Thursday March 29, 2018
Steady evolution pushes ratings higher at market leader: Sue Carter on Mix 102.3
Carter told Mediaweek there hadn’t been any big changes in particular, but she said there has steady evolution at the ARN station.
“A station can’t stay the same and needs to move with the times. If you don’t evolve you stay still and that means you probably won’t be the leader.”
As to the recent ratings surge across all dayparts, Carter thinks it is the combination of a number of factors. “The radio station has a broad format – it’s got great heritage in the city with a long-serving breakfast show. We spend a lot of time making sure the content on breakfast has broad appeal. We try to make sure the music has broad appeal and, to put it simply, it plays the old stuff and the new stuff.”
• Adelaide radio stars Jodie and Soda share secrets of breakfast success
Carter has worked around the world and when she arrived in Adelaide she realised how much the people of the city loved Mix 102.3. “It is one of those stations that constantly amazes you at the number of places you hear it being played. And you are constantly amazed by the number of people who know who Jodie and Soda are. There is a real affinity and a real love for the station.”
Mix 102.3’s Jodie & Soda
In addition to breakfast, the rest of the station is performing well too. Even the new KIIS networked drive show with Will and Woody has found an audience soon after launch. “Mix is a feelgood radio station and their show is fun. Although I am commenting on just one survey, it does appear the show is resonating and Adelaide is liking it a lot.
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This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here, or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.
Champion swimmer Stephanie Rice helps launch News Corp Comm Games pin collection
Australia’s aspiring swim stars have today joined Commonwealth Games gold medallist Stephanie Rice, Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) chairman Peter Beattie and Gold Coast Bulletin editor Ben English, along with official Games mascot Borobi, at the Somerset College Swimming Pool on the Gold Coast to launch News Corp Australia’s Official 2018 Commonwealth Games Pin Collection.
The official Commonwealth Games Pin Collection – which will be available with News Corp newspapers nationally from April 4 – features five pins, each showcasing Borobi playing a different sport: swimming, gymnastics, cycling, athletics and netball.
Gold Coast Bulletin editor Ben English said collecting the pins was a great way for Aussie kids to get involved in the Games and support their sporting idols.
GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie, Stephanie Rice and Gold Coast Bulletin Editor Ben English launch the Comm Games Pins (credit: News Corp Australia)
He said this year marked the first time in the history of a major multisport event that an equal number of medal events for men and women would be held.
“Our pin collection features five of the most high-profile sports and, in part, is a nod to women’s sporting achievements,” he said.
“These are among the highest participation and most popular sports played by women and girls across Australia, so it’s fitting that we’ve assembled a group of gun girls and boys to meet Steph, one of the nation’s most celebrated female swimmers who won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2009.”
The pin collection has been endorsed by and produced in partnership with GOLDOC, whose motto for these Games is “Greater Together”.
Representing Swimming Australia, Stephanie Rice encouraged all children to collect the Commonwealth Games pins and to get behind an amazing team of local athletes.
Rice – who won gold at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games – predicted women’s efforts at the upcoming Games would captivate the nation.
“I remember how exciting it was to compete in front of a home crowd at my first Comm Games,” Rice said.
There are 22 participating newspapers in the official Commonwealth Games Pin Collection including The Courier-Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Advertiser, the Herald Sun, Gold Coast Bulletin, Townsville Bulletin, Cairns Post and Geelong Advertiser.
The campaign is being supported by print and digital advertising across all participating mastheads, together with a social media and PR campaign.
The first pin and a free collector’s card will launch on Wednesday April 4 with five pins for readers to collect in total. Readers can collect each pin for $2 with purchase of any participating newspaper.
Each pin features Borobi, the very proud, energetic koala and the official mascot of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The first pin on Day 1 encapsulates the Games’ spirit with Borobi encouraging collectors to Share the Dream.
Subsequent pins focus on key sports: Day 2 reflects swimming, Day 3 is gymnastics, Day 4 cycling and Day 5 is athletics. The Gold Coast Bulletin will be offering an additional sixth pin featuring netball.
Easter reading: Magazine rack with Elle, Who and Gourmet Traveller
Elle magazine’s order-your-own cover
In its latest publishing innovation that was revealed earlier this week, Bauer Media’s has launched the first ever print-on-demand cover for the May 2018 issue of Elle, with five collector’s edition covers available for pre-order now.
For the first time in Australia, a series of covers have been produced showcasing five young female stars of 2018. The #ElleRiseUp edition reflects Bauer Media’s Female Futures company purpose by celebrating talented women who are standouts in their fields of TV, music, film, sport and fashion.
