“It’s not a follow-up to War on Waste, it’s its own show,” Reucassel made plain at the start of a Mediaweek podcast interview about the new program. “This series is about climate change and what we can do to stop climate change. It is not about following the science and saying ‘this is climate change and it is happening’. It goes to the next stop looking at our own lives and what we could be doing to reduce our carbon footprint. But we also look at what government and business need to do to solve the problem we know we face.”

Listen to the Mediaweek podcast with Jodie Boylan and Craig Reucassel.

Fight for Planet A’s Jodi Boylan and Craig Reucassel with Mediaweek’s James Manning recording the Media Podcast

Boylan added: “We wanted people to understand that each and every one of us has a carbon footprint – what does it look like, what does it mean and how can people alter that carbon footprint and have an impact on the planet.”

Reucassel: “The vast majority of Australians and people around the world accept that climate change is real. It’s like not starting a news report about Coronavirus as to whether it exists or not. We are following the science and following the facts which is the important thing to do.”

Craig Reucassel in Fight for Planet A

War on Waste was initially three one-hour episodes with a fourth follow-up episode sometime later. A second series of three episodes then followed. All seven episodes rated well for ABC TV.

“Surprisingly so,” laughed Reucassel. “That a show about going through your bins was such a high rating program.”

As to the War on Waste ratings, Boylan said: “I was completely shocked. I wasn’t shocked that the message would resonate with an audience. I knew there would be an initial interest, but I was shocked by the impact the show created. The show impacted with government changes and on peoples’ lives and communities and corporations as well.”

Craig Reucassel with teacher and pupils from Oatlands Public School

Although the ABC continues to explore the impact of waste and climate change, has there been any interest from commercial broadcasters to give more time to these topics?

Reucassel: “This is one of these shows you can really only do properly on the ABC. There are some commercial shows that call out big business and government, but Fight for Planet A would be difficult to do on a commercial network which is why it is good to have the ABC.”

Boylan: “At commercial networks there are constraints with advertisers. On a show like War on Waste the editorial content couldn’t have been compromised by the next commercial in the ad break. It would be very brave to take on a show like War on Waste and I challenge them to do so.”

As to any impact that Fight for Planet A might have, Reucassel said: “We are hopeful about that. I learnt a lot of things about the impact that War on Waste had. People who were becoming active and being passionate about the changes they made had a flow-on impact upwards which had an impact on policy makers. I have had politicians say to me, ‘We don’t lead, we follow.’ When they saw the community becoming involved they started to get involved. I am hopeful that will happen in the climate space as well, but I am wary that in the past there has been a lot of momentum from the public, but it has been stopped. There are a lot more vested interests in the climate space than there are in the waste space so it is a much harder area to get change in.”

During the first episode of Fight for Planet A, Reucassel gets to venture into familiar areas he has explored on many TV series from The Chaser. That includes trying to doorstop politicians outside Parliament House, after a failed attempt to get inside despite having gained permission. Arriving with 100 balloons strapped to his back made the security guards suspicious.

He also turns up outside a couple of corporate headquarters of mining giants in Perth, trying to deliver the first of 20 million trees.

During the making of the show, the producer’s offset the carbon footprint of the series.

Part of the show involves a climate challenge with a number of families from around Australia.

Fight for Planet A was produced by Lune Media with Jodi Boylan EP, showrunner and writer/director. Working with her was EP/writer David Galloway and founder and MD of Lune Media, Leonie Lowe.

Listen to the Mediaweek podcast with Jodie Boylan and Craig Reucassel.

As part of the agreement Meerkats will merge with Wunderman Thompson in WA, building the brand’s Perth capability to more than 50 employees and creating a specific Experience & Innovation Practice. As a result, Wunderman Thompson Perth will now offer the full suite of brand and organisational strategy, consulting, innovation and technology capabilities underpinned by creativity; further strengthening the WPP AUNZ Perth Campus.

WPP AUNZ CEO Jens Monsees said: “With an impressive roster of clients, and a platform of transformational strategy, EX/CX and technology-led innovation, Meerkats brings experience, skills and growth opportunities to our WA business. While our clients face increasing challenges to engage with their audiences in the current environment, this acquisition will allow us to provide even stronger capability to the Perth market.”

