By Kruti Joshi

As the director of strategy of the company’s client solutions division, 9Powered, her job is to ensure that a client’s brand message is served to the audience in the best way possible using Nine’s assets such as TV (Channel 9, 9GO!, 9Life and 9Gem) and digital (nine.com.au, 9Honey).

Prior to joining Nine in 2016, Mullins worked on the agency side of the media industry. She has worked with some of the biggest agencies in the country such as Initiative, OMD and UM.

Michael Stephenson and Melissa Mullins at 9Powered’s pop-up store in Sydney

“Coming to Nine wasn’t overwhelming,” Mullins told Mediaweek. “What was exciting was that we have a big range of content, so you do feel you can apply strategic thinking to it. You have to be able to do that. For example, why would you advertise on The Block over Buying Blind? You need to have a strategic rationale for that. It’s not about putting forward whatever we want to sell.

“The challenge about working at Nine is that we work with so many people – executive producers, editors via our content partnerships team, branded production team, trade marketing, agencies and brands too. However, when it comes to content strategy, it’s very similar to what I have done in the past.”

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With help from broadcaster Hamish McLachlan, O’Connell has listened to pitches from players and fans from 10 AFL clubs.

Today was the day O’Connell was finally ready to reveal who he had gone for. He revealed recently that his wife had chosen Geelong as his wife’s best friend lives there. Co-host Jack meanwhile had managed to win over Christian’s daughter to support Essendon.

“This has been one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever been involved in in radio,” O’Connell said this morning.

To make the announcement, Hamish had secured the services of his brother and AFL CEO Gil who visited the studio.

After giving away the decision shortly before the official announcement, Gil officially revealed O’Connell had chosen the Melbourne Football Club.

“It’s a great choice,” Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said in a phone call shortly after the announcement. Goodwin made the pitch to O’Connell for the club and later followed up with a signed football.

O’Connell also spoke to Melbourne captain Jack Viney on-air as he welcomed the broadcaster to his new club.

O’Connell also revealed this morning that St Kilda was the team that was his second choice. Those decisions are a brutal blow to Collingwood, which had hoped to lure O’Connell to the Pies.

O’Connell had a three-hour lunch with Pies president Eddie McGuire earlier this week, who pitched the benefits of supporting his club.

The decision to go with the Demons is a win for O’Connell’s friend Hamish Blake, but Andy Lee is not happy. The Carlton supporter helped O’Connell with his visa application and he said this morning he was thinking of asking the government to revoke O’Connell’s entry permit.

Below are highlights from a speech delivered by ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie at the Melbourne Press Club on Tuesday.

Last year, I attended the opening of the NSW Chapter of the Australian Media Hall of Fame, a fantastic initiative by this forum to bring to a broader stage the great traditions of journalism and the women and men who, as journalists and storytellers, have left their mark on the fabric of Australia.

I’ll demonstrate just a touch of ABC bias here. I was thrilled at the roll call of our journalists who were among those honoured that night: Mark Colvin, Ian Carroll, Caroline Jones, Alan McGilvray, Chris Masters, and Kerry O’Brien.

They, and others acknowledged by the Club, have made an indelible contribution to our collective understanding of Australia and the world.

We know and applaud their attributes and achievements: their deep knowledge of audiences and the issues that are relevant to the lives of the community; their relentless drive to ensure that the institutions and processes, which are the foundations of our democratic system work to the benefit of that community; their determination to provide a voice for the powerless, the weak and the intimidated; their ability to shine the light on malfeasance and corruption.

In a complex world it is too easy for the powerful to do their work in dark corners: to cynically use so-called narrowcasting messages that have a direct appeal to certain targeted audiences, while conveying an entirely different message to others; to rely on rhetoric that doesn’t match actions.

Good journalists call that out. Today, I want to channel some of that skill and emphasise some real facts in what has become an increasingly febrile debate over the value and future of the ABC.

