When you want to hear from broadcasters about the power of breakfast radio and how the medium has weathered 2020, who better to speak to than two of Melbourne’s finest – 3AW Ross and Russel co-host Russel Howcroft and UK #1 broadcaster turned Melbourne’s #1 FM champ at Gold 104.3, Christian O’Connell.

Mediaweek was lucky to get the two of them together for a podcast last week with James Manning. Here are some of the highlights.

Working during lockdown

Christian O’Connell: Part of my job was to reflect what lockdown was like for me. My material is my life. It is talking about my life. I suddenly realised I was not going to be able to do anything and I was worrying where all my material was going to come from. I found myself locked in a house with two teenage daughters and home schooling. We were faced with a mutiny with them overthrowing my wife and me. There ended up being more than enough going on!

Every time I used to close the front door at 5am on the way to work, I breathed a sigh of relief to get out of the house for a few hours.

Taking advantage of Howcroft’s marketing expertise

Russel Howcroft: I get involved with the [Nine Radio] sales guys on the communication they will have with the marketplace. Clients are always looking for creativity and good ideas that might give them a bit of an x-factor.

I also encourage radio people to just look at the numbers. When considering the power of commercial radio, the numbers are very significant with regard to audience and time spent listening. That’s a very important number because the longer the consumer is spending listening it gives them more opportunity to hear advertising.

The numbers are also very good when it comes to reach – a critical number in the advertising world. Sometimes we just forget the basics – reach matters and the target audience matters. Cost of production also matters – a significant success factor around radio is it doesn’t cost much to produce compared to other mediums. That also means smaller players can get involved with radio as well.

How the listeners and then advertisers grew at Gold

Christian O’Connell: I will always value the clients who were with our show early on. There were quite a few advertisers at the start who said they loved what we were doing. They understood it could take a while, but they were with us. There were others who wanted to wait and see, which I totally understand.

The show was being written off by rivals and everyone in the industry. Now, having lived here for two and a half years, I know why. I still find it remarkable that it worked. It could have easily gone the other way, but it didn’t.

With success we suddenly found we had new best friends. It meant that there were more demands on my time commercially, and I understand that. When you suddenly become #1 there is almost a land grab and the sales teams’ phones are ringing off the hook. They want to get airtime, they want to meet you and they want to see what you can leverage for them.

The way I do promotions for clients is different. I want to make sure that it feels as much a part of the show as anything else I am doing. I can’t stand it when I hear commercial radio shows that sound like they are putting the show on hold and hitting pause as they read a script for an ad – almost like they have a gun pointed at their head. It shouldn’t be like that, if you want to be paid your money you need to earn it and part of that is doing your promotions well and making it fun and entertaining for your audience.

Advertisers in the club

Russel Howcroft: Part of the really interesting thing for advertisers in radio is that they can very readily become part of, let’s call it the club. Let’s say there is a 3AW Breakfast Club. Most of the time the advertiser fits very neatly into the club. That is a unique part of the medium of radio. You wouldn’t say that about television or social, magazines or newspapers. The advertiser becomes part of the total radio show. If the advertiser is part of the club, the radio dial isn’t used when it is ad time. The ads are accepted as part of the total show which is a really powerful thing for the advertiser.

Listen to the Mediaweek podcast: The Power of Breakfast Radio

Kenyon has held executive leadership roles in global corporations and start-ups in Australia and Asia Pacific, most recently as General Manager of Marketing for leading industry travel body Visit Victoria and prior to that was APAC regional Vice President, Digital and Marketing Transformation for Visa, based out of Singapore.

O’Neill has spent the past three years with Edelman as Global Strategy Partner out of London, previously holding executive strategy roles with WPP and IPG agencies in Europe, and Joy and VCCP in Sydney.

The move home is also a return to Nine for O’Neill who began her career as the first camerawoman for Australian commercial television in 1980.

