As of February 18, all the podcasts that lived on PodcastOne will now be found on the LiSTNR platform. Parent company SCA has rebranded its on-demand audio platform, incorporating the PodcastOne business into LiSTNR which is also the name of a new app that delivers the podcasts, but all of SCA’s 100 live radio stations and a growing list of dedicated music streams.

See also: SCA launches major new audio destination LiSTNR

Although SCA is expected to save some money on PodcastOne licensing fees, SCA chief executive Grant Blackley told Mediaweek the company will continue to offer PodcastOne US content to listeners and sales opportunities to the market.

The ambition SCA has with LiSTNR is huge. “We are creating an audio destination for all Australian’s,” explained Blackley. “The app has radio, podcasts, music, and news and information as four content pillars.”

SCA is culling its list of podcasts in Australia, with Blackley mentioning a slimmer catalogue of Australian premium titles plus a number of international series.

As part of the music offering on LiSTNR, SCA has launched 15 new music channels and created four new music shows, with more to come.

“What we have for the audience is a personalised, curated audio eco-system. This is much more than just radio and just podcasting. It has been built to serve the needs of every person in Australia.”

The company’s app strategy means you won’t find any other radio stations on LiSTNR. “All the content is either SCA born and bred, or content we have in partnership or under licence to SCA.”

The broadcast boss indicated that probably won’t change. “We have a premium first model in relation to podcasting. We are the largest premium publisher in this country. We are not seeking to be an aggregator for the market.”

Blackley said SCA’s podcasts model has attracted some of the best podcast creators in Australia. “They like the care and attention we pay to their product. We are a simple solution for content creators in that we provide curation, production, direction and procurement, distribution and monetisation. We are a valuable business partner for content creators. We limit ourselves to what we see as premium content and we are very selective. We monetise that content for our partners and as that grows we share that with the creators.”

SCA wants podcast growth within a commercial structure. “We are not here to have a library of 1000 podcasts. We will cull our list from time to time to improve. I emphasis again we are a very focused on being a premium publisher and we can’t serve every single podcaster’s needs. We subsequently get a premium outcome from the monetisation process.”

Project LiSTNR: Three years, nearly 200 staff

Blackley: “This has involved over 180 people in 24 locations over three years. It is a home-grown product, created and built by SCA’s teams. There is nothing else available that matches what LiSTNR can offer.

“Nothing like this has existed before. Advertisers and agencies will give this serious attention and migrate to LiSTNR. This will deliver a scaled personalised and targeted solution with known audiences. That is what the industry has been seeking.”

Blackley said there are no commercial partners on LiSTNR at launch as the focus has been on building the product to this date.

“We have a whole range of commercial partners who will come to LiSTNR that are already associated with other SCA products from radio to news to podcasting. Now it has been launched monetisation will follow very quickly.”

Married at First Sight’s eighth season is set to return Monday, February 22, at 7.30pm on Nine and 9Now.

The show’s booming popularity can be seen in its swelling TV numbers.

Previous launch audiences metro:
2015: 1,143,000
2016: 769,000 (First series that year)
2016: 769,000 (Second series)
2017: 826,000
2018: 914,000
2019: 1,006,000
2020: 1,154,000

Adrian Swift the head of content, production and development at Nine told Mediaweek Married at First Sight needs to continue to improve as the production team aims to perfect the experiment.

“Every year you put people in, and it gives a completely different result. Dare I use a science term, but it is a good experiment in that you get a completely different show every time.

“The problem is you can’t not show things that happened. When things happened that are really extreme you can’t take it out because you owe it to the people who were there to show what happened.”

Choosing who walks down the aisle

Swift believes one of the keys to the show’s success this year will be the different approach that has been taken in choosing the brides and grooms.

“This year we have a cast that much better to represent Australia between the age of 23 and 46 in 2021. It is a much less extreme show, but the things that are happening in the relationships are what happens to all of us, and the way it plays out is dare I say instructive.

“There is no one that you would go ‘why the hell did you match that person with that person’, we always have a reason but this year it is more obvious from the start why this match was made. I think the audience needs to understand why they are together, and this year the psychologists did it really well.