Those women are singer/songwriter Amy Shark, AFLW player Darcy Vescio, model Victoria Lee and actresses Katherine Langford and Danielle Macdonald.
When Mediaweek asked Elle editor Justine Cullen about which cover might be the most popular, she replied: “I just don’t know. If we could work that out we would be better than any magazine editors anywhere. There are lots of factors to consider from the size of social followings to each person’s success in their chosen field.”
Elle usually needs 12 strong covers a year – with five different May covers it have increased its workload dramatically. Cullen noted they always have a list of different Elle cover possibilities for every edition, but they never get to dummy up all the possibilities before they make a choice.
Bauer’s online subscription portal Magshop is handling sales of the different covers and they are available from now until April 10. The editions cost $8.50 including delivery.
In the meantime Cullen told Mediaweek to look out for the April edition of the magazine, which is on sale Monday April 2, with a cover star yet to be revealed!
Gourmet Traveller website revamp
Mediaweek also carried the announcement of the new-look Gourmet Traveller website this week. We road-tested the new website and found plenty of welcome diversions and food, wine and travel information.
Content added in the past few days included a new wave of bright, lower-alcohol red wines, Guillaume Brahimi’s guide to every aspect of hosting your very own French dinner party, and ideas for long-weekend getaways, which make sense for people in the next month or two if they want to avoid the Easter holiday crowds.
There is also a “How I travel” profile of artist Patricia Piccinini, who reveals some of her suitcase essentials: “I always travel with a good cooking knife, my favourite green tea and a tea strainer. If you have a decent knife you can work around whatever crappy pots and pans you end up with, and if you have a strainer you can make decent tea in anything.”
Although there is plenty to entertain online, it’s still only a supplement to the great content the magazine provides. The Easter Gourmet Traveller edition is out now with a chocolate cake on the cover, a feature on river cruising in Russia and something very dear to our heart, a story about a quest to find the world’s best hot chocolate. We’d be happy just to track down the best in Sydney.
Who’s Beautiful People edition
Remember when the special Who Easter double issue Most Beautiful People edition was a big deal and the publisher even threw a big party to reveal some of the stars and the cover? (Maybe Pacific still has a party but we are no longer invited?)
Guess what – there still is a Beautiful People issue and it is out now with Rebecca Gibney on the cover sans makeup.
This year new editor Emma Nolan has delivered 100+ beautiful people and writes about footballer Sam Kerr in her editor’s letter.
Rebecca Gibney gets four pages inside the issue with photos by Peter Brew-Bevan and an interview with Tiffany Dunk.
There is another big feature, also coincidentally featuring Channel Seven stars, with five pages on Home and Away’s James Stewart and Sarah Roberts.
The Nine Network gets a look in though with two pages on The Voice coaches.
The issue also features the regular Who sections including their review pages and at 108 pages the double issue is great value at $4.99.
Also reading this Easter:
The Australian Women’s Weekly
Juliet Rieden spends time with Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull and Jenny Cooney interviews with Nicole Kidman.
Money
Editor Effie Zahos over-delivers every issue with more financial advice than you’ll probably ever need from a team of super-qualified specialists that still includes the brand’s chairman and chief commentator Paul Clitheroe. Former editor Pam Walkley’s real estate column and features are also well worth a read.
Easter listening: Mediaweek’s latest audio and our Good Podcast Guide
By James Manning
Mediaweek
After a quiet start to the year, Mediaweek has been busy in the studio this month and our latest two podcasts are with visiting BBC executives. Listen to the Mediaweek podcasts online here, or subscribe here.
• Jackie Lee-Joe, Chief Marketing Officer, BBC Worldwide
• Marketing masterclass: Jackie Lee-Joe, chief marketing officer, BBC Worldwide
Returning to her homeland for a short visit, Jackie Lee-Joe talks to Mediaweek’s James Manning about how the soon-to-be-rebranded BBC Worldwide is adapting to the changing landscape, using it as an opportunity to build its brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation. Our interview covers the BBC’s natural history brand BBC Earth (the home of Blue Planet) and how partnerships with Snap, Facebook messenger, Google Earth, Ten Cent and others have been important. Jackie also talks about her career in Australia before heading to the UK.
• Chris Davies, Marketing and Distribution Director, BBC Global News
An interesting discussion about how the news brand commercialises its product outside of the UK. Topics touched on include the multiplatfom BBC news offering and how big global events from the Trump election to the forthcoming royal wedding attract audiences and commercial partners. Is TV news one of the linear TV products not feeling the winds of change and how has “fake news” affected the BBC News brands?
