By James Manning

Last week they had good reason to feel they are making significant progress.

The radio stars and their SCA colleagues had been a little frustrated with their ratings to-date.

No one was expecting overnight success, but the audience acceptance they’d hoped to build was taking the slow road.

Not any more. Recently promoted SCA Triple M national head of content (metro and regional) Mike Fitzpatrick, told Mediaweek after the survey one results, the brand’s dive show is now “a pretty good story”.

The show ticked over a major milestone last week too – 1,000,034 listeners around Australia’s five metro markets.

“The show also had its equal strongest result in Melbourne and when you breakdown their timeslot they are #2 on 9.9% to Nova’s 9.6%.”

Triple M is hoping the new numbers hold as the year progresses as survey one has a reputation for being, um, different. “At the start of the year a lot of people try new shows and people punch around the stations sampling other programs. This is probably the most competitive drive market I’ve ever heard. There is lots of great talent – Kate, Tim and Marty is obviously an excellent show and Hughesy and Kate also, and they have so much heritage. There is an audience that is just finding Mick and Jane so I think there is room to grow.”

Fitzpatrick said there had not been any specific changes to the content at the start of 2019. “They are just doing more of what they do best, it is just that people are sampling their show for the first time.

“We have also had a strong marketing campaign in every market for the first book. That continues in survey two and we have consistent strong marketing out of the blocks with the great Top Gun campaign. The Fleetwood Mac campaign is very timely.”

Triple M is keeping the message very simple – two radio greats having some fun. “Mick is one of the most recognisable radio performers and entertainers in Australia. People who are seeing Jane for the first time are remembering her. She hasn’t done a lot of onscreen content for some time apart from her work on Have You Been Paying Attention?”

Molloy has the persona of someone who bums along from gig to gig, but he is very invested in anything he does – from radio to his Seven program The Front Bar. Radio is a real passion.

“Mick is such a radio guy. He and Tony Martin invented the idea of entertainment radio in drive time in Australia. Up until Mick and Tony were on Fox, stations were only playing music in drive. He and Tony recognised the available audience, thinking, ‘Fuck…we don’t want to get up early. There has to be a way we could do a breakfast show in drive.’

“Out of that also came The Shebang and Hamish And Andy.

“Mick is very interested in the numbers and how the show is resonating with the audience. You can’t be a successful performer on radio and not care about the numbers. However he has been very realistic, saying during last year, ‘It will come.’ He is great self believer.”

Fitzy on Triple M’s east coast breakfast shows

The Hot Breakfast Melbourne

“Everybody knows Wil Anderson, but like when we put Eddie and Mick on, it took three years [for the audience to respond]. After we put Wil on it has taken people 16 months to realise Wil is on and connect with him.

“We have increased the amount of music on the show this year and added contests. When you tighten the show up people realise how funny it is. The show does two things – it connects you to the city and it gives you a great laugh.

“It’s a great result and all are pleased. Eddie and Wil aren’t happy to be #2 FM of course and they will continue to work until they are #1 again.”

The Big Breakfast Brisbane

Triple M might have lost top spot in the market, but to doubters who didn’t think the show was a regular contender, it remains a strong #2.

“Some people have expressed surprise that without Moonman the show has remained #2. I remind them he was only one third of the show. Don’t forget that Marto has been doing breakfast on Triple M for over 10 years and Robin is so well known and loved in the market. The program has strong bones and newcomer Nick Cody is such a great young comedian who’s star really is on the rise. He is very laconic – I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to suggest that he has connected really early with the audience. They have been really smart how they are using him. They grabbed the Townsville opportunity and he went to Townsville with a whole group of Brisbane comedians. He is loving being on radio for the first time and he sees this as a huge opportunity that he doesn’t want to let go.”

Moonman In The Morning

New executive producer Laura Bouchet has started on breakfast at Triple M Sydney.

“Laura has connected with the Sydney breakfast team really quickly. She is no nonsense and will be a very good executive producer for that show.”

Fitzpatrick admitted anything better than a 4% share for his first survey would be a good result. “To get 4.7% I was happy. There was a lot of the core audience who were there because of Matty Johns and football. They may have sampled the new show and found it not to their liking and they will drift away. Many of them should come back because there is not really anywhere else for them to go. Some of them may go to Macquarie Sports Radio in which case they probably shouldn’t have been on Triple M anyway.”