“Have we overcompensated? I don’t think so.”

When looking for participants the team at Nine wanted people who wanted to find love but are also prepared to trust the process of the experiment

“You always look for their motivation. It can’t be too strong or too weak. You don’t want people who just want to be on television, you want people who think that this might be a way to do something different,” Swift said.

“The reason that these people’s past relationships went wrong up to this point, not always, but typically they have chosen the wrong people then defaulted into behaviour that ended those relationships.

“When the experts say you have to do something, they have to be prepared to do it, and this year I think we have people that are prepared to do that which has led to more people that are in a good place.”

Filming Married at First Sight during Covid-19

Like every production in the world over the last year, Married at First Sight was heavily affected by Covid-19 which Swift described as an absolute nightmare, but something that didn’t impact the result negatively.

“We normally do what you call meet the Fockers, which is meeting the parents and all that sort of stuff, and overseas honeymoons which we had to take out. The fact we have a more closed environment has helped make the experiment more revealing.”

In regard to the positive changes to the experiment, Swift said that he thinks the show might retain up to 50% of the Covid enforced changes in future seasons.

“The purpose of the experiment is to mimic somewhere between a year and two years in a normal relationship in a short period of time by removing a lot of the process such as travelling. This has allowed us to put more experiment in and less time for travel and extraneous stuff which has helped. The participants have said it’s more rigorous and allowed them to engage more.”

New sexologist: Alessandra Rampolla 

In 2021 Married at First Sight is adding a new face to its panel of experts. Alessandra Rampolla is a certified clinical sexologist from Puerto Rico with over 20 years’ experience, who will bring her expertise in sexology to the experiment.

Swift said that Rampolla brings genuine clinical experience and a completely different voice to the show from her experience living in Puerto Rico and Florida.

“She has that Latin perspective but also that American view which is a little bit less repressed than we are, and her views tend more on the side of sex and intimacy than process which gives a different opinion. Culturally her sitting on the couch and listening to Australians talk about their lives is really interesting.”

She joins experts John Aiken and Mel Schilling with the goal of creating perfect matches and strong relationships.

“Mel is warm and sympathetic, John is the disciplinarian and I think, Alessandra? Is much more hands-on in a psych sense.”

Secret Ingredient to making one of Australia’s biggest shows

Swift thinks that a large part of Married at First Sight’s success is that the experiment makes it bigger than a normal dating program.

“The process is fascinating. The marriage device is a level of commitment, it’s not First Dates and it’s not Love Island. There is a genuine intent when people go into this, they want to make it work, and that just reveals so much about the people involved.”

Swift said that it is an ongoing process refining the couples, and each year the team wants to be able to make better matches than the year before.

“You can argue that we have had some people on the edges before who probably wanted to be on TV as much as they wanted to get married. We have done a good job of mostly weeding those people out. We are in a place now where everybody that turns up to the alter thinks that this could be the person that they spend the rest of their life with.”

Swift also credited the show’s executive producer Tara Williams and her team as the rock that holds the whole thing together comparing running the show to riding a wild bull.

“All the extreme stuff on the show, and the affairs we never wanted any of that to happen. What makes the show so great is we don’t know what is going to happen.”

Fox League launched its NRL Telstra Premiership season on Thursday with every game on Foxtel and Kayo, live and ad-break free during play from Thursday, March 11.

The faces of 2021 Foxtel and Kayo ambassadors, James Tedesco, Mitchell Moses, Kalyn Ponga and Cameron Munster were painted into the turf of Bankwest Stadium, to create the biggest player artwork on record before being joined by the Fox League commentary team to kick off the season.

The unique grass art creative is the first of its kind in Australia and set the scene to unveil Fox League’s 2021 commentary team and a programming line-up, headed up by Matty Johns and Yvonne Sampson.

Despite a rain delay, the launch event was hosted by Yvonne Sampson who opened the event with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo who discussed the difficulties of the previous season and his excitement for the NRL All Stars game to kick-off 2021.

