• Seven’s director of network programming Angus Ross
• Network Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey
• Nine Network’s program director Hamish Turner
• Foxtel’s executive director of TV Brian Walsh

—

Is your 2018 strategy very different from previous years?

Not really – we have been running a pretty consistent programming strategy for the past couple of years. We remain very focused on trying to have a very strong point of difference.

With the launch of all the reality shows, we stick to what we are great at, which is having a really strong factual lineup at 7.30pm every night so that audiences have a clear alternative to reality TV. We offer a place to tune in for thought-provoking documentaries that help Australians understand the world in which they live.

Avoiding the reality onslaught

Without big commissions, we tend to try to avoid playing them in the first few weeks of the year when the big reality series are launching as they take a lot of viewers out of the market.

• SBS drama in 2018: Five new Aussie commissions + returning global hits

As a much smaller broadcaster we tend to be a counter programmer. Things we are proud of that we have near the start of the year include Muslims Like Us and then Safe Harbour in March.

We are always looking for tactical opportunities to get things to audiences, particularly as things start to settle down slightly.

Safe Harbour

Content themes on different nights

From Sunday through to Wednesday we like to offer a strong factual/documentary theme.

• All the documentaries coming to SBS in 2018

Sundays we tend to showcase history, Monday tends to be more medical or health, Tuesday is the place for our current affairs flagships and Wednesday we program our big commissions around contemporary issues.

Later in the week we tend to play more drama, usually starting on Wednesday or Thursday. Friday nights tend to be a bit of a mix while on Saturday there is sport.

SBS doesn’t shy away from late-night scheduling

We realise our audiences like our content, but they also like watching other things as well. We are a counter programmer and always looking to put content in places where audiences will find them. We don’t compete with the other networks and it makes no sense to put big commissions head to head with the commercial networks.

That doesn’t work for anyone. We are about finding the best opportunities for our shows, taking into account what is happening in the rest of the market.

We have a lot of drama available on SBS On Demand and some of the later night slots for those shows work best.

Summer audiences for On Demand

The previous summer we had Midnight Sun and then during 2017 we had Handmaid’s Tale. We had good audiences for some smaller titles this summer like Ride Upon The Storm, which helped us record a January audience that was our second-biggest ever for On Demand.

Our strategy of using tentpole titles and then using them to grow audience interest in our broader offering is really working.

Will your acquisitions annoy others networks this year?

We have had a consistent editorial strategy for a long time. We always look for a point of difference and we always try to acquire programs with intelligence and insight. We want the best in world drama, the best in high-end documentaries. From time to time we will pick up something which no one really anticipates might be the kind of success it is.

The Handmaid’s Tale was a huge success but, when we bought it, the show looked like it might have been a smaller series given it was fairly serious and covered gender politics issues.

When a show like that does pop, other people tend to look at SBS and say they would have liked that.

There is new Handmaid’s Tale in April and I would anticipate that being incredibly popular again this year. We also have a second season of The Good Fight coming along. It was important for us as it was about understanding diversity and it has the ability to reach wider audiences.

And I am really excited about Safe Harbour, which has had an incredible international response and it has also been screening at the Berlin International Film festival. It is a beautiful series that speaks to our core purpose that is also very fresh and innovative.

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

Matthew and Rachel Hinkley from Derrinallum (pictured above) were awarded a $10,000 prize for their cropping farming. The former agronomists grew the size of their operation by 400% in just 13 years, plus boosted their return on assets by 10% and lifted crop yields to rival the best in the nation.

Since returning to the Western District in 2004 – where they have since grown their operation to 1,620 hectares of owned and leased land on which they grow wheat, canola and barley – the Hinkleys have invested heavily in farm machinery to improve efficiencies.

“We are very much driven by economics,” Matthew Hinkley said. “I believe there is as much done in here (in the farm office) as there is out there (in the paddock).”

The Weekly Times publisher, Ed Gannon, said: “This year Tasmanian Country and Rural Weekly have joined the News Corp Sunday titles to carry our Farmer of the Year magazine, giving the awards unprecedented exposure. And with The Ag Show, Australia’s only agribusiness television program televised weekly on Sky News Business, joining the News Corp Rural stable, we are now able to bring the awards to life on the screen.”

The finalists and the winning couple will all be profiled in the special Farmer of the Year magazine inserted in tomorrow’s Weekly Times (Feb 28) and the Sunday Herald Sun, The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mail (SA), The Sunday Times and The Sunday Mail (Qld) on Sunday March 4.

The Weekly Times editor Natalee Ward said: “The Weekly Times is proud to tell the stories of these farmers to our readers, to enrich connections between country and urban Australia. We want Australians everywhere to appreciate the effect farming has on all of our lives on a daily basis and to gain a better understanding that there is more to the business of farming than meets the eye.

“We’re proud to again celebrate the best farmers in the nation for the sixth year. Congratulations to all our winners and finalists, and again thank you to Coles, which is the major sponsor of this event.”