Fitzpatrick said there could well be some more up and down movement before the Sydney Triple M breakfast audience settles.

Fitzy also mentioned the “sensational” survey result from Mix 94.5 in Perth and the growth in breakfast at 5MMM Adelaide.

Read more about those results here:

Adelaide: Nova and Mix the biggest movers, Cruise & Fiveaa dip
Perth: Mix 94.5 only station up with Clairsy, Matt & Kymba back on top

By James Manning

Guardian Australia editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor told Mediaweek it faces the same challenges as other publishers. “Everyone is facing the same issues in terms of online advertising. The Nine-Fairfax merger means we are competing in an ad market against a couple of really big players. That means our expansion is important to us, we want to be big enough to compete in this market as an Australian business.”

Despite those challenges, the publisher will make a profit for a second successive year and is planning expansion.

Guardian Australia has joint income streams with advertising and reader contributions significant to the business model.

Taylor explained: “Reader revenue for Guardian Australia is over 40% of total revenue and increasing quickly. We imagine within the next three years reader contributions will probably account for 50% of our revenue.”

Regarding what moves the ACCC could consider, Taylor explained Guardian Australia has several recommendations. “The most important one for us would be changing the tax act so we could get DGR (deductible gift recipient) status in our own right. At the moment we accept philanthropic donations, in order to get DGR status for those donations we have set up a sub fund through the University of Melbourne and we have a collaboration with them where we help them educate journalism students – we take interns and give lectures.

“We don’t know how big a part of our activity philanthropy might be, but in the United States it is quite important in funding journalism.

“As we go through a transition as we figure out the model, it is quite important for us.

“We are interested to see how the debate goes where people flesh out the idea of tax credits – similar to the way they work in the film industry. We think it is an interesting idea and worth having a look at.

“Also the idea of tax deductibility for donations or GST zero rating for donations would be of assistance.

“We are keen to have a better look at all those ideas.

“We are less keen on the idea of direct government funding or expanding the regional small publisher’s fund. Our experience when that fund was set up was that it was a totally politicised process and we think that is likely to be the case no matter who is in government.

“There are inherent independence dangers in direct government funding. If there were a fund we would probably apply to it. We think it would be better if the ACCC recommended that there was more arms lengths ways of giving assistance to journalism.”

About recent initiatives to fund new journalism from Judith Neilson and also Eric Beecher with John B Fairfax, Taylor said: “They are both good things. Eric Beecher has convinced his backers to put some more money into his business. Good on him, if there is more journalism, that is fine.

“We have applied to the Judith Neilson fund to ask them to consider a project we would like to do. Hopefully that happens and that is a hugely positive thing.

“You can’t stake the future of public interest journalism on philanthropy because by definition you are not sure if it is going to continue. That doesn’t mean philanthropy isn’t to be encouraged and isn’t a terrific thing. It absolutely is.”

Taylor said what actually happens following any ACCC findings could rest on the outcome of the election. “Everyone can see there is an issue with journalism at the moment. I would imagine any incoming government would consider a review that has been undertaken with this amount of consultation and this amount of consideration.”

Guardian Australia’s ACCC submission includes a summary of how the business is progressing in Australia. It maintains an overall staff over 70 with 40 of them in editorial. “We will also be expanding that quite considerably in the not to distant future,” Taylor told Mediaweek.

“We made a profit last year and will make a profit again this year and that profit gets re-invested into the Australian business.

“Our readership is increasing quite quickly and financially it is going pretty well.”

Summary of Guardian Australia’s submission to the ACCC digital platforms inquiry:

• Guardian News & Media Australia (GNMA) welcomes the ACCC’s focus on mechanisms to maintain the incentives on print/online news media businesses to invest in news and journalism, particularly those types of news and journalism which may be at risk of being under-produced”.
• GNMA believes that there are more effective ways to support journalism than through the Regional and Small Publishers’ Jobs and Innovation Package.
• GNMA welcomes the proposal to focus on tax offsets as the method for enabling independent media businesses to retain revenues for reinvestment in more civic journalism, written by and for Australians.