Following Abdo was Fox League favourite Matty Johns who looked a good 10 kilograms lighter and told Sampson it was from running up and down a hill every day till he collapsed and not eating for weeks. 

Johns announced his new show ‘Face to Face with Matty Johns’ which will air on Wednesday nights at 7.30pm.  Johns sits down with key figures in the game of rugby league and Australian society for a candid chat. The show has a growing list of interviews that already includes Anthony Mundine, Karmichael Hunt, Danny Buderus, Nicho Hynes and Melbourne Storm General Manager Frank Ponissi.

Next up was Queenslanders Mal Meinga and Cooper Cronk, with the conversation making headlines after Meninga repeatedly told Sampson that he hadn’t spoken to Cameron Smith about wearing Titans colours this year.

“I’ve not talked to Cameron. He’s the hardest bloke to get hold of in the world. I’ve not spoken to him – not has anyone from the club,” Meninga said.

“Everyone assumes he’s coming to the Titans. I haven’t talked to him, he’s not on the radar. You should ask Kevvie about Cameron so I don’t have to answer these questions any more.”

The 2021 lineup for Fox League for the year will led out of the sheds again by Matty Johns and Yvonne Sampson alongside Mal Meninga, and fellow premiership winners Cooper Cronk, Michael Ennis, Gorden Tallis, Greg Alexander and Braith Anasta.

In 2021, Fox League will feature Yvonne Sampson on Thursday Night League and Super Saturday, Jess Yates on Friday Night Football, Hannah Hollis on Sunday Ticket and Lara Pitt working across game day and magazine programming throughout the season.

When the ball is in play commentators Andrew Voss, Dan Ginnane, Warren Smith, Matt Russell and Brenton Speed will call every second of every game each week.

Returning in 2021 will be NRL 360, The Late Show with Matty Johns, Sunday Night with Matty Johns, Big League Wrap and The Fan.

The week of Fox League begins on Monday night with news from every angle when Ben Ikin and Paul Kent lead off three consecutive nights of NRL 360, with top rugby league journalists Phil “Buzz” Rothfield and James Hooper.

Now in Rabbitohs colours, Benji Marshall returns with James Graham on NRL 360 to provide the players perspective every Tuesday night in 2021.

Face-to-face with Matty Johns will lead Wednesday nights with Matty Johns sitting down with the biggest names in sport and society following NRL 360 with Lara Pitt joining the show for Legends Night featuring Geoff Toovey, Benny Elias and Mark “Spud” Carroll.

The formidable combination of Matty Johns, Gorden Tallis and Fletch and Hindy will be ready to roll again on The Late Show with Matty Johns. 

Premiering after every Super Saturday Andrew Voss and Lara Pitt are back with, The Fan, when they have some fun looking at rugby league through the historical and quirky lens of the game’s biggest fanatics.

Sunday Night with Matty Johns, is back in 2021. Matty Johns will be joined by Bryan Fletcher, Nathan Hindmarshand Emma Freedman to wrap up the round’s action.

The week wraps up with Big League Wrap with Yvonne Sampson, Mick Ennis and James Hooper dissecting all the biggest news and talking points following the weekend’s round of football.

Also set to join the Fox League team in 2021 will be newcomer Jake Duke alongside Megan Barnard and Matt Russell on NRL Tonight.

Grant Blackley, SCA CEO 

News Corp has today announced an agreement with Google to provide journalism from its news sites around the world for Google News Showcase in return for significant payments by Google.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said the agreement was made possible “thanks to the vision and diligence of News Corp and its leadership, and also by the quality of our journalism and everyone involved in informing our readers with trusted news. We are also grateful to the people at Google, led by Sundar Pichai and his team, who played a pivotal role in this historic development, which will benefit not only our business but journalists around Australia and the world.

“I would like to personally thank Rod Sims and his team at the ACCC who devoted extraordinary energy to study the impact of platforms, leading to a genuinely world leading outcome through the development of the Code of Conduct.

“We also need to acknowledge Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher as well as the opposition parties, in particular the ALP and Greens.”