Farmer Of The Year category winners (c Yuri Kou)

The category winners were:

Cropping: Matthew and Rachel Hinkley, Hinkley Farming, Derrinallum, Vic

Beef: James and Robert Millner, Rosedale Charolais, Blayney, NSW

Dairy: Dehne and Sarah Vinnicombe, Calivil, Vic

Horticulture: Schiffke and Stothart families, Taste ’N See, Bellmere, Qld

Sheep: Jock and Olivia Nivison, Yalgoo Genetics, Walcha, NSW

FARM magazine Innovative Farmer of the Year: Nicky, Terry and Patrick Noonan, Tasmanian Saffron, Glaziers Bay, Tas

For a second weekend the movie world has all been about Black Panther, the groundbreaking Marvel Studios release that is predicted to pass the US$1b mark globally with speculation the movie could become the fourth highest-grossing superhero movie ever.

After pushing weekend revenue up 43% two weeks ago, Black Panther was a clear leader last weekend too although total box office numbers dipped 13% to $16.31m.

#1 Black Panther $7.51m

Takings dipped 29%. After accounting for over 50% of takings last weekend, Black Panther was just short of 50% of the take over the weekend. Screens showing the movie were down from 620 to 574. Screen average was down from 17,000 to $13,000. In just 11 days the movie has grossed $22.13m in Australia.

#2 Game Night $1.95m

The Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams comedy mystery was the highest-ranked new release on the weekend with a screen average of $6,807 from 287 screens.

#3 Fifty Shades Freed $1.15m

After its third weekend the final of the three movies in the series is close to a total of $13m with a weekend screen average of $3,408 from its 339 screens.

#4 Finding Your Feet $1.01m

The comedy drama with a wonderful cast including Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Joanna Lumley just made it over $1m from 268 screens with a screen average of $3,773.

#5 The Greatest Showman $988,000

Still in the top five after a remarkable nine weekends, the movie is still on 238 screens and has just passed $30m.

Outside the top 5: Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle still resides in the top 20 at #14 with a total of $48.15m. It needs just over $1m to make the all-time top 10 list for Australia. Sitting at #10 at present is The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) on $49.3m. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is also now the second highest-grossing to be released in 2017, trailing only The Last Jedi, which did $58m, putting it #3 on the all-time list.

Seven

Seven’s international homegrown soap Home and Away started a new week on 688,000 after a week 8 average of 670,000.

Episode 18 of My Kitchen Rules saw the contestants from group one return as they became the guests and jury at the MKR elimination house. The defence forces foodies Matt and Aly had an easy victory over Pat and Louise, who have departed the program. Chocolate ricotta cake was the downfall of Pat and Louise with both judges giving them 1 of out 10. Matt and Aly didn’t overly impress with a highest score of six from the judges for main and dessert, but next to their competition they were a long way ahead. The Monday audience was 1.07m after 1.12m on Monday a week ago.

The first episode of The Resident is one of Seven’s recent Fox acquisitions as it stocks its medical drama cabinet. Star Emily VanCamp has been good to Seven in the past with the hit drama series Revenge, which she featured in across five seasons. The pilot episode of The Resident was directed by Aussie Phillip Noyce and did close to 9m viewers in the US, but the numbers nearly halved for subsequent episodes. The pilot episode here did 576,000. No one would have been predicting Good Doctor-like numbers (which did over 1m on debut, has stayed there and picked up record catch-up numbers too), but Seven would be hoping for the series to hold above half a million.

Gordon Ramsay arrived later in the schedule with a visit to a hotel in Pennsylvania for Ramsay’s Hotel Hell with 203,000 watching.

Nine

A Current Affair had a very strong 902,000 watching after a week 8 average of 808,000.

It was time for homestays on Married At First Sight as the grooms received a reality check. Some handled it better than others. The Monday episode was on 1.32m after 1.29m a week ago.

Travel Guides saw the tourists in South Africa just ahead of the First Test later this week. After 375,000 last week, last night was on 673,000, which was a massive turnaround.

TEN

David Oldfield was on The Project but he only lasted a couple of questions in a busy episode. The 7pm segment was on 629,000 after a week 8 average of 488,000.

Steve Price interviewed Vicky Pattison on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and there was also a pirate party in the camp. The Monday episode delivered TEN an audience of 579,000 after 538,000 last week.

Two episodes of Law & Order: SVU followed with 260,000 for the new episode from series 19 and 204,000 for the repeat. Gem started screening episodes from the first-ever series of Law & Order: SVU on Sunday night.

ABC

Australian Story featured a medical student who managed to become a doctor after his studies were interrupted by car crash that left him a quadriplegic. The episode did 608,000, up from 581,000 last week.

Four Corners examined dancing, drugs and rebellion in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report from French filmmaker Jacques Dubois had an audience of 563,000.

Media Watch included reports on the Turnbull sex ban and the coverage of Emma Alberici’s tax report. The show did 552,000.

Q&A finished the Monday current affairs lineup with 435,000 after 404,000 a week ago.

SBS

River Cottage Australia included Paul West visiting a beer brewer with 155,000 watching.

Michael Mosley: Trust Me I’m A Doctor then did an improved 205,000 followed by a 24 Hours In Emergency repeat on 200,000.