GNMA believes that the primary focus for the ACCC review should be on supporting a plurality of independent, commercial, high-quality news publishers that hold views across the political spectrum. Mechanism to increase investment in civic journalism should prioritise the creation of an efficient system of taxation and tax reliefs and the allowance of philanthropic funding to fund elements of that civic journalism.

• The zero-rating of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• The creation of a philanthropic fund for civic journalism
• The development of a civic journalism tax relief

By James Manning

Nine’s NRL year reports growth for round one start

Nine has reported small FTA growth for its live coverage of the first NRL match of the season last Thursday.

The NRL figures for round one are:

Thursday

Storm v Broncos 1,183,000

• Nine: 849,000 (Metro 524,000, Regional 325,000)
• Fox League: 334,000

Friday

Roosters v Rabbitohs 955,000

• Nine: 703,000 (Metro 436,000, Regional 267,000)
• Fox League: 252,000

Saturday (all on Fox League only)

• Warriors v Bulldogs 181,000
• Tigers v Manly 262,000
• Cowboys v Dragons 278,000

Sunday

Panthers v Eels 714,000

• Nine 481,000 (Metro 305,000, Regional 176,000)
• Fox League 233,000
• Titans v Raiders 244,000 (Fox League only)

Australian Grand Prix: Live crowd and TV audience grows

10’s coverage of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix covered three days across 10 Bold and 10 with the race late on Sunday afternoon pulling the channel’s biggest overnight TV audience since the finale of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!

The event organisers also reported record crowds at the Albert Park track across the weekend.

The race didn’t have too much action for Daniel Ricciardo fans as he damaged his new Renault car badly just seconds after starting and then retired after a few laps.

The race audience was 964,000 nationally with a peak of 1.14m. The metro audience was 689,000 with 10 able to report its under 50 audience watching was up 8% on the 2018 Australian GP.

10 also reports the race was #1 in its timeslot across the capital cities, #4 program on Sunday in under 50s and all key demos plus it was #6 program on Sunday.

Triple M Football focusing on footy timeslots around network

Triple M won’t be featuring as much football talk on its breakfast shows as it has done in the past.

Triple M’s national head of content Mike Fitzpatrick told Mediaweek:

“There is less of a focus on football on Triple M breakfast in Sydney. We have MG’s sports show at 6pm nightly, but football will be confined to football timeslots.

“We will touch on it [in breakfast] when there is a big issue, but we really don’t want to drive football through the program. Our audience was telling us they’d had enough. They want to hear the footy when it is on, they don’t want to hear it all the time.

“That is the same in Melbourne too. The audience loves AFL, but they don’t want it non-stop. You only have to look at the sports stations ratings to see that non-stop AFL doesn’t work.

“We really need to have a balance of entertainment, connecting with the community and talking about football.”

Fitzgerald also noted there were no major team changes to the Triple M footy teams this year. However he did note former Demon Bernie Vince is joining the Triple M team in Adelaide.

Comedian Lawrence Mooney will host Up The Guts, the new late night Friday show on Fox Footy. The “comedy genius” will bring the laughs in the post-game live television show which will feature a live studio audience, following on from Friday Night Footy.

“Any AFL fan knows exactly what Up The Guts means – I’m wondering what the rest of the world imagines this show is about,” Mooney said when announcing the new show name.

Fellow comedian and Nova 100 Melbourne breakfast anchor Dean Thomas will contribute to the laughs, with a revolving third guest to join Mooney each week.

For the first time, Fox Footy will produce 46 games for Foxtel throughout the 2019 season in 4K Ultra HD.

For AFL fans the 4K Ultra HD revolution kicks off on Saturday March 23 as Melbourne host Port Adelaide at the MCG; and then on Sunday, March 24 St Kilda play the Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium.

Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson

Newcomers turned television pundits Nick Riewoldt and Bob Murphy will continue to dominate on Wednesday nights after impressing AFL 360 hosts Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson in 2018 during their first year.

Bob Murphy

In 2019, AFL 360 will also welcome Collingwood young gun Adam Treloar to the Players Night team alongside Tiger Jack Riewoldt and Demon Jordan Lewis.

On The Couch returns on Mondays after AFL 360 with its star-studded team lead by Gerard Healy and Garry Lyon. Jonathan Brown and Paul Roos complete the team and are looking forward to dissecting the weekend’s games and the week of footy ahead.