Both have been appointed as Director of Powered Enterprise, reporting to Liana Dubois, Director of Powered, and will be charged with leading Powered Enterprise, the newly launched unit which is tailored to the needs of key C-suite clientele looking for partners who can understand and meet their changing needs for business growth.

Nine said at the time of the announcement of the Enterprise division of Powered that it was not about a single ad campaign or product launch, focused instead on having conversations aimed at understanding an organisation’s horizon planning and co-creating strategies and ideas that deliver in a way that no other Australia media company can.

Kenyon said: “As a client-side marketer, I’ve always been motivated by driving business growth and delivering impact through progressive, strategic and accountable marketing. I’m thrilled to be tasked with taking the offering by Powered Enterprise – where content, data and technology truly come together in a meaningful, connected and actionable way – to our clients to help maximise marketing effectiveness and deliver business results.”

O’Neill said: “Finding compelling and distinctive ways to engage and move people is at the heart of how brand helps business grow. What influences people to make choices about the brand and therefore business they buy from is shifting. The potential for alchemy in Powered Enterprise is exciting, accessing the scale and exceptional content, data and technology of Nine and shaping it into big business ideas that move us more.”

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Top Photo: Left to right: Liana Dubois Director of Powered, Nicki Kenyon Director of Powered Enterprise – Melbourne, Michele O’Neill Director of Powered Enterprise – Sydney

Sampling beauty products is the most successful form of marketing likely to drive purchase for all women aged 18 to 74, followed by online reviews at 39% and magazine reviews and features (30%). However, social media posts from influencers and beauty ads on social platforms influence less than a quarter (24%) of all women.

When it comes to Gen Z, influencers play a more important role in the path to purchase for 18 to 24-year-olds. Four in ten (43%) said YouTube videos are a key influencing platform, followed by social posts and ads (38%) and influencer reviews (35%).

Are Media’s BEAUTYVOICES survey questioned 3,867 women on their views around what beauty means to women, their consumption habits, marketing and advertising preferences.

Alicia Melville, head of beauty at Are Media said: “Beauty remains a key priority for Australian women of all ages and BEAUTYVOICES has been designed to provide our partners with the most current data on how women feel, what they are interested in and how they want to be engaged with.

“While influencers continue to play an important role in driving Gen Z women to make beauty purchases, the research shows that sampling and reviews are more likely to lead to buying decisions for women over 24.”

When it comes to Instagram posts, on average the best performing images likely to drive women to purchase a beauty product are packaging shots and flat lays as opposed to those which included influencers or advertising talent holding the product.

Despite a general shift towards online shopping as a result of Covid-19, just one in 10 women (13%) said they made beauty purchases online, compared to 59% opting to buy in-store.

Almost eight in 10 women (78%) said the more money they plan to spend on a beauty product, the more research they do and nearly nine in 10 (88%) said they were most likely to buy a product if they had sampled it first.

Are Media has recently announced its flagship beauty platforms, beautyheaven and BEAUTYcrew will be completely relaunched in 2021 to include the latest innovations in beauty technology and enhanced rewards program.

The BEAUTYVOICES survey found that 80% of beautyheaven and 73% of BEAUTYcrew readers had purchased a product after reading reviews on these sites.

The October market was boosted by the move of the AFL and NRL finals and Grand Finals into the month which resulted in a 12.7% increase in television bookings, with Metropolitan TV ad spend up 15.7% year-on-year.

Digital bookings were stable in the month (-0.4%) mostly due to soaring advertising demand for social media sites (+45.5% in October) with each of Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn all reporting growth of a minimum 34% compared to October 2019.

And SMI AU/NZ managing director Jane Ractliffe said the stronger market demand was continuing, with early November data showing the market so far back 7% with a week’s trading still to come.

“The October SMI data has confirmed the ad market is well and truly leaving the Covid crisis behind, while future demand is also quickly accelerating in both November and December,” she said.