Also new this month from Mediaweek:
• Nova Brisbane’s Susie O’Neill on Ash, Kip & Luttsy & Comm Games
• Two new Manning & Mercado podcasts with lots of Easter listening tips
• And don’t forget the series with Nova Entertainment – In Her Own Words: One-on-one interviews with Cath O’Connor, Claire Marshall, Melissa Doyle, Kate Murphy, Chrissie Swan, Tamie Williams, Jennifer Hansen and Nat Locke.
The Good Podcast Guide
Highly recommended podcasts for your listening pleasure.
• Tofop
Relax everybody – it’s Wil Anderson and his good friend and actor Charlie Clausen. The laughs start with the intro from John Deeks and continue through what is generally an hour of very casual conversation across myriad topics, personal and revealing anecdotes and bizarre hypothetical situations. Now part of the Planet Broadcasting network of programs.
• Howie Games
The very busy sports reporter and host for radio and TV Mark Howard is at home in most sports and he gets to display his passion and knowledge in this impressive podcast. There are now close to 50 different sports legends on this PodcastOne series with world champion F1 driver Lewis Hamilton the latest to grant Howie podcast time.
• Woman’s Day Uncensored
One of the newest podcasts on our list comes from a brand you may not expect a podcast from – Woman’s Day. However, the team at the Bauer weekly – lifestyle director Kristie Lau, editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly and associate editor Phil Koch – deliver an entertaining summary of the week’s news and go behind some of their stories. Of particular interest this week were the insights they offered on disgraced cricketer David Warner with whom the magazine has worked with on a number of stories. Although Warner is the big drawcard, listeners got to hear about Bachelor In Paradise first. Phil Koch keeps it real when he says, “I’d rather eat my own sick than watch The Bachelor,” and he admitted he lasted just seven minutes of the spinoff. The trio get around to David Warner halfway through the podcast.
The new Bauer Media podcast is part of a partnership with Whooshkaa that also sees the release of a Take 5 podcast.
• The Sounding Board
Crocmedia dabbled in podcasting with great success with this behind-the-scenes look at the sporting media with Damian Barrett and Craig Hutchison. They are already into season three and Barrett seems justifiably concerned that Hutchy might not be as candid as he once was now he is the CEO of a public company. It’s still a must-listen for sports fans, as is Hutchy’s Saturday morning radio show Off The Bench with Dr Turf and Liam Pickering. It is also available as a podcast.
• EFTM
Tech guru Trevor Long changed the format of his Your Tech Life podcast dramatically last year from a solo tech guide to a rollicking hour of hilarity with his friends and website colleagues Chris Bowen and Geoff Quattromani. The podcast was simply rebranded EFTM and is proudly un-PC at times.
• Don’t Shoot The Messenger
Amongst the expanding Crocmedia podcast catalogue is arguably the best they produce, and one of the most polished products available from any media company – Don’t Shoot The Messenger. Hosts and former colleagues at The Age and great friends Corrie Perkin and Caroline Wilson seamlessly merge the worlds of sport and the arts with a bit of cooking every week in this must-listen podcast. Don’t miss their special edition with Mike Sheahan and don’t be surprised if an enterprising broadcaster tries to get them together on air regularly.
• Hamish & Andy
With their recent retirement from radio, the drive radio legends continue to serve their global fan base with this new podcast series. It’s on the PodcastOne platform and doing great business judging by its regular ranking at or near the top of the iTunes podcast chart.
• Whateley
We did have a rule that no radio show podcasts would be allowed on this list, but we have broken that rule straight away by putting this new 1116 SEN morning show on the list. Getting to hear Gerard Whateley for three hours in the morning is challenging for many trying to hold down a day job! So this is the perfect way to catch up on what he’s up to. Whateley and his EP Jay Mueller have done excellent work covering the cricket cheating scandal including going on air on the Sunday the news broke.
• Two Guys One Cup
Featuring two podcasts from the prolific Wil Anderson/Charlie Clausen podcast factory might seem excessive, but for AFL fans this is a fun listen if you can manage it between the time they publish and the next round of AFL games each week.
Easter weekend TV: Pooches at Play season two launching on TEN
The series is hosted by TV Week Gold Logie Winner & AFI Award-winning actor Gyton Grantley and Lara Shannon, who is also the program’s executive producer. They are joined onscreen by their canine co-stars George and Darcy.
Guests in the second season include I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’s Julia Morris, Studio 10’s Ita Buttrose and Jono Coleman, Shark Tank’s Janine Ellis, entertainers Rhonda Burchmore and Tim Campbell, and comedian and radio host Richard Stubbs.
The brand-funded project builds on storylines and topics featured in season one, with each 8 x half hour episode of Pooches at Play examining products and services that dog owners and animal lovers need to know about.