The merged Wunderman Thompson and Meerkats team will operate under the Wunderman Thompson brand from its Subiaco office. Its leadership team will comprise former Meerkats CEO Gavin Bain as Wunderman Thompson Perth Managing Partner, Doni Savvides as Partner, Martin Beecroft as Chief Innovation Officer, and Melanie Wiese as Chief Strategy Officer, Perth.

Bain said: “The Meerkats business model has evolved in recent years in line with our clients changing needs. We feel that the fresh Wunderman Thompson creative innovation approach is the perfect fit for our expanded strategic offering alongside WPP AUNZ’s focus on providing new offerings. We’re confident that our combined strengths will build something truly unique in this market and offer great opportunities for our people.”

Savvides added: “Gavin and his team share Wunderman Thompson’s ambition and passion to help our clients succeed and we’re delighted to be joining forces to bring that potential to life. Adding their skillset and capabilities to our already strong brand adds significant firepower to what we can deliver to our clients and to building a truly world class Wunderman Thompson offering in Western Australia. I am excited about what the future holds.”

Nineteen agencies will participate in the pilot program, which provides them with a single interface to connect with 370 Australian radio stations and collaborate on media campaigns in real-time, from any location.

“We are excited to start work with agencies on the next phase of RadioMATRIX, which will transform the audio buying process and make it much easier for advertisers to invest in radio and podcast advertising,” Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer Joan Warner said.

“We are replacing the traditional manual and email-based approach with a virtual workspace that meets media buyers’ evolving needs. Online collaboration will become an increasingly important feature of the future workplace, and this has only been accelerated by the emergence of COVID-19 and the need to leverage technology to work securely, remotely and effectively across borders.”

The agencies participating in the initiative are Carat, Dentsu, Havas Media, Ikon Communications, Initiative, MagnaGlobal, Mediacom, Mindshare, OMD, Orion, PHD, Rufus, Spark Foundry, Starcom, The Media Store, UM, Wavemaker and Zenith.

Media buyers will have access to purpose-built tools to create and send out briefs, receive proposals from networks and undertake modelling. The cloud-based solution will be powered by GfK radio surveys data so agencies can check audience reach, frequency and cost against real-time availability.

Jo Dick, head of partnerships, outdoor and audio at Omnicon, said: “As a major user of radio, Omnicon agencies are delighted to contribute to the pilot program because the real-time tools and insights that RadioMATRIX will bring will be enormously beneficial to facilitating a more streamlined briefing process.”

Jenny Rowsell, business systems director at Publicis Media, said: “Publicis are very pleased to have the opportunity to be part of the pilot. The introduction of holdings was a major first step and now the development of the platform will be hugely beneficial to our buyers. Exciting times ahead!”

The first phase of RadioMATRIX was launched in October 2017 and digitised and streamlined the management of ad bookings. The platform is currently being used by 200 media agencies and has processed more than 1.5 billion items of radio inventory.

RadioMATRIX is being developed by AudioNET, with the virtual workspace, briefings and proposals module scheduled for completion in October.

Dave Cox, chief executive officer of AudioNET, said: “We believe RadioMATRIX will be the first whole-of-media sector briefing and buying platform in the world and we are delighted to work with agencies and the radio broadcasting industry to build a solution that is attractive, easy to use and meets the needs of the market into the future.”

Triton Digital’s Australian Podcast Ranker provides insight into the Top 100 Podcasts as well as the Top 10 Publishers in Australia from 1 July through 31 July, 2020, as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service.

Seven new entities appear in the Top 100 Podcast Ranker this reporting period, including Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment (Wondery), She’s On The Money (ARN/iHeartMedia), SCA Victoria News (SCA-Triple M), and WTF with Marc Maron Podcast (Stitcher). Stuff You Should Know (ARN/iHeartMedia) remained in the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the country in July.

As for the All-Australian Top 100, seven new entities appear this reporting period, including Somehow Related with Dave O’Neil & Glenn Robbins (ARN/iHeartMedia), The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast with Timbo Reid (SCA-PodcastOne Australia), and Herald Sun Coronavirus Update (News Corp Australia). Casefile True Crime (Audioboom) remained the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the country.

Total downloads of all shows by all participating publishers in the month of July is 43.6m.

