also having the ability to make money from their podcast from day one through Acast’s monetisation tools.

Ross Adams, Acast CEO, said: “This acquisition meaningfully accelerates our growth and will move Acast forward in our mission to empower podcasters of every size and help them connect with audiences around the world. We were extremely impressed by what the Pippa team has built and we’re excited to pour fuel on the flames now that Pippa is part of the Acast team.”

Combined with Pippa, Acast said it will now have more than 7,000 shows covering the full range of podcasters from publishers including BBC, Financial Times, Economist and Vogue.

Luminary launch week sees big names withdrawing

The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts, has requested to be removed from Luminary, the new $8-a-month premium podcast platform, which launched in the US this week.

Rogan joined a number of other podcasts who found their content turning up on the Luminary platform this week. Other people withdrawing included podcasts from The New York Times and Spotify.

Mark Zuckerberg dives into podcast pool

With the first two episodes launched this week, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched a podcast.

Available only via Spotify, the Tech & Society podcast is promising a series of conversations on the future of technology and society. Zuckerberg and his guests take on the biggest questions about tech’s place in the world – along with the opportunities, challenges, hopes, and anxieties that come with it.

Zuckerberg launches the series with Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain at Zuckerberg’s alma mater. They cover everything from encryption and privacy to misinformation and future research areas, all in front of a special audience – Zittrain’s students.

Zuckerberg then sits down with Mathias Döpfner – the CEO of the largest news publisher in Europe, Axel Springer – in Berlin. They answer questions like: What role does quality journalism play in building informed communities? What principles should Facebook use for building a dedicated area to surface more high quality news? They also talk about the privacy-focused vision Zuckerberg laid out for the future of social networking and his ideas for internet regulation.

Listen to tech & Society here.

Australia’s #1 podcaster reveals his Top 5

Andrew Denton launched his new podcast series Interview last week. It shot to #1 on the day of launch and is still holding down that position on the iTunes chart several days later.

Read more about Interview here.

Today Denton takes part in Mediaweek’s My Top 5 podcast series.

• Radiolab
New York Public Radio investigating a strange world.

• Russia If You’re Listening
From ABC Radio, presented by Matt Bevan.

• The Daily
From The New York Times.

• Download This Show
Marc Fennell’s weekly podcast from Radio National.

• Sizzletown
The world’s first late-night call-in podcast, hosted by comedian and broadcaster Tony Martin.

Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten will take LIVE questions from 100 undecided voters as chosen by YouGov Galaxy.

Sky News Political Editor David Speers will moderate the one-hour forum LIVE from 6:30pm AEST.

David Speers said: “If you’ve found the campaign boring so far, tune into this forum. The leaders can’t hide or dodge. They’ll have to convince a room of undecided voters why they deserve to be Prime Minister. These forums have been pivotal in recent election campaigns and give everyone a fascinating look at who’s really up to the job.”

Sam Weir, Editor, The Courier-Mail said: “Queensland is the key battleground of this election and, with so many marginal seats at stake, who holds power from May 18 will be decided by voters in the Sunshine State.

“As Queensland’s most influential media brand, The Courier-Mail is delighted to partner with Sky News to host the People’s Forum in Brisbane on May 3. It’s an essential opportunity for voters from all around Queensland to put our political leaders to the test on the issues that really matter to their lives.”

Paul Whittaker, Sky News Chief Executive said: “It’s appropriate that the most highly anticipated debate of this campaign is being held in Brisbane where the Coalition is under intense pressure to hold 21 of the 30 federal parliamentary seats up for grabs at next month’s election. Queensland’s knife-edge marginal seats will play a pivotal role in the election outcome with preferences from minority parties likely to prove crucial in deciding the final results.

‘’The Sky News/The Courier-Mail People’s Forum will provide undecided voters with a unique opportunity to question the leaders on their policies and vision for the country just two weeks out from Australians going to the polls. Candid, direct and LIVE our People’s Forum debate will test the political mettle and authenticity of both leaders who will be asked to address the concerns of the people.’’

Join Sky News for coverage from 4:00pm AEST for SPEERS as David Speers anchors his award-winning political program LIVE from the venue followed by pre-forum analysis at 5:30pm AEST also featuring The Courier-Mail’s Federal Political Reporter Renee Viellaris.

Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten will then face the undecided voters for questioning from 6:30pm AEST.

Join Paul Murray at 7:30pm AEST for post-forum analysis as he examines the responses to the issues and concerns raised by the people of Brisbane LIVE from the venue.