Mr Miller also paid tribute to a wide range of other people and organisations whose efforts would benefit all Australians through the continued provision of journalism.

“This has always been about securing the future of journalism for the benefit of the people it serves and not about individual companies,” Mr Miller said.

“Former Senator Nick Xenophon and Senator Stirling Griff were instrumental in having Australia adopt a world first, highly innovative policy approach.

“Their work has charted a path that will benefit all journalism-based organisations in Australia.

“This is an important moment for our company, but an even more important moment for journalism and the people it serves, no matter how they consume news.”

Mr Miller said this agreement will provide some confidence in an industry that has been buffeted by many challenges in recent years.

“The future of commercial news organisations rests on their ability to establish workable business models in the digital era,” he said.

“We will continue to invest in journalism and the skills needed to tell stories in new and evolving ways across our communities, and for a digital future.”

Mr Miller said News Corp’s co-executive chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch along with chief executive Robert Thomson had led the company’s transition to digital journalism over many years.

“Robert Thomson raised the role of big tech as an issue when he was editor of The Times in the 2000s,” Mr Miller said.

“Thanks to his leadership over the many years since the entire industry can now return to a sustainable model.

“And I thank, too, everyone here at News Corp Australia for your role in serving the Australian public interest by providing citizens with the news and information they desire and need.  Your time and talent has contributed mightily to this result, which can help to benefit not only our lives and livelihoods, but the communities and country in which we live and work.”

Prior to the promotion, Hodgson was a NSW Group Sales Manager. Moving forward, she will lead the NSW agency team for all major agencies and partnerships. Reporting to Jamie Hollebone, Shopper Media’s Head of Revenue, Hodgson will focus on driving value across the agency network.

“Sophie’s role will focus on delivering excellence through market-leading OOH media campaigns, showcasing some of Australia’s most prominent brands and working closely with our agency partners to deliver precision targeting and genuine value through the media-buying process,” says Hollebone. 

“As vanguards of expanding the retail OOH category, Shopper Media has created the role to provide leadership for our ongoing growth and expansion.”

Shopper Media achieved 8.4% growth in the latest release of the Standard Media Index figures for 2020, bucking the trend for the wider out-of-home category. The agency was also was the fourth-fastest-growing media group year-on-year, behind Snapchat, Spotify, and LinkedIn, and secured top spot as the highest-growth offline media company in real dollar terms for the second year running.

Hodgson says she is incredibly excited to step into the position. “Shopper Media is leading the resurgence in out-of-home and we are the best positioned media channel to deliver proximity, and contextually relevant campaigns, helping to better connect brands with Australian shoppers, at scale” she adds. 

Shopper Media currently boasts a portfolio of circa 400 shopping centres, providing essential retail services for local communities across the country.

Since launching in 2015, the agency has focused on expanding its reach in grocery-centric hubs.

The organisation reaches more than 5.6 million Australians per fortnight via its network of high-tech SmartLite digital panels, reaching over 5.2m grocery buyers, 3.3m parents, 1.9m millennials and 2.1m Australian shoppers over 50.

Video investment continues to significantly outpace the rest of the ad market and is set to continue throughout 2021 according to new research. The Attitudes to Digital Video Report released today by IAB Australia found that 68% of agencies expect investment in digital video advertising to increase in 2021.  The report also found that 94% of agencies using digital video for increasing brand awareness expressed satisfaction with their campaign results, while the ability of digital advertising to reach audiences at scale was identified as the number one reason why 59% of agencies continue to use or recommend digital video advertising. 

IAB also provided a preview of key video advertising data points from its PwC Online Advertising Expenditure Report scheduled to be published in full next week.  That report will show that video advertising grew 41 percent in the final quarter of 2020 to reach $642.7 million making it the fastest-growing digital advertising segment, attracting more than half of digital display advertising.

Over the calendar year 2020 digital video advertising investment grew 17% to over $1.9billion.