Shannon told Mediaweek that insurer HIF was her first major partner on the show and it has returned for series two. PETstock is also on board this season as well as Big Dog Pet Foods, the National Dog Trainers Federation (NDTF) and TakeYourPet.com.au.
“It has been great to get the show up with some of the smaller pet brands and not the obvious bigger players. It is great to be working with Australian companies that are also very passionate about dogs as well.”
The season sits on tenplay after the initial broadcast and then sponsors and Shannon can also share the episodes on their online platforms.
Shannon produces the series in conjunction with production company The Rusty Cage.
The producers have been considering a move into New Zealand and there is also a possibility of looking at other international opportunities for the format.
Shannon is bullish about a third season with perhaps a July launch this year if all goes according to plan. That season might also see the introduction of some other animals – pooches and pals!
Gyton Grantley became involved after Shannon reached out via a mutual friend. “He was in the US at the time and he sent me a photo of his dog and all the reasons why he should be involved. He gave up his time for our ambitious pilot. When that wasn’t feasible we went back to basics and came up with the current format.”
Photo [L-R]: Resident Vet Dr Melissa Meehan and Co-hosts, Gyton Grantley & Lara Shannon
Pooches: Monty & Mia, George & Dynamite Darcy
Photo credit: Kerry Martin, Puppy Tales Photography
TV Ratings Analysis: Wednesday March 28
By James Manning
Seven
Home and Away delivered three episodes back-to-back and managed to keep the audience over 600,000.
Some markets then got the first episode of The Front Bar for the year with 219,000 across the three AFL metro markets and 153,000 in Melbourne.
The 2014 action movie Lucy starring Scarlett Johansson followed at different times across the network with 343,000.
Nine
A Current Affair was in the 700,000s for the third night this week.
RBT followed with 520,000.
Sydney and Brisbane then got the 2014 movie Transformers: Age Of Extinction with 106,000.
Other markets got the AFL Footy Show attracting 282,000 across three capitals with 205,000 in Melbourne.
TEN
Robert Plant and his interviewer Fitzy were the stars on The Project after 7pm. It must rank as one of the best things the former footballer and current Nova breakfast host has done on TV. There were too many career clips, yet Fitzy managed to push through a lot of questions in a short time. And when the clips were of classic Led Zeppelin performances you can’t complain too much. The show deserved much more than an audience of 426,000.
Bondi Rescue repeats ran after 7.30pm with an average audience of 479,000.
Graham Norton was on at 8.30pm with 378,000 watching stars from Will & Grace.
This Is Us then did 189,000.
ABC
Hard Quiz had the biggest non-news audience of the night with 672,000, which is its best audience this season.
Episode nine of Mad As Hell with Shaun Micallef then did 605,000, which is bang on the audience number for last week too.
Sando episode two then did 351,000 after launching with 418,000.
SBS
The first of three back-to-back nights of Michael Portillo in primetime saw a Great Continental Railway Journeys repeat on 256,000.
The final episode of Safe Harbour was a powerful piece of television that was seen by 159,000 metro viewers.
Week 13 TV: Wednesday (Easter Survey Break)
| WEDNESDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | Ten | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 13.1% | 7 | 19.1% | 9 | 18.0% | TEN | 11.4% | SBS One | 5.0% |
| ABC 2 | 3.1% | 7TWO | 5.4% | GO! | 3.1% | ONE | 2.9% | VICELAND | 0.8% |
| ABC ME | 0.7% | 7mate | 3.5% | GEM | 1.9% | ELEVEN | 2.7% | Food Net | 0.9% |
| ABC News | 1.9% | 7flix | 2.7% | 9Life | 3.5% | NITV | 0.4% | ||
| TOTAL | 18.8% | 30.6% | 26.4% | 17.0% | 7.1% | ||||
| WEDNESDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | Ten Affiliates | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 11.8% | 7 | 21.7% | 9 | 15.0% | WIN | 9.9% | SBS One | 4.1% |
| ABC 2 | 3.6% | 7TWO | 7.3% | GO! | 3.7% | ONE | 2.5% | VICELAND | 0.8% |
| ABC ME | 1.4% | 7mate | 3.2% | GEM | 3.0% | ELEVEN | 2.6% | Food Net | 1.4% |
| NEWS 24 | 1.9% | 7flix | 2.3% | 9Life | 3.3% | NITV | 0.3% | ||
| TOTAL | 18.7% | 34.5% | 25.0% | 15.0% | 6.6% | ||||
| WEDNESDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTA | STV | ||||||||
| 83.0% | 17.0% | ||||||||
Wednesday fta
- Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 874,000
- Seven News Seven 872,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 820,000
- Nine News Nine 798,000
- A Current Affair Nine 727,000
- ABC News ABC 711,000
- Hard Quiz ABC 672,000
- 7.30 ABC 607,000
- Home And Away Seven 606,000
- Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell ABC 605,000