ABC’s Ultimo HQ (credit: EQRoy / Shutterstock)

I am proud of the ABC. I am proud of the work we do, the privileged position we hold in Australian history and our way of life, and of the value we bring, not only to audiences, but to the wider citizenry.

My aim in this speech is to demonstrate that value and to dismantle some of the arguments that are being used by critics to attack the national public broadcaster.

The anti-ABC case has been crystallised in two recent developments – the launch of a tome by two people associated with the IPA calling for the sale of the national broadcaster, and last weekend’s policy motion at the Liberal Party federal council meeting in Sydney demanding the “privatisation” of the ABC.

What price do you put on public trust in an independent, commercial-free news organisation at a time of fragmentation and disruption? As the Prime Minister himself noted at the Liberal Party council meeting, it is difficult to establish the facts in a disputed media landscape full of echo chambers and “fake news” outlets.

What price do you put on an ABC devoted to serving the nation – across its vast expanse and through a myriad of services, with quality and distinctiveness as a hallmark? This, at a time when the pressures of the new landscape are forcing our commercial colleagues into a relentless focus on their profitability.

What price do you put on an almost 86-year history of service that has the ABC as one of the most respected and trusted institutions in the country? An institution that provides valuable diversity to the media sector and, through its innovation, one that has driven many of the platforms and services that we know and take for granted?

The public regards the ABC as a priceless asset, more valuable now than ever in its history. I can appreciate that the ABC would fetch a high price in a commercial market. But does the public want a new media organisation that compromises quality and innovation for profit? Does the commercial sector want a new advertising behemoth in its midst? I think not.

For those who prefer an abacus-type approach to this debate, I have some fresh information. How do you put a price on the value of the ABC? In pursuit of that answer, the ABC has commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to do some research. Its report is still being compiled and will be released next month. The early findings are interesting. They show that the ABC contributed more than $1 billion to the Australian economy in the last financial year – on a par with the public investment in the organisation. Far from being a drain on the public purse, the audience, community and economic value stemming from ABC activity are a real and tangible benefit.

Of that $1 billion, more than a third is economic support for the broader media ecosystem. Far from being Ultimo-centric, the ABC is boosting activity across the country. Recent examples include the filming of Mystery Road in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, and the production of Rosehaven outside Hobart.

Judy Davis and Aaron Pedersen in Mystery Road (photo: John Platt)

Deloitte calculates that the ABC is helping to sustain more than 6,000 full-time equivalent jobs across the economy. It means that for every 3 full-time equivalent jobs created by the ABC, there are another 2 supported in our supply chain – local artists, writers, technicians, transport workers and many more. In hard figures, the research shows that the ABC helps to sustain 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs in addition to the 4,000 women and men who are directly employed by the public broadcaster.

When broken down this equates to more than 500 additional jobs in production companies, over 400 jobs elsewhere in the broadcast sector, and close to 300 full-time equivalent jobs in the professional services.

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

By James Manning

Australia played France on Saturday night with an 8pm kick-off. While the 3.4m is accurate, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

SBS quoted the reach figure in its headline with the small print noting this was how many had watched a non-consecutive five minutes of the broadcast.

SBS did also note the average audience watching the match, the more common figures when ratings are quoted, was 2.1m with a peak viewing audience at any one point in the game of 2.7m.

With at least two 2018 FIFA World Cup games still to come for the Socceroos, but in less-friendly timeslots, can the broadcaster keep the average audiences over 2m?

While the Saturday crowd last week was a good number, it was short of the channel’s best when it comes to FIFA World Cup matches.

However, the biggest SBS audience ever in the OzTAM era (post-2001) for a football match was 3.41m watching Australia v Uruguay in a World Cup qualification game that also had an 8pm kick-off back in 2005.

In the subsequent 2006 FIFA World Cup the channel has these audiences for the Socceroos’ matches:

Australia v Italy 3.01m (1.30pm kick-off) Round of 16
Australia v Japan 2.93m (11pm) Group F
Australia v Croatia 2.75m (5am) Group F
Australia v Brazil 2.08m (2am) Group F

A friendly Australia v Greece match at the MCG before the 2006 World Cup had a massive TV audience of 2.21m.