Mike Sheahan returns for another season of Open Mike on Tuesday evenings. The doyen of footy media kicks-off his season with a conversation with Australian broadcast icon Sandy Roberts, who this year retired from television commentary following a distinguished career spanning 46 years.

Mid-year, Sheahan hands the interview-baton over to Bob Murphy, who will tackle his second season of Bob. The former Western Bulldogs captain chats with his former State of Origin teammate Brendan Fevola for a captivating first episode, before Sheahan returns in July to cap off the season.

In 2019 On The Mark will continue to provide a different look at footy and those close to the game with in-depth, revealing interviews. Sarah Jones will host the discussion program focusing on the personal side of the game.

Comedian Dave Thornton is back to host Australia’s number one comedy footy quiz show, The Beep Test, alongside fellow team captain Lawrence Mooney. The half hour of footy trivia, nostalgia and entertainment, will showcase the game’s most famous fans as they compete to take home the Robbo Cup each Sunday night.

Hosted by Dermott Brereton and Brad Johnson, Saturday Stretch welcomes Sarah Olle to the Saturday night team. The trio will provide the best wrap of the biggest day in footy. The program will feature discussion around the biggest talking points from up to five games every Saturday and live crosses to the evening games, media conferences, and interviews to keep viewers up-to-date.

Jason Dunstall will help round-out the weekend of footy with family-favourite Bounce. Danny Frawley, Cameron Mooney, AFLW debutant Sharni Layton and Andrew Gaze will bring the belly laughs as they showcase their physical and mental abilities in the popular Yesterday’s Heroes segment.

Head of Fox Sports Peter Campbell said: “Just like every AFL team we’ve being working hard over the summer to be match fit for when the season finally kicks off this Thursday. And just like the players, all of us at Fox Footy and Foxtel are filled with anticipation, excitement and expectation of the season ahead and what is about to unfold.

“Foxtel is also excited to be broadcast for the first time 46 games during the 2019 premiership season in 4K Ultra HD, providing AFL fans with a compelling proposition to watch games like never before.”

Fox Footy’s commentary team includes Eddie McGuire, Jonathan Brown, Jason Dunstall, Dermott Brereton, David King, Paul Roos, Brad Johnson, Garry Lyon, Nick Riewoldt, Bob Murphy, Kelli Underwood, Alastair Lynch, Gerard Healy, Dwayne Russell, Mark Ricciuto, Cameron Mooney, Nick Dal Santo, Ben Dixon, Anthony Hudson, Sarah Jones, Neroli Meadows, Jon Ralph, Katherine Loughnan and Sarah Olle.

Fox Footy schedule

MONDAY

• AFL Tonight 7pm
• AFL 360 at 7.30pm
• On The Couch at 8.30pm

TUESDAY

• AFL Tonight 7pm
• AFL 360 at 7.30pm
• Open Mike at 8.30pm (Mar-May and Jul-Sep), Bob at 8.30pm (May to Jul)

WEDNESDAY

• AFL Tonight (Selection Night) 7pm
• AFL 360 at 7.30pm
• On The Mark at 8.30pm (begins 1st May)

THURSDAY

• AFL Tonight at 7pm
• AFL 360 at 7.30pm
• Thursday Night Footy on FOX (game)

FRIDAY

• Friday Night Footy on FOX (game)
• Up The Guts (after the footy)

SATURDAY

• Super Saturday (games)
• Saturday Stretch (after the footy)

SUNDAY

• Sunday Footy on FOX (games)
• Bounce (after the footy)
• The Beep Test (after Bounce)

Debuting at the start of the 2018 season, Armchair Experts went live on 7AFL Twitter on Friday nights, with a pre-show looking at the game ahead and the week that was, a half-time show, and a post-match review show.

The show is hosted by AFL superfan and sports radio host Cameron Luke, and former AFL star and Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney.

This year Seven is promising the show returns bigger and better than ever before, and for the first time all shows will be available to watch on demand on 7plus and though the 7Sport app.

Seven has secured its first commercial partners for the format, with PointsBet signing on for the 2019 AFL Premiership Season.

Seven is also alerting commercial partners that they have the opportunity to integrate within the show, including creating bespoke segments, product placement, or filming off-site at a client activation site.