- RBT Nine 520,000
- The Chase Australia Seven 516,000
- Bondi Rescue (R) Ten 479,000
- Hot Seat Nine 427,000
- The Project 7pm Ten 426,000
- Ten Eyewitness News First At Five Ten 392,000
- The Graham Norton Show Ten 378,000
- Sando ABC 351,000
- M- Lucy Seven 343,000
- The Chase Australia-5pm Seven 332,000
Demo top fives
16-39 Top 5
- Bondi Rescue (R) Ten 159,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 135,000
- Home And Away Seven 134,000
- The Project 7pm Ten 119,000
- Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 116,000
- 18-49 Top 5
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 228,000
- Bondi Rescue (R) Ten 226,000
- Home And Away Seven 203,000
- A Current Affair Nine 199,000
- Nine News Nine 196,000
25-54 Top 5
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 276,000
- Nine News Nine 247,000
- Bondi Rescue (R) Ten 245,000
- A Current Affair Nine 242,000
- Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 232,000
Wednesday multichannel
A Touch Of Frost-PM 7TWO 199,000
Octonauts ABCKIDS/COMEDY 184,000
Peppa Pig-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 181,000
Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 175,000
Hey Duggee-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 173,000
Peter Rabbit ABCKIDS/COMEDY 169,000
Go Jetters ABCKIDS/COMEDY 169,000
The Hive-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 167,000
Floogals-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 166,000
Pj Masks-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 164,000
Peppa Pig-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 162,000
Dot. ABCKIDS/COMEDY 161,000
Kazoops!-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 160,000
Fireman Sam-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 148,000
Flip Or Flop 9Life 147,000
The Justine Clarke Show!-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 147,000
Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures ABCKIDS/COMEDY 145,000
Luo Bao Bei-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 143,000
Flip Or Flop Tx1 9Life 141,000
Hoot Hoot Go!-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 140,000
Wednesday subscription tv
- Gogglebox Australia LifeStyle Channel 174,000
- Selling Houses Australia LifeStyle Channel 148,000
- Ugly House To Lovely House LifeStyle Channel 75,000
- Live: AFL 360 FOX FOOTY 67,000
- Paul Murray Live SKY NEWS LIVE 61,000
- The Bolt Report SKY NEWS LIVE 56,000
- Richo SKY NEWS LIVE 44,000
- NRL 360 FOX LEAGUE 42,000
- The Simpsons FOX8 40,000
- PML Overtime SKY NEWS LIVE 40,000
- Family Guy FOX8 40,000
- Gogglebox Australia LifeStyle Channel+2 39,000
- NCIS TVH!TS 39,000
- Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 37,000
- Escape To The Country LifeStyle Channel 36,000
- Shetland BBC First 36,000
- Live: NRL 360 FOX LEAGUE 36,000
- Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 35,000
- American Dad! FOX8 35,000
- Mrs. Brown’s Boys UKTV 35,000
Business of Media
News Corp Australia promotes Lou Barrett to managing director, national sales
Lou Barrett (credit: News Corp Australia)
Lou Barrett, who currently holds the position of executive general manager network sales, has been promoted to the newly created role of managing director, national sales.
In this new role, Barrett will be responsible for leading the advertising sales divisions nationally, in addition to her responsibility for managing the needs of national clients across print media, digital media and marketing services.
Neil Robinson (credit: News Corp Australia)
The second appointment relates to Neil Robinson, who is returning to News Corp Australia after two and a half years in New York as chief revenue officer for global marketing technology business Rokt.
He takes on the new role of managing director, digital solutions.
In this position, Robinson will be responsible for the company’s evolving digital advertising proposition. Specifically, he will lead News Corp Australia’s programmatic division, its data targeting capability News Connect, its commercial content capability, advancing its digital partnerships and will be responsible for driving the local performance of Unruly and Storyful.
South Australian Film Corporation appoints Courtney Gibson as its new CEO
Courtney Gibson
Gibson has worked at a senior executive level across both television (Nine Network, ABC TV, SBS) and film (Screen NSW) and with leading production companies Southern Star Entertainment and most recently as managing director of Jungle Entertainment. She has commissioned, financed and produced many thousands of hours of primetime screen content across a diverse range of scripted and non-scripted genres.
In her position as chief executive of Screen NSW, Gibson increased levels of production in the state, introduced a gender equity initiative and attracted numerous major international film and TV productions.