Participating publishers in the Australian Ranker include ARN/iHeartMedia, Southern Cross Austereo, News Corp Australia, Audioboom, Stitcher, Wondery, Nova, Nine Radio, SEN/Crocmedia, Schwartz Media, TOFOP Productions, Kinderling Kids Radio, Australian Radio Network, Wavelength Creative, Wondery, NBC News, and West Australian Newspapers.

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According to Nielsen Digital Content Ratings data released today, users collectively spent nearly 45 million hours engaging with news content online for the month, an increase of 51% when compared to July 2019.

According to Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings, the most substantial year-on-year percentage increase was seen via computers, with a 54% increase in total time spent, whilst mobile saw a 50% increase in total time spent when compared to July 2019.

Year-on-year engagement increases were seen across most age groups with people 65+ seeing the largest percentage increase, spending 82% more time engaging with news content online when compared to the same month last year. People aged 35-44 (up 68%) and 45-54 (up 60%) also saw substantial year-on-year increases in time spent engaging with current events & global news content.

Nielsen Digital Content Ratings reported that ABC News Websites retained the top position, with a unique audience of 13.3 million for the month of July 2020.

News.com.au ranked second with a unique audience of 11.6 million, followed by nine.com.au (11.1 million) and Daily Mail Australia (10.7 million). 7NEWS ranked fifth with a unique audience of 10.3 million.

The biggest mover on the chart was news.com.au which lifted from fourth place to second month-on-month. The rest of the top 10 was unchanged from the previous month.

All of the top 10 current events and global news sites saw a month-on-month increase in unique audience, with seven of those 10 sites seeing a double-digit percentage increase.

After four years, 636 Ninja runs and 106 grand final attempts, Polson was crowned Australia’s first Ninja Warrior.

Night 2 of the Australian Ninja Warrior grand final started with Olivia Vivian, Ben Polson, Alex Matthews, Mike Snow, Matthew Bowles, Jordan Papandrea, Zak Stolz, and Charlie Robbins before the field was widdled down to the final three.

Zak Stolz, Ben Polson, and Charlie Robbins

Ninja 2019 furthest-fastest champion, Charlie Robbins, student Zak Stolz, and videographer Ben Polson were left standing after stage three and went onto Mount Midoriyama and the chance to win $400,000 in prize money, with the fastest on the punishing 20-metre rope climb up Mt Midoriyama declared the winner.

Zack Stolz was the first to climb Mount Midoriyama in the show’s history doing it in 29:80 seconds but his success was short-lived when he was beaten by Charlie Robbins who did a time of 26:56 seconds who was outdone in 25:56 seconds be Ben Polson, who became the shows first Australian Ninja Warrior.
 
After the win Polson said: “I wasn’t your average kid at school, I felt like an outcast and got bullied a lot. It wasn’t until I discovered Ninja training that I once again felt I had a purpose. It helped me build myself back up physically and mentally. Conquering Mount Midoriyama is not about what I have received, it’s about who I have become.”
 
Polson said he planned to take his girlfriend and fellow Ninja Warrior competitor Olivia Vivian on a trip to Japan and buy himself a car with the prizemoney.
 
“Four hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money! Especially during such a rollercoaster year. I would love to take Olivia on a trip to Japan the rest will be invested and discussed with much smarter people than myself.”

 
Polson, Robbins, and Stolz all cemented their names in the history books, joining an elite group of only 14 people in the world who have scaled Mt Midoriyama.
 
Australian Ninja Warrior Runner-up Charlie Robbins said of climbing Mt Midoriyama: “It was an incredible feeling of accomplishment. There’s only a handful of people in the world that can say they’ve done it, so to be a part of that group is pretty special and of course a big congratulations to Ben.”

 
Australian Ninja Warrior Second runner-up Zak Stolz added: “It’s something you always see and hope you can do, but actually doing it didn’t feel real. It’s truly an honour to complete the dream of any Ninja warrior.”

The action doesn’t end at the Grand final with a two-part special event, Australian Ninja Warrior: State of Origin, beginning on Sunday, August 16, at 7.00 pm on Nine.
 
With the four best Ninjas from each state are putting on their jerseys to battle it out for state glory and win $100,000. Featuring Charlie Robbins, Fred Dorrington, Bryson Klein, Raphaella Wiget and Olivia Vivian on a brand new, custom-built state of origin course.