Pre-rolls can be inserted before the live show plays on Twitter, and the integrated segment can be extracted and extended beyond the live show using Twitter Amplify, which allows for a pre-roll insertion before video content plays on the platform.

A halftime show will be delivered on Instagram this year and all shows will be also later available on demand on Facebook after the program ends.

Saul Shtein, head of sport at Seven, said: “Having identified a gap in the market for an AFL social show, we launched Armchair Experts at the start of last season and it’s safe to say it spectacularly exceeded our expectations.

“This type of show allows Seven to experiment with different styles of content, giving the 7AFL audience another angle on the footy. It also offers new and exciting integration opportunities for our commercial partners, meaning everyone wins.

“The show went from strength to strength last year, and we’re looking forward to seeing Adam and Cam back on their sofa. We’re even sending them on location from time to time this season!”

Angus Keene, head of revenue partnerships, Twitter Australia said: “Twitter has always been the go-to platform for AFL fans to join the online conversation, debate and celebrate with other fans. Today, it’s also become the place for in the moment video highlights, post-game wrap ups and now, with Armchair Experts, a Twitter exclusive live show.

“The partnership with Seven gives our advertisers another opportunity to reach a passionate AFL audience when they’re most receptive during games. Importantly, it also provides Seven with another channel to monetise their AFL content, increase its reach and innovate with new formats like Armchair Experts.”

James Bayes, Seven’s network digital sales director, said: “Armchair Experts provides our partners a great new way to reach a very passionate AFL audience more directly than previously possible. We’re thrilled to welcome PointsBet to the team this year as our first sponsor, demonstrating the huge potential for Armchair Experts.

“We’re committed to ongoing innovation in the way we connect brands to audiences through Australia’s largest sport. The 2019 AFL Premiership Season is shaping up to be bigger than ever and we’re thrilled to bring it to audiences in new ways across platforms.”

Armchair Experts returns to 7AFL Twitter throughout the 2019 AFL Premiership Season, and the first game of the 2019 AFL Premiership Season takes place this Thursday, 21 March, at 7.20 pm AEDT, live on Seven.

Nine has confirmed Hawthorn tragic and comedian Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann, sports journalist and commentator Neroli Meadows from Fox Footy, former AFL superstar and radio host Brendan Fevola and Paralympian Dylan Alcott will head up the panel for Australia’s longest running live footy entertainment show in 2019.

They will be joined by the Hawthorn premiership star and Brownlow Medallist Shane Crawford, whose new role will see him visiting the local clubs and community heartlands.

The program will be again be produced for Nine by Eddie McGuire’s JAM TV. Executive Producers for Jam are McGuire’s former Triple breakfast EP Jay Mueller and another Triple M alumni Luke Tunnecliffe. Executive producer for Nine is Anthony Watt (formerly of Spicks & Specks).

Host Lehmo said: “The Footy Show is an institution and it’s a great honour to be taking the hosting chair. As a passionate footy fan, I’m itching for the season to start and can’t wait to work with this incredible lineup. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

This week, 2018 breakout star, Collingwood’s Mason Cox, will be on the panel along with veteran Hawthorn player Shaun Burgoyne.

NRL champion Billy Slater will also visit to chat about his new gig with St Kilda, where he is playing a pivotal role in their leadership and development programs.

Essendon premiership player and three-time Coleman Medallist Matthew Lloyd will bring his extensive football knowledge as he previews all the Round One action.

Entertainment will be provided by ARC – comprising Powderfinger’s Darren Middleton, Jet’s Mark Wilson, You Am I’s Davey Lane and Spiderbait’s Kram – who will perform for viewers ahead of their upcoming Abbey Road Tribute Tour.

Melbourne football journalist, podcaster and Nine contributor Caroline Wilson mentioned last week the new Footy Show format could be borrowing elements from Graham Norton’s successful weekly TV talk show.

Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon were honoured for their work in 2018 that culminated in the recent revelation that gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo was a secret police informer who betrayed many of her clients.

The award was presented at the Melbourne Press Club’s annual Quill Awards dinner in Melbourne on Friday 15 March 2019.

The judges said of the winning work: “Anthony Dowsley’s dogged five-year pursuit of truth and public interest to reveal lawyer Nicola Gobbo’s secret double life as a police informer who helped convict many of her own clients exemplifies the very best of modern-day journalism. It was a blockbuster scoop.