Gibson commented: “With the state’s unique new 10% PDV rebate, and the SAFC’s recent move to a 100% grant production funding model, there’s never been a better state or time to produce content than in South Australia, right now. We can build an even stronger production base here – SA continues to be the lead state backing innovation and creativity – and I look forward to working with the local industry as well as producers and partners from the rest of Australia and the world.”
Mitchell Duff takes on new role as MCN Sydney digital sales director
Mitchell Duff
Duff will lead the state-based sales activities for MCN’s growing online, mobile, IPTV and programmatic platforms, reporting to MCN national digital sales director Nev Hasan. Duff has taken on the new role, effective immediately.
Duff has spent the last four years as digital group sales manager at MCN Sport, where he led the digital sales team and built brand strategies across MCN Sport’s broadcast and digital assets. Prior to that, he held roles as an OOH media professional and within the Price Indexes and Inflation department of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Hasan said Duff’s appointment will bring a new energy and focus to the Sydney market, following the successful appointment of Richard Baxter to Melbourne digital sales director last year.
“For MCN, building digital sales teams that have a specific market focus is part of our long-term growth strategy to deliver strong commercial outcomes for our clients,” said Hasan. “With his over 10 years’ market experience, seven of those at MCN, I’m pleased to appoint Mitchell to the role as he can draw upon his expertise and knowledge of the MCN brand to help us deliver a multiplatform strategy with precision.”
Melbourne-based independent programmatic trading desk Trade Indy’s new hires
“We are thrilled to be adding some of Australia’s leading programmatic and digital innovators to our talented team. Alex Hetherton has come on as Group Managing Director, Simon Crean as Director – Product and most recently Rick Mulia as Director – Supply and Data,” said James Robertson, Trade Indy’s executive director.
“We have recently opened offices in Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines as well as expanding our Melbourne-based trading team to support the growth both here and abroad. It is central to our strategy that we attract the best senior talent in the markets we operate in and we have clearly done that with this lineup,” James added.
Sandra Levy, Julie Flynn and Robert Kerr to head public broadcasting inquiry
The panel will be chaired by Robert Kerr, a former head of staff at the Commonwealth Productivity Commission. He was also a Commissioner of the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission, where he conducted public inquiries into regulatory issues.
Kerr will be joined on the panel by former ABC director of television Sandra Levy and former Free TV CEO Julie Flynn.
The Inquiry will examine whether Australia’s national public broadcasters – the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) – are operating in a manner consistent with the principles of competitive neutrality.
Competitive neutrality principles provide that government business activities should not enjoy net competitive advantages simply by virtue of their public sector ownership.
The panel will consult relevant stakeholders during the Inquiry and be supported by a Taskforce in the Department of Communications and the Arts.
US TV ad spend forecast to continues to decline – except for next Olympic year
With cord-cutting accelerating and over-the-top (OTT) viewing on the rise, outlays on TV ads will slip 0.5% in 2018 to $69.87 billion [all amounts US$]. As a result, TV’s share of total US media ad expenditures will drop from 33.9% in 2017 to 31.6% this year.
TV ad spending will see a slight uptick in 2020 (due to the US presidential election and Summer Olympics in Tokyo), but it will sink back to negative territory in the following years and fall to less than a quarter of total ad spend by 2022.
Meanwhile, total digital ad spending in the US will climb 18.7% this year to $107.30 billion.
Val Morgan Group promotes Chris Norris and Tim Bowen to new sales roles
Chris Norris and Tim Bowen
“Media is a people business and, as it becomes increasingly complex, it is important that we have the right resources and people available to help our clients,” said Hill.
“With 13 years’ experience in the business there is no better qualified person than Chris Norris to help our clients understand the true power of the big screen and cinema’s role in the media mix.”
Meanwhile Tim Bowen has been promoted to the position of Sydney sales director. Bowen has 11 years’ media experience and has worked across both media agencies and media sales, with previous roles at UM, MediaCom, News Corp and MCN.
News Brands
Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph improve positions in Nielsen DCR rankings
At the lower end of the top 10 in the Global News and Current Events sub-category however, the Herald Sun has moved up the chart and The Daily Telegraph has replaced MSN News in the top 10.
This week we also have details of the biggest online brands in the Travel sub-category where news.com.au – Travel completely dominates.
The Australian’s Strewth column names newest and most energetic media tart
The 12-act extravaganza of his press conference is explored at some length (if not quite Logvinov length) in our Sketch over in the news pages. And of course the presser was followed by Logvinov’s professional encounter with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, an event that elicited from our esteemed colleague Rachel Baxendale a perfect specimen of understatement: “The Australian understands the meeting went for 17 minutes and the atmosphere was ‘rather cool’.” We keep our fingers crossed that Moscow never recalls him.