On Saturday May 18 as Australians head to the polls, Sky News will deliver the most comprehensive coverage and analysis of the 2019 Federal Election LIVE.

AUSTRALIA DECIDES 2019 PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

Friday 3 May
• 4:00pm AEST SPEERS with David Speers LIVE from Brisbane
• 5:30pm AEST  Sky News/ The Courier-Mail People’s Forum: The Countdown
• 6:30pm AEST  Sky News/ The Courier-Mail People’s Forum LIVE hosted by David Speers
• 7:30pm AEST  Sky News/ The Courier-Mail People’s Forum: The Verdict hosted by Paul Murray

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 Photo Credit: Richard Jupe/News Corp Australia

By Andrew Mercado

Lego Masters (Sunday on Nine) is described as a “blockbuster” series (get it?) with judge Brick Man and host Hamish Blake and a first building challenge that takes a mammoth 15 hours to complete. Thankfully, this exciting process is whittled down to just half an hour. Sadly, there is still another hour to go because every reality show now has to go for 90 minutes or more.

Given its family appeal, it’s odd that Nine didn’t start Lego Masters during Easter rather than the last night of school holidays. Casting wise though, they are hoping for a broad audience, with two blokes wearing hi-res vests who look like they were auditioning for The Block. It is also good to see a diverse mix of contestants, making it more multicultural than the all-white House Rules (Sunday on Seven) but still lagging behind MasterChef (Monday on Ten).

For some non-reality programming on Sunday, the ABC asks Will Australia Ever Have a Black Prime Minister? Hosted by charismatic actor Mark Coles-Smith, and with contributions from Stan Grant and Barrie Cassidy, this doco highlights some sobering statistics, but ends on a hopeful note with some determined Indigenous schoolchildren

The school kids from Broome are a lot livelier than the surly teens seen in The Bay (Wednesday on Seven), a new UK crime thriller. With missing kids, a small coastal town and a troubled detective, it’s been dubbed Northern Broadchurch, and it does come across a bit too familiar. There are six episodes, and the final one just aired in the UK, with the audience response appearing to be “meh”. Producers are hoping for a second series, so fingers crossed.

Also crossing his fingers is MKR (Finale Sunday on Seven) contestant Romel who is “creating a sizzle reel” for his own TV talk show along the lines of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. It’s always entertaining when TV Week asks reality stars what they want to do next, which is usually getting their own spin-off show. Or if that doesn’t work out, there’s always more reality shows. Celebrity Lego Masters? Will Australia Ever Have a Reality Star Prime Minister? Yeah, like that could ever happen.

Thursday: Week 17 2019 (Easter week 2)

By James Manning

• Seven News 1,298,000/1,090,000
• Nine News 894,000/870,000
• A Current Affair 641,000
• ABC News 685,000
• 7.30 508,000
• The Project 233,000/433,000
• 10 News First 314,000
• SBS World News 151,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 277,000
• Today 200,000

Seven

Seven had a good grip on Anzac Day audiences starting with Sunrise with its traditional Anzac Day from Currumbin with just under 300,000 watching.

The Anzac Day AFL coverage had a match audience of 779,000, which was the best audience this year.

The close finish and the extraordinary scenes at the end of the Collingwood v Essendon match helped push the first half of the 6pm News audience to 1.29m.

Home And Away was close to 600,000 after 7pm.

The Front Bar had its biggest episode of the year with the show going into all metro markets on the primary channel earlier in the evening. The metro audience was 428,000 with 287,000 in Melbourne. Sydney and Brisbane got the episode at 9.30pm with AFL markets getting it at 8.30pm.

Nine

The day in Sydney and Brisbane was dominated with NRL coverage on the primary channel.

The afternoon match between Roosters and Dragons did 317,000 with 198,000 in Sydney. The evening game between Storm and Warriors then did 354,000 with 188,000 in Sydney.

Nine’s AFL Footy Show recovered a little this week with 157,000 in an earlier timeslot with 93,000 in Melbourne. 

10

Bachelor In Paradise did 433,000 and managed to rank #1 entertainment show under 50.

The Project also did 433,000 with Birds Of Tokyo appearing after their controversial booking earlier in the day at the MCG.

ABC

Escape From The City was just outside of Adelaide and made the top 10 programs with 446,000.

The UK drama Doctor Foster followed with 221,000.

Combined coverage of Anzac Day marches earlier on Thursday made the top 20 with 389,000. Coverage of the Gallipoli Dawn Service then did 258,000 followed by the Villers-Bretonneux Dawn Service on 193,000.

SBS

Jack The Ripper: The Case Reopened did well at 7.30pm with 267,000.