Love Island Australia airs on 9GO! and is streamed on 9Now.

• Inside Sophie Monk’s return to dating reality TV: ‘I’m a sucker for love’

The show targets the 16-39 demographic. The viewership of 9GO! in that demo has gone up 150% when compared to the week before Love Island Australia launched on the channel. In the OzTAM VPM rankings for the period of 28 days to June 17, Love Island Australia takes out eight of the top 10 spots.

Talking about the show from a sales perspective, Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson told Mediaweek: “In three weeks’ time, we will look back and see that Love Island has been a defining moment. If you look at the way people are consuming that content across linear and on-demand, it is quite unbelievable. The targeted advertising that clients are able to access via the demographic profile of the audience consuming the content across every platform is like something we have never seen before. Its audience profile is so pure that it will define – at times – the way people commission content.

“Over time it will get larger and larger and you will see more and more brands engaging with it.”

By James Manning

Seven

A Monday Home and Away audience of 723,000 was followed by 695,000 last night.

The House Rules teams headed to the 150-year-old dairy farm of Toad and Mandy for this week’s makeover. The Tuesday episode did 804,000 after 713,000 a week ago.

Brilliant discussion between Rosie Batty and Andrew Denton last night on Interview. There wasn’t a bad one either with Lily Allen, which made for a compelling hour of TV. Even the grubby bits about Harvey Weinstein. The episode did 439,000 after 477,000 a week ago.

Rosie Batty and Andrew Denton on Interview

Nine

A Current Affair was trying to mediate a neighbourhood dispute last night as feuding neighbours eyed each other over the fence line. A report on the safety of women walking at night and the advice they are being given followed with opposing opinions. After beginning the week on 870,000, Tuesday did 796,000.

Week three of Buying Blind and the episode dropped to 514,000 after 555,000 last week. Everybody seemed pretty happy with the work, including designer Shaynna Blaze who gave herself gold stars for nailing it. The producers managed to find a couple – Mags and Tyson – who had a big budget.

Tuesday night at the movies followed with Ocean’s Eleven, which kicked off the franchise. With a finish close to midnight, the average audience was 235,000.

Mags and Tyson in Buying Blind

TEN

Video game addiction was examined on The Project before writer Anna Daniels was on the road with the postie covering Australia’s biggest mail run. Tuesday was on 546,000 after 591,000 on Monday.

A history-making episode of MasterChef with Sashi Cheliah becoming the first person ever on the series to have two immunity pins – something that should see him safe well into the top 10 and maybe even winning series 10. The episode did 863,000 after 886,000 on Tuesday last week.

Lots of fun on Shark Tank again starting with a pair of tech yoga pants that saw Janine Allis on the floor doing a headstand. Later in the show the sharks were sampling chocolate. The show did 567,000 after 614,000 a week ago.

ABC

Making Child Prodigies did 376,000 at 8pm.

Back In Time For Dinner visited the 1980s, which saw the arrival of the microwave. The episode did a very consistent 573,000 after 572,000 a week ago.

The second and final part of Miriam’s Big American Adventure then did 362,000.

SBS

Episode three of Sinkholes: Deadly Drops did 254,000 at 7.30pm.

Jenny Brockie was then talking to teen parents on Insight for 146,000 viewers. The repeat didn’t screen in Adelaide or Perth.

Another night of bonus World Cup matches for SBS – but they were both in the early hours at 1am and 4am this morning.

The 10pm Colombia v Japan was always going to be an SBS match. It attracted the channel’s biggest audience with 475,000.

Meanwhile the Poland v Senegal match did 118,000 in the first half after 1am.

The Tunisia v England game had 96,000 watching with a 4am Tuesday start. A repeat later in the day did 72,000.

The Belgium v Panama match did 69,000 after 1am Wednesday.