Publishing
Women’s Health launching Secret Sweats, exclusive pop-up fitness events
In partnership with Clinique, the inaugural Secret Sweats event will launch on Tuesday April 3, and will see 30 fitness-obsessed Sydneysiders participate in a high-intensity 45-minute workout, held at a secret Sydney location.
The workout will be led by a high-profile master trainer direct from New York. Ticket holders will receive an email 72 hours prior revealing the details of the secret location and the internationally recognised trainer.
Jacqui Mooney, Women’s Health editor, said: “Secret Sweats is the next step forward in evolving the Women’s Health brand as we continue to grow into new spaces with like-minded partners. Women’s Health is so much more than just a magazine – it’s a global community of women that’s all about empowerment.”
Secret Sweats launches to coincide with the much anticipated release of the annual Fitfluential issue (on sale April 5), which celebrates 25 game-changing Aussie women making waves in the health, fitness and wellness world.
Eat, drink and go on holiday…Gourmet Traveller launches new-look website
Bauer Media’s Gourmet Traveller has relaunched its website, delivering new features to drive greater audience engagement as well as enhanced sponsorship and integration opportunities for advertisers.
The Gourmet Traveller website provides its exclusive audience access to the latest news in food, drinks and restaurants in addition to recipes, travel inspiration and entertaining advice.
With its fresh new look and stronger social media integration, Bauer Media notes the all-new website delivers a faster, more engaging experience across all devices and digital platforms.
Sarah Oakes, editor of Gourmet Traveller, said: “A dynamic and diverse food and travel scene requires an agile and authoritative brand to report on its trends and changes. In Australia, Gourmet Traveller has been that brand for more than 50 years and we are excited to announce the next evolution of our brand: the launch of our refreshed website.
“Modern design, a quicker, more immersive user experience and lots of thoughtful touches designed specifically for the Gourmet Traveller audience mean that our new site will help us to break food and travel news faster and bring our long-form storytelling to life online.”
Gourmet Traveller’s Sarah Oakes
For advertisers, the all-new website provides opportunities to connect and engage with Gourmet Traveller’s rapidly growing premium digital audience like never before. The website offers advertisers an integrated commercial offering, with market-leading branded content solutions, high-impact rich media formats across desktop and mobile, custom brand integrations on the homepage masthead and the latest solutions available to engage its established social media audiences.
Over the last 12 months, Gourmet Traveller’s digital audience has grown to 286,000 UAs (101% YOY growth) and 753,000 social media connections.
The launch of the all-new website follows the debut of the new-look Gourmet Traveller magazine in September last year.
The Easter edition of the magazine is now on sale with a rather amazing chocolate cake featured on the front cover.
Radio
The Daily Telegraph stitches up Nova 969’s Fitzy before holiday
There’s nowhere on earth that is more glamorous than the Maldives but radio host Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald found out the luxury resort he’s heading to is actually a dump, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Notorious for stitching each other up, Fitzy’s Nova 96.9 co-star Michael “Wippa” Wipfli enlisted the help of The Daily Telegraph to ruin his holiday before he’d even left our shores.
Opening the newspaper yesterday, Fitzy was shocked to see a story detailing the luxury resort he’d booked had been “voted the world’s worst”.
It didn’t take him long to work out the stitch-up though as the fake news page was printed on different paper from the actual Telegraph.
Television
Screentime, Netflix and ABC announce full details of Pine Gap cast
Parker Sawyers as Gus and Tess Haubrich as Jasmine in Pine Gap (credit: Lisa Tomasetti)
Set to screen later in the year, Pine Gap stars Parker Sawyers (Southside With You), Tess Haubrich (Alien: Covenant, Wolf Creek Season 2), Jacqueline McKenzie (Safe Harbour, Romper Stomper, 4400), Steve Toussaint (Fortitude, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time), Stephen Curry (Hounds of Love, The King, Cloudstreet), Mark Leonard Winter (Cleverman, Top of the Lake) and Sachin Joab (Lion, Jack Irish).
ABC head of scripted production Sally Riley said, “We are thrilled with the seriously diverse cast assembled to bring this bold and compelling drama to life. Pine Gap is an ambitious, world class series, that will capture the imagination of audiences both here in Australia and around the world.”
Co-creator, executive producer, writer and showrunner Greg Haddrick said: “We are honoured that a cast of this calibre is bringing Pine Gap to life on screen with the direction of Mat King. This project has been four years in the making and it is wonderful that we can now say – we are in production!”