“Our forward pacings data – which compares the current level of confirmed future ad spend to that at the same time last year – shows November advertising demand is already 10 percentage points ahead of where it was in November 2019 and for December the level of confirmed ad demand is now 12 percentage points higher, and that increase in demand is the highest ever seen.”

However, the TV market in November is affected by a few timing issues which aided its early 14.2% increase in ad spend with the month featuring three highly competitive State of Origin matches that were broadcast in June/July last year. But there was also no cricket broadcast this November, but it featured last year.

“The early signs for November are very encouraging and show the market is now on the cusp of returning to growth as there was a week’s trading still to occur when that early November data was collected. We may be reporting our first month of growth in more than two years next month,” Ractliffe said.

Other interesting trends emerging in the October data include an ongoing decline in programmatic ad spend, with premium content sites regaining the position of the third largest digital sector in October, reversing many years of erosion by programmatic ad spend.

The pure play video sites sector (which includes sites such as YouTube and the TV streaming sites) also reported good growth in October ad spend (+15.5%) and within the traditional media regional TV (+8%) and regional radio (-2.7%) were the strongest performers.

Among the key categories, the largest gain this month was from the food/produce/dairy category (+42%) but Covid continues to affect other key verticals with travel ad spend back 76% and the movies/cinema/theme park spend was back 87% year-on-year.

Jack Geraghty (pictured) joins MediaSmiths from Mediacom in Brisbane where he was media executive. Geraghty also has digital experience, working as a social media and content coordinator for Space Digital and a content developer for the Australian Institute of Food Safety. He is also an AWARD School graduate.

In his new role based in Sydney, Geraghty will manage end-to-end planning, buying and execution of a number of the agency’s key clients.

His appointment follows the recent announcements that former Nova executive Natalie Murray and former Carat executive Corey Eyre have joined the team at MediaSmiths as senior account planners.

See also: MediaSmith executive appointments

“As an independent agency it’s great to be able to attract the calibre of talent that we have to date and to demonstrate that we offer a viable alternative to multinationals for both talent and clients. We are on a growth trajectory and are looking forward to a bigger 2021. Jack’s energy and expertise across full 360 channel planning will encompass his day to day role for the  business to help deliver effective campaign results for clients,” said MediaSmiths managing director, Angie Smith.

Commenting on his appointment, Geraghty said: “I am excited to join the MediaSmiths team bringing a collaborative and creative approach to campaign planning and working with inspiring leaders across a broad range of interesting clients.”

See also: How one Sydney indie media agency is riding out Covid-19 impact

Discovery is positioned to be a major player in New Zealand’s free-to-air television market and includes the entertainment channels Three and Bravo, streaming service ThreeNow, multi-platform news and current affairs service Newshub, as well as channels Three+1, Bravo+1, The Edge TV and The Breeze TV. Discovery will continue the existing partnership with NBCUniversal for the Bravo channel joint venture.

Discovery will now look to combine its businesses across New Zealand and Australia into one organisation spanning both countries, a move designed to increase scale across the region as a whole. The business will be jointly led by Glen Kyne and Rebecca Kent, General Managers for New Zealand and Australia, who report to Simon Robinson, Discovery President APAC.

Simon Robinson, Discovery president APAC, said: “Today is an exciting moment for Discovery as we significantly expand our operations in New Zealand, and look to create a trans-Tasman powerhouse organisation led by Glen Kyne and Rebecca Kent. The acquisition of MediaWorks TV, with its popular brands and prominent position in New Zealand, will be pivotal in achieving long-term growth and success in both markets.”

Glen Kyne, general manager, New Zealand & Australia, said: “I am incredibly excited to officially join the Discovery family today and welcome this new beginning for our people, audiences and customers, as well as the production companies that we support both locally and abroad.

“We have worked hard to get Three to a clear number two position in the free-to-air market*, and now have the opportunity to apply that same focus across the wider portfolio to further strengthen our position. Our increased share in New Zealand, alongside our established offering in Australia, will enable us to realise the full value of Discovery brands, delivering premium news and entertainment to our audiences and enhanced solutions for our advertisers.”