“Dowsley’s work with Patrick Carlyon uncovered gross misconduct the consequences of which will reverberate throughout Victoria’s criminal justice system for years to come and could yet see some of the state’s most notorious underworld figures freed from prison.

“The journalists’ tenacity helped overcome many often expensive legal obstacles before they laid out a complex trail of deceit in an engrossing and powerful narrative.”

Dowsley was also named the 2018 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year at the dinner for his work on Lawyer X and new revelations about the Silk-Miller police murders.

The Gold Quill carries a $7,500 prize supported by the Melbourne Press Club’s Principal Sponsors Virgin Australia and Monash University.

A total of 28 individual Quills were awarded to recognise the best journalism of 2018 in print, television, radio and online.

All the 2018 Quill Award winners:

Matthew Absalom-Wong won the 2018 Artwork Quill for work in The Age

The Herald Sun/Sunday Herald Sun Team won the 2018 Breaking News Coverage Quill for their coverage of the Bourke Street attack

David Stringer, Kit Chellel and Franz Wild of Bloomberg Businessweek won the 2018 Business Feature Quill for ‘When Rio Tinto Met China’s Iron Hand’

Adele Ferguson, Lesley Robinson, Nassim Khadem & Lucy Carter won the 2018 Business News Quill for Mongrel Bunch of Bastards

Matt Golding of The Age won the 2018 Cartoon Quill for ‘Stab … Stability’

• Anthony Dowsley, Patrick Carlyon & Chris Tinkler of the Herald Sun have won the 2018 Coverage of an Issue or Event Quill
• Melissa Fyfe won the 2018 Feature Writing Quill for Get Cliterate
• Justin McManus won the 2018 Features Photograph Quill for ‘The Last Swaggie’, published in The Sunday Age.
• Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon won the 2018 Grant Hattam Quill
• Calla Wahlquist, Lorena Allam, Jack Banister & Nick Evershed won the 2018 Innovation Quill
• Barrie Cassidy won the 2018 Keith Dunstan Quill for Commentary
• Alex Coppel of the Herald Sun won the 2018 News Photograph Quill
• Andrea Hamblin of the Herald Sun won the 2018 News Report in Writing Quill
• Richard Baker, Rachael Dexter, Greg Muller and Tim Young won the 2018 Podcasting Quill
• Timna Jacks and Rachael Dexter of The Age won the 2018 RACV Transport Quill
• Jane Lee won the 2018 Radio Journalism (Long Form) Quill for her investigation into the murder of Jeremy Hu
• Amy Bainbridge, Rachael Brown & Naomi Selvaratnam of ABC Radio AM won the 2018 Radio Journalism (Short Form) Quill for ‘Insurance Industry Reports’.
• Tyla Harrington of the Riverine Herald won the 2018 Regional and Rural Journalism Quill
• Michael Gleeson of The Age won the 2018 Sports Feature Quill
• Leo Schlink of the Herald Sun won the 2018 Sports News Quill
• Getty Images photographer Michael Dodge won the 2018 Sports Photograph Quill for ‘Caught Red Handed’
• Jordy Atkinson of Port Phillip Leader won the 2018 Suburban Journalism Quill
• Jacqui Peake, Billy Lim, Martin Elliott & Warwick Ferguson won the 2018 TAC Towards Zero Quill for Road Safety Reporting
• Louise Milligan, Mary Fallon, Sashka Koloff & Lucy Carter of ABC Four Corners won the 2018 TV/Video Feature (Long Form) Quill
• Tineka Everaardt of Nine Network’s A Current Affair won the 2018 TV/Video Feature (Short Form) Quill for ‘Inside Court’
• Melina Sarris, Jackie Quist & Damian Shine of Seven News won the 2018 TV/Video News Quill
• Samantha Lane of The Age has won the inaugural VicHealth Quill for Coverage of Women in Sport
• Rachael Lucas of ABC Gippsland won the 2018 Victorian Government Quill for Reporting on Disability Issues
• Matilda Marozzi of ABC is the 2018 Young Journalist of the Year
• Peter Bateman of Monash University won the 2018 Student Journalist of the Year award
• Barrie Cassidy was named the Melbourne Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award for a career in journalism spanning over fifty years. Cassidy gave a heartfelt speech, praised the ABC Insiders team from its earliest days to the current generation, advocated for a more compassionate journalism and announced that he would be retiring in June next year after the next election.
• Anthony Dowsley as named the 2018 Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year.

