Both TV executives were just back off a plane on the weekend from London where they attended several studio screenings in addition to meetings with the global ViacomCBS heads.

Anderson didn’t speak onstage at the MasterChef kitchen at the Melbourne Showgrounds, but McGarvey did, alongside Endemol Shine Australia chief content officer Peter Newman. Event MC Angela Bishop asked them both about the new season and McGarvey explained about the momentum the channels have after a strong season of I’m A Celebrity which has now carried into Australian Survivor: All Stars.

With the first MasterChef launch event in two years, 10 seems to be intent in bottling that momentum to push over the edge any brands that have yet to sign on alongside Coles and others.

Bishop also got to introduce the first promo for the new season featuring the three new judges – Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen and the contestants. The Studio 10 co-host and network entertainment editor also got to introduce each of the 24 new contestants who are back to win with this new chance they have been given to be crowned MasterChef.

The launch formalities were kept to a minimum with the guests then let loose on the food, which as you’d expect, was up to MasterChef standard. One TV executive said: “If you can’t get a good feed here you’ll never get one.”

Visting ViacomCBS Networks president Maria Kyriacou (left) with Mark Fennessy, Andy Allen, Carl Fennessy, Melissa Leong, Jock Zonfrillo, Daniel Monaghan, Beverley McGarvey and Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson’s special guest for the night was recently promoted ViacomCBS executive Maria Kyriacou who is now president of ViacomCBS Networks UK and Australia. Also on hand from 10 were the all stars from the sales team – Rod Prosser, Lisa Squillace Michael Standford and Tamar Hovagimian. Also amongst the 10 team was head of programming Daniel Monaghan.

10 sales all stars: Michael Standford, National Creative Director; Lisa Squillace, National Sales Director; Tamar Hovagimian, Head of 10 Effect and Rod Prosser, Chief Sales Officer

While Peter Newman shined onstage, keeping a lower profile at the back of the MasterChef kitchen were Endemol Shine Australia co-CEOs Carl and Mark Fennessy and their MasterChef executive producer Marty Benson.

Beverley McGarvey and Marty Benson

After working across most of the 15 editions of the cooking format over the past 12 years, could this be a farewell to the format for the production brothers ahead of the merging of Screentime and ESA?

Consumer media at the launch included some of News Corp’s finest including Holly Byrnes and Nui Te Koha with News contributor Colin Vickery plus the people’s champion, TV Tonight founder David Knox.

Business journalists making the trip from Sydney included The Australian’s Leo Shanahan and Mumbrella’s Vivienne Kelly.

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Top Photo: MasterChef: Back To Win – All 24 contestants with the new judges

She was back in Sydney after a trip to the annual sales event BBC Showcase alongside others from the region that included Jon Penn, executive vice president APAC, Deborah Tod, head of content sales and co-production, Australia and New Zealand and Tim Christlieb, director of branded services, Australia and New Zealand.

Buyers from the region looking over the BBC catalogue in Liverpool included Stan’s Les Sampson, Foxtel’s Alison Hurbert-Burns, SBS’s Marshall Heald and UK-based reps from the FTA networks.

Laing explained to Mediaweek the scope of the content on offer to the Australian market:

“What BBC Studios can offer to our Australian and New Zealand business partners is the best British content across a huge breadth of programming – from premium and popular drama to blue chip natural history, science, factual entertainment, lifestyle, comedy and entertainment – and there is something very powerful about seeing it all together in one place. It’s also a chance hear from some of the best talent in the business, both on and off screen, who really bring these titles alive for our customers.”

Despite an explosion of content available to channels and platforms, Australian audiences continue to love British-produced content which BBC Studios offers from a number of sources.

“British drama of all stripes remains of strong interest in Australia and New Zealand,” said Laing. “BBC Studios has stakes in a number of premium independent production companies as well as titles which are produced in-house.

“Some of the dramas that attracted attention were Small Axe, a series from Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen, adaptations of critically-acclaimed novels like Us from David Nicholls and A Suitable Boy adapted by Andrew Davies, as well as a second series of The Split, psychological thriller We Hunt Together and the latest title from See-Saw Films, The North Water starring Colin Farrell.

“Natural history has had a huge resurgence lately and is incredibly popular in Australia and New Zealand, as seen with our recent deals with Nine and TVNZ as well as the launch of BBC Earth on Foxtel earlier this year. Again BBC Studios can deliver real breadth in this genre from the next blue-chip title Perfect Planet to Animal Impossible which tests some of the myths associated with certain animals.”

Amongst the content in the Nine deal are new seasons of Top Gear which is again getting big audiences in be UK with new presenters Paddy Guinness and Freddie Flintoff joining Chris Harris and will hopefully be released soon in Australia.

When Podcast Week first encountered Sarah Grynberg and her PodcastOne series A Life of Greatness we mentioned the former radio producer Grynberg has been a great listener.

“I have been fortunate in meeting some wonderful people and I have been fascinated about how some people achieve greatness and some don’t,” she told Mediaweek last year. “I have been lucky enough to see a side of Hamish Blake for example that no one else sees. Behind the humour and the glitter is an empathetic soul who is so grateful and one of the most beautiful people I have worked with.”

While Grynberg had Blake as a guest last season, she completes the set this season with an Andy Lee episode.

Sarah Grynberg with Andy Lee

The latest Podcast Ranker chart sees A Life of Greatness lift 21 places. Grynberg also has a bit to do with another PodcastOne series that does well on that chart – she is executive producer of the Hamish & Andy podcast.

This week Grynberg told Mediaweek when her series launched she had no doubt she would find an audience: “Since the