Video creative and metric alignment were identified in the Attitudes to Digital Video Report as two key areas the industry must focus on to support the continued growth of video advertising.  It found that nearly four in ten agencies rarely or never develop digital video advertising creative to the specific media environment.  Consensus from leading advertising effectiveness research vendors is that creative is a key driver of campaign effectiveness. Given the strong impact from creative, the potential upside in developing strong impactful video creative adjusted for the media environment is significant. 

The Report also found a mismatch between campaign objectives and metrics selected by agencies to measure success.  While 81% of agencies use digital video advertising to increase brand awareness, only 38% use brand awareness lift metrics to evaluate their campaign success, opting instead to use delivery metrics such as reach and frequency, completion rates and CPM.

Additional findings from the Video Report include:

Reaching audiences at scale is the number one reason 59% of agencies use or recommend digital video advertising

Increasing brand awareness is the predominant objective for digital video campaigns with 81% of agencies reporting using digital video for increasing brand awareness.

Digital video advertising is also used by agencies to increase purchase/action intent (61%) and increase sales or conversions (47%).

78% of agencies using video advertising for increasing sales or conversions were satisfied with their campaign results

37% of agencies are not yet preparing for people-based marketing that will enable planning, activating, and measuring interactions across media into the future when third-party cookies are no longer available to use.

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia commented.  “The growth in digital video advertising investment over the last few years has been phenomenal, fuelled by continued innovation in environments, formats as well as an explosion of CTV opportunities. This Report helps to identify key areas for industry focus and development to support the market in 2021 and beyond.”

James Young, Co-Chair of IAB Australia’s Video Council and Managing Director Australia for Magnite said, “The findings of this study further underscore the importance of video as a central part of marketers’ omnichannel advertising strategies. No other advertising medium is more effective for brand building and mass awareness. From our vantage point in the industry, digital video growth is being fueled by the ability buyers have to tap into premium, long-form video with effective reach for their campaigns.”

Fifi was runner up to Kate Ceberano in 2007 (Season 6). 

Other contenders that season included Tim Campbell (third place), Jamie Durie, Todd Woodbridge, Wendell Sailor, and Naomi Robson.

The two week television event sees former champions and fan favourites quick-stepping back onto the dancefloor for a second shot at the coveted mirror ball trophy.

The full cast, host and judges will be announced soon.  

The show is set to return to its original home this year, last airing on Channel Seven five years ago. Seven hosted the popular show from 2004 through to 2016, before 10 announced they would run a revived version of the show in 2019 hosted by Grant Denyer and Amanda Keller.

10 ran two seasons of the show but in October 2020 they announced the revived series would not return in 2021.

In December 2020, Seven announced that they had re-gained the rights to the Dancing With The Stars format and that they would be bringing the show back with an All-Stars edition this year. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this series of the show won’t be filmed live.

“Dancing With The Stars is one of the most successful television formats in the world,” said Seven’s programming director, Angus Ross.

“It was a massive hit for us across 15 seasons and we are delighted to welcome it home.”

The only other confirmed star so far is Home and Away’s Ada Nicodemou, returning to the ballroom with her original dance partner Aric Yegudkin.

Ada and Aric were Season 3 champions in 2005, defeating Chris Bath and Dicko. They also went on to claim the “Champion of Champions” title that year in a friendly face off against Season 2 champions Tom Williams and Kym Johnson. 

Dancing With The Stars: All Stars is coming soon to Channel 7 and 7plus.

Remember back in the olden days when critics of the ABC would be offended at “edgy” Aussie comedies like Aunty Jack and The Big Gig? Sadly these days, all they whinge about is what some ABC producer said in a “tweet”, so in the quest for new material, could the haters check out Why Are You Like This? (Wednesday on ABC).

Cranky boomers might blow a pooper valve after watching this raunchy sitcom about selfish millennials and political correctness.

Listen to Andrew Mercado on the new Mercado & Manning Mediaweek podcast.

Why Are You Like This? is dangerous, fresh and original, and that is a rarity in TV when most new shows these days are reboots. Superman and Lois (Thursday on Fox 8) owes more than a nod to Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993), and I wonder how long it will take Dean Cain and/or Teri Hatcher to get a guest role in this new version.

Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), aka Clark Kent, and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), aka “the most famous journalist in the world”, have been married for years when this series opens. Made for the youth-orientated CW network, it should be no surprise that their twin boys are now teenagers with raging hormones, or that former high school sweetheart Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui) also has a daughter around their age.

Superman and Lois is slick as, and square-jawed Tyler Hoechlin could not be more perfect in the title role. This is now the sixth TV series in the DC Comics Arrowverse and if the rest of the series is as good as the 90-minute pilot, this could be their best superhero show yet.

The Equaliser (Wednesday on Nine) is another take on the vigilante genre after Edward Woodward launched it on TV in 1985, followed by two Denzel Washington movies. Now it is Queen Latifah and she could not be more kick ass. Like most US procedural dramas, it is borderline ridiculous but it’s got enough grunt to keep you watching if you like this sort of thing.

Another modern spin on a classic tale is Lupin (Netflix) which is inspired by the turn of the century “gentleman thief” novels from French author Maurice Leblanc. Now it’s about the charismatic chameleon Assane Diop (Omar Sy) and with the first episode filmed on location at the Louvre, it is a cracker.

But do you listen to it dubbed into English, and put up with everyone’s lips not moving in time? Or do you change your Netflix settings into English subtitles and original French dialogue? I go with the sexy accents every time.

Listen to Andrew Mercado on the new Mercado & Manning Mediaweek podcast.

Primetime News
Seven News 942,000 (6:00 pm)/899,000 (6:30 pm)
Nine News 773,000 (6:00 pm)/764,000 (6:30 pm)
ABC News 698,000
10 News First 358,000 (5:00 pm)/211,000 (6:30 pm)
SBS World News 180,000 (6:30)/ 142,000 (7:00 pm)

Daily current affairs
7.30 576,000
The Project 280,000 (6:30 pm)/442,000 (7:00 pm)
The Drum 171,000

Breakfast TV
Sunrise 252,000
Today 209,000
News Breakfast 208,000

Nine won its 11th day in a row with a 19.4% primary share and a 27.3% network share as the Australian Open continues to deliver for the broadcaster.

The Open’s night session had an average of 562,000 and 391,000 and Novak Djokovic was centre stage defeating qualifier Aslan Karatsev in the semi-final to go through to his ninth Australian Open final. The match averaged a metro audience of 588,000. The Open was also #1 in the 16-39 and the 18-9 demographics.

Seven aired its Thursday night Home and Away triple threat with an average of 459,000 across the three episodes. This was followed by the second episode of the new Wife Swap Australia with 306,000, which was down on the 346,000 from last week.

Last night’s episode of Wife Swap Australia featured a lenient mum of unruly quadruplets and a no-nonsense mum of two highly-disciplined kids.

7Two was the top multichannel last night thanks to Father Brown and Murdoch Mysteries.

On 10 Gogglebox Australia returned for its new season as the Goggleboxers sank into the couch and got stuck into a new year of shows. The 13th season premiere on 10 had 502,000 and was #1 in the 25-54 demographic, after having 183,000 the night before on Foxtel’s Lifestyle. The show’s 2020 premiere on 10 had 685,000.

The Project had 280,000 and 442,000 with the episode focusing on how the battle between Facebook and the Federal Government changed peoples feeds and took crucial health pages offline. The project also had Gretel Killeen to talk all about her new book My Daughter’s Wedding.

In the 7:30 pm slot last night 10 aired a repeat of Ambulance Australia which brought in 303,000 viewers. 

On the ABC Back Roads was the top entertainment show with 520,000 which was up on last week’s 454,000. The episode featured guest host Poh Ling Yeow who explored a remote outpost connected by their love of opal in Coober Pedy in South Australia.

Q+A had 280,000 which was down on last week’s 294,000 as the program has continued to fail to crack 300,000 since moving from its regular Monday slot to Thursdays in 2021.

SBS’s top-rated non-news programs were Cornwall with Simon Reeve (125,000) and The Truth about Cosmetic Treatments (123,000).