By James Manning

The arrival of the NRL on Thursday and Friday nights helped extend Nine’s winning streak to six consecutive nights this week with Nine only failing to win Saturday.

Nine had its second-best week of the year and its best survey week with a primary share of 24.0%. The only other better result was the second week of the Australian Open when Nine ended with a primary share of 27.1%.

The week 11 result extended Nine’s winning streak to nine weeks.

Nine’s best was, of course, Married At First Sight, with all four episodes again way ahead of all other programs. The Wednesday dinner party episode performed best with 1.404m. Nine News was next, then followed by Travel Guides and A Current Affair.

60 Minutes made the top 20 for the week, but its audience was down to 704,000 from 815,000 a week prior.

Seven was able to take first place on Saturday, but it should be more competitive in week 12 with AFL on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in primetime.

Seven’s primary share of 19.3% was its equal lowest of the past nine weeks.

Seven’s best was Seven News and then its four episodes of My Kitchen Rules. The Monday episode performed best with 761,000.

Home And Away was next best, but its weekly average was under 600,000.

ABC’s primary share of 12.5% was down week-on-week, but share hasn’t wavered much in the past six weeks.

The channel’s best was Saturday night’s Death In Paradise with 717,000. Then followed ABC News, Hard Quiz, Four Corners and Vera.

10’s primary channel had is lowest survey share this year with only week 10 so far this year seeing the channel reach double figures.

Gogglebox was again 10’s most-watched program with 649,000 followed by Dancing With The Stars on 526,000.

At SBS, Australia In Colour performed strongest for a second successive week with close to 350,000. That was followed by Secrets Of The Tudors, Michael Portillo’s Abandoned Britain, Insight, London’s Super Tunnel and then the returning Dateline.

The game plays to the series’ strengths, with fluid, versatile combat that encourages players to be as stylish as possible, executing combos flawlessly in the pursuit of higher rankings. With three playable characters – including one that only engages enemies directly to finish them off, instead sending familiars to fight for him – and a huge array of skills to unlock and master, Devil May Cry 5 is a welcome return.

Elsewhere, Far Cry New Dawn and Red Dead Redemption II continue to sell well, while Dirt Rally 2.0 and The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame have dropped out entirely after making brief appearances last week. The key story to note this week, however, is that after two weeks at the top, Anthem has now dropped down to fourth place. It will be interesting to see whether it can maintain a place in the retail top ten for any length of time given how negative the general sentiment around the game is right now. Of course, this being gaming in 2019, BioWare will be making significant changes to Anthem over the next few months, and it will no doubt be whipped into some kind of shape eventually.

Singles

After a return to the top 10 at #5 last week with Sucker, the reformed Jonas Brothers have surged all the way to #1 as Shallow falls to #5. Sucker is their biggest hit and first #1 in Australia. The comeback has been a big success globally with the tune entering the US chart at #1, their first chart topper in their home market, which comes 12 years after they first charted there.

The week’s other big mover in the top 10 was Post Malone’s Wow, which leapt from #6 to #2, a new peak for the song that has been charting for 11 weeks. The tune is now available in a new remix, which could help prolong its stay near the top.

The only track new to the top 10 this week is 3 Nights from Dominic Fike, which moved from #12 to #9, also after charting for 11 weeks. The 23-year-old Fike is being referred to as the “$4m man” by some which is a reference to the reputed worth of his Columbia Records recording contract.

The biggest mover outside the top 50 was Billie Eilish with Wish You Were Gay surging from #57 to #12 in its second week. The song is the fourth track to chart from her forthcoming debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (due in the last week of March). Eilish and her music have been getting endorsements from people like Dave Grohl and Alicia Keys recently. Eilish’s biggest chart hit so far is February’s Bury A Friend, which peaked at #3 and is still on the chart at #11 after six weeks.

The sole top 50 entry on debut was Khalid with My Bad at #30, a track from his second album which is due in the first week of April. The US singer/songwriter remains in the top 10 with Talk at #8 after five weeks.

Albums

Ariana Grande hangs on to top spot for a fourth week, which as ARIA points out, gives this album more weeks at #1 than the combined time at the top for her three previous chart toppers. Grande performed her new song Needy, an album track, at the iHeartRadio Music Awards last week.

Just missing top spot is prolific Sydney rapper Kerser whose eighth album Lifestyle charged onto the chart at #2. This is his highest chart position after previous albums peaked at #5 (Engraved In The Game 2017) and #4 (Tradition 2016).

Another rapper making a make in the top 10 this week is Juice WRLD with his second album Death Race For Love. This is his ARIA Album Chart debut and the release features his single Robbery, which sits at #41 this week after four weeks on the Singles Chart.

Four other albums debuted top 50 this week:

#11 Foals with Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1. The Fifth album from the Oxford rock band previously at #1 with Holy Fire in 2013. Part 2 of Everything is due for release in September.
#14 Dido with Still On My Mind. Also the fifth album for the UK singer/songwriter and her first album since 2013. Dido had #1 albums in 2001 (No Angel) and 2003 (Life For Rent).
#15 Stella Donnelly with Beware Of The Dogs. The debut album from the Perth singer/songwriter after the EP Thrush Metal in 2017. Donnelly is on a world tour at present (Rough Trade in Brooklyn tonight), which ends in the UK in early May before it reignites with an ambitious schedule in early July.
#29 Maren Morris with Girl. Another album number five this week – this time from the US country singer/songwriter which is her biggest hit here. Her only other album to chart with ARIA was Hero, which peaked at #69 in 2016.

Sunday: Week 12 2019

• Nine News 1,030,000
• Seven News 945,000
• ABC News 756,000
• The Project 343,000/334,000
• Insiders 289,000
• 10 News First 241,000
• Offsiders 156,000
• SBS World News 141,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 273,000
• Today 204,000

Seven

Seven News was in second spot last night with Nine’s 6pm bulletin benefitting from a football lead-in in some markets. That’s a shot in the arm Seven will also get next Sunday afternoon.

My Kitchen Rules featured cooking in the open house again last night with the lowest score to date. The berry cheesecake served for dessert was the problem with scores of just 4 out of 10 from judges Pete and Manu. The show started the week on 723,000 after Sunday last week did 732,000.

Seven’s Sunday Night then did 417,000 after 426,000 a week ago.

Nine

As we power through the last half of March heading for the pre-Easter Married At First Sight climax, the show continues to keep the audience in a state of anticipation. Last night’s commitment episode on 1.476m was the second biggest MAFS audience yet after 1.659m on Sunday three weeks ago. The BVOD numbers continue to grow with a total of 26 episodes boasting audiences of 300,000+.

60 Minutes followed with 689,000 which was marginally down on last week’s 704,000.

10

The channel’s biggest Sunday audience came during its coverage of the Australian Grand Prix with 689,000 watching the race and then 565,000 watching the post-race coverage. Last year the numbers were 663,000 for the race, which means YOY growth of 4%.

10 broadcast its own race coverage this year with Matt White and Mark Webber calling the action. Webber worked hard for his money – he worked the paddock and the grid pre-race, he then called the F1, hosted post-race interviews on the podium and then quickly jumped into The Sunday Project’s on-track set to be the show’s first guest.

The Sunday Project moved to 6pm for one night only with an audience of 343,000 at 6pm and then 334,000 at 6.30pm. The Sunday Project did 278,000 at 7pm a week ago.

A new timeslot too for Sunday Night Takeaway, with 279,000 average after 7pm. That is up slightly from 261,000, and is possibly the first bit of ratings good news since the format launched last month.

Hughesy, We Have A Problem then did 294,000 which was up 37% on last Sunday’s numbers.

ABC

A new season of Restoration Australia might have trouble maintaining its quality after the first episode looking at a post-modern resurrection in Perth. If all episodes are this good it will be a cracker of a series from Fremantle. The series has returned with 533,000.

The third of the four new episodes of Vera in this season then did 632,000 after 605,000 last week.

SBS

SBS World News had the channel’s biggest audience with 141,000 in the hour after 6.30pm.

A doco on building a poo tube got the 7.30pm slot as The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer attracted 133,000. The show came complete with graphics showing how the effluent, coloured brown, flowed through the system.

The 8.30pm feature doco John And Yoko: Above Us Only Sky did 115,000.