Rebecca Kent, general manager, Australia & New Zealand, said: “This is the next phase of growth for our region, giving us an opportunity to build audiences further with locally produced and internationally acquired content across multiple screens. We are focused on bringing audiences the local stories that Discovery and Three are renowned for through our successful local productions, and using Discovery’s international network to bring local audiences the best of our stories from around the world.”

Discovery has had a presence in Australia and New Zealand for more than 25 years, when it first launched Discovery Channel on Foxtel and Sky. In addition to the Discovery NZ Limited brands, the New Zealand portfolio includes free-to-air channels, Choice and HGTV, and six pay-TV channels – Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Food Network, Living and Discovery Turbo.

Discovery Australia’s portfolio includes eight pay-TV channels across Foxtel and Fetch – Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Discovery Turbo, HGTV, Food Network and Travel Channel, free-to-air channel 9Rush, a partnership with Nine Entertainment Co, and golf streaming service GOLFTV. 

In the podcast, Jonesy and Amanda will read sections of their memoirs and discuss the juicy details that didn’t make it into the book. Nothing is off limits as they each reveal some of the most defining moments of their life, from the first time they fell in love through to the moment their friendship was almost ruined forever.

Jonesy and Amanda have been friends for over 20 years, but during recording, they learnt some very intimate, heartbreaking and powerful things they didn’t know about each another.

Each week two episodes will be released, on Tuesday and Friday, as the pair delve into never-before shared stories from their childhood and teen years through to starting a family and how they became one of Australia’s most loved radio duos.

WSFM content director Mike Byrne said, “Jonesy & Amanda’s Holiday Book Club is a great example of how ARN’s key on-air talent can offer their audience and clients a different way to connect when they aren’t on air. Jonesy and Amanda share some incredibly warm, fun and also at times raw moments during in-depth discussions that wouldn’t be possible to fit in during their breakfast show, which really showcases how podcasts are an important complement to a live radio offering for both audiences and commercial clients.”

Listen to Episode 1 here.

The show has been a dominant force since the launch of the Disney+ streaming platform with The Mandalorian as its flagship show. The show never lost momentum since its initial launch but the weekly release of its second season on October 30 has given the show a huge boost that has seen it run away from the competition.

The shows biggest challenge on the Digital Original charts is The Crown which is enjoying a surge from the release of its 4th season on Netflix and is easily the #2 show on the charts with a big gap separating it from the rest of the field.

On the Overall TV charts, the shows closest competition (besides The Crown) comes from some old favourites in Supernatural and Grey’s Anatomy. 

Supernatural has moved up the charts after the conclusion of its 15 seasons run on November 19. The show had a total of 327 episodes and developed a cult following, the series can be seen in Australia on 10 Play (seasons 14-15) and Stan (1-14).

Grey’s Anatomy began its 17th season on November 12 which featured the return of Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd in a dream sequence which helped the show establish a dominant spot on the TV Demand chart, especially in Australia.

Nine has managed to attract the biggest shares on a night with no breakout shows on any channel. Nine’s primetime included a 7.30 audience on 350,000 watching 20 to One followed by repeats of Kath & Kim around 200,000 and then Hamish & Andy’s Euro Gap Year on 100,000.

Bluey managed to make the top 10 with its morning screening on ABC Kids, easily outrating anything else on that time of day and most at any time of the day!

Also in the top 10 for ABC was 7.30 where Kevin Rudd was a guest talking about China. The former PM managed just one mention of “Murdoch media” but made several indirect references too. Stan Grant steps into host the show tonight and tomorrow.

The final episode of Addicted Australia saw the participants making some real progress – the ep was on 178,000 for SBS.

UK dramas Inspector Morse and Pie in the Sky helped 7TWO to rank #1 multichannel.