In Australian Ninja Warrior: State of Origin the Ninja Warriors will work together in teams to win the bragging rights and prove which is the superior Ninja state in the whole nation.
 
The show comes from producer Endemol Shine Australia and features the show’s new home in the Melbourne Showgrounds facility, the format’s third home in three years.

The only new entry to the top five was the Korean film Train to Busan 2- Peninsula the standalone sequel to the 2016 film Train to Busan which was meant to be screened at 2020 Cannes Film Festival which was cancelled due to COVID-19.

#1 Unhinged $701,049

Two fairly strong back-to-back weeks has seen the film’s overall total now sit at $1.72m after averaging $3,632 on 193 screens. The film is now the highest-grossing new release since cinemas reopened from lockdown.

#2 The Secret: Dare to Dream $258,996

The Katie Holmes lead film based on the best-selling self-help book has had a good second week of release after increasing its weekend revenue by 15% after averaging $1,222 on 212 screens making it the most screened film in the country this weekend.

#3 The King of Staten Island $111,659

After four weeks The King of Staten Island has cracked the $1 million mark with $1.07m, averaging $775 on 144 screens.

#4 Train to Busan 2- Peninsula $111,659

The Korean zombie flick is the only new entry in the top five this week on the back of its promotional release averaging $1,251 on 71 screens.

#5 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs $83,034

After 6 weeks the Korean animation is the longest lasting film in the top five, generating a total of $1.26m. The film averaged $577 on 144 screens.

Seven News 1,219,000/1,116,000
Nine News 1,094,000/1,050,000
A Current Affair 819,000
ABC News 770,000
7.30 646,000
The Project 331,000/507,000
10 News 439,000/277,000
Sunrise 280,000
Today 216,000
The Drum 193,000
The Latest 190,000
SBS World News 184,000

Monday TV

Seven: The second night of Farmer Wants a Wife this week slipped to third in the rankings up against the end of one series and the launch of another. The audience of 696,000 was only down marginally from 740,000 a week ago. There still seem to be a lot of ladies in contention as the next episode will be the halfway mark.
9-1-1 Lone Star followed with 303,000, well down on 406,000 seven days prior.
Earlier in the night Home and Away delivered 660,000 after a week 32 average of 610,000. 

Nine: The final instalment of the shorter season of eight episodes of Australian Ninja Warrior saw a traffic jam at the top of the much-hyped Mount Midoriyama as three warriors managed to climb the rope to the top. It came down to who could do it faster which turned out to be Ben Polson. The start of the final night rated 1,060,000 slightly below what Sunday managed – 1,098,000. The reveal of the winner when Polson punched the button with a second to spare did 1,199,000. The episode drove Nine to a clear win on primary and network share and in key demos. The numbers for the season final were up year-on-year.
As the Monday lead-in, A Current Affair started the week on 819,000 after an average of 697,000 last week.
Surviving Jeffrey Epstein followed the Warriors with 298,000 watching.

10: The launch of The Masked Singer delivered what 10 EP Stephen Tate promised here a week ago – big names. There were three singing battles on the first night of the 2020 series with former Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis unveiled. There were a few ordinary performances amongst the gifted singers last night and he was one of them. The episode was on 733,000 and then 823,000 for the reveal. The series two launch was down on the 2019 launch audience of 1,162,000. 10 has noted however that some of that audience were live streaming perhaps with the episode last night up 48% on the streaming number last year. The episode was also #1 16-39 in its timeslot.
Network 10 head of programming Daniel Monaghan said this morning: “On a highly competitive night, the first episode of the new season of The Masked Singer Australia performed very well, with 1.13 million viewers nationally for the big reveal and 1 million earlier in the night. The Masked Singer Australia significantly lifted our audience in its timeslot and created real buzz on social media last night. The best is yet to come, with great singing, great dancing and lots of jaw-dropping moments as we reveal who is behind the masks.”
A different lead-in helped Have You Been Paying Attention? lift to 623,000 after 574,000 last week.

ABC: Australian Story featured the first part of a Joel Edgerton profile on 623,000.
Four Corners looked at recycling with 549,000.
Media Watch did 517,000 with Q+A on 293,000.

SBS: Part one of the three-part The Blitz: Britain on Fire was on 225,000.