Screentime executive chairman Bob Campbell said: “Pine Gap is Screentime’s first project for Netflix and the ABC. It has seen the very best of all our creative resources and personnel brought together to guarantee a timely first-class thriller cut straight from today’s headlines.”
Production Credits:
A Screentime Production, financed by Netflix and ABC, in association with the South Australian Film Corporation with additional funding support from Screen Territory. Produced by Lisa Scott and Felicity Packard.
Executive producers Bob Campbell, Rory Callaghan and Greg Haddrick.
ABC executive producers Sally Riley and Brett Sleigh.
VICE and Screen Australia announce winner of Pitch Australiana
Shooting Cats writer/director Inday Ford and producer Dylan Blowen
Directed by Inday Ford and produced by Dylan Blowen, Shooting Cats is an observational documentary that explores the catastrophic impact feral cats have on Australian wildlife and the complexities environmentalists face in their attempt to find solutions to this epidemic.
“Documentaries play a pivotal role in starting national conversations about challenging and, at times, confronting subject matter and Shooting Cats will be no exception,” said Liz Stevens, head of documentary at Screen Australia. “The Australiana initiative encouraged documentary creatives to hone their pitching skills in a public forum at a major documentary conference. All four teams pitched exciting stories that introduced us to little-known but distinctly Australian people and places. I congratulate the team behind Shooting Cats, and look forward to seeing their work on VICE and SBS Viceland.”
Shane Jacobson to host Seven’s forthcoming The Real Full Monty
Shane Jacobson and Todd McKenney
Jacobson will recruit eight very familiar faces from all ages, shapes and sizes and convince them to take it all off in front of thousands for one very memorable performance.
The fun and feelgood documentary will see eight famous men leave nothing to the imagination paying homage to the iconic film.
Viewers will go on a journey with these brave men, from the awkwardness of the first rehearsal to the final triumphant moment standing in nothing but their birthday suits.
Jacobson will host alongside choreographer Todd McKenney (Dancing with the Stars, The Boy from Oz) whose job it is to put our celebrities through their rhythmic paces building up to one glorious moment.
The one-off special is also designed to raise awareness of men’s cancer, something that Jacobson feels needs more attention.
“If the blokes we round up are brave enough to go the Full Monty, then the men of Australia can be brave enough to talk about cancer.”
Sydney audiences can register to be in the audience for the celebrities’ one-off performance at the Enmore Theatre on Monday April 16 here.
US premiere of new Roseanne reboot pulls record audience: 18.2m
The Roseanne numbers rank as the highest total of any comedy on the broadcast networks since the 2014 season premiere of The Big Bang Theory.
For comparison’s sake, NBC’s reboot of Will & Grace in September drew a little over 10 million viewers and a 3.0 rating among 18- to 49-year-olds. Earlier this month, ABC’s revival of American Idol reached an audience of 10.3 million viewers and scored a 2.3 rating in the prize demographic. Both debuts were cause for celebration at both broadcast networks.
The Roseanne numbers, however, are in an entirely different category and stand to grow when delayed viewing is factored in.
The Hollywood Reporter commented:
The ABC comedy returns nearly three decades after its original premiere, averaging a whopping 18.1 million and an unbelievable 5.1 rating in the key demo.
Network Ten will launch the new episodes of Roseanne here in April.
Advertising
Toyota takes over ARN airwaves and Adshel screens to promote new Camry
In an Australian first, the multichannel campaign will include a full-day takeover of ARN’s Pure Gold national network, running in tandem with a dominant nationwide Adshel campaign.
From 6am to 7pm on March 29, 2018, Toyota will be the only commercial partner heard on air across 101.7 WSFM in Sydney, GOLD104.3 in Melbourne, 4KQ693 in Brisbane, Cruise1323 in Adelaide and 96FM in Perth.
On the same day, more than 150 Adshel Live digital screens in key metro locations will display the new Camry creative, giving Toyota 100% share of voice. This is the first time Adshel digital screens have been dedicated to just one advertiser for the day.
Tony Kendall, chief revenue officer of HT&E, said, “We are delighted to be working with Toyota and TMS to bring this innovative campaign to life. The combination of ARN and Adshel has proven it can effectively and efficiently deliver results well over and above free-to-air TV. HT&E is the only Australian media company that can execute an idea like this across these powerful media assets.”
David Lodge, group head of The Media Store, said, “To launch the all-new Toyota Camry, which truly is a car that will defy the expectation of car buyers, we needed to tell the story in a way that would command the attention of our target audience. In a landscape where consumers are exposed to so many messages, we saw this idea of ‘owning’ two national, broad-reaching media channels – Adshel and ARN’s Pure Gold network – as the ideal solution to effectively cut through with the new Camry message.”
New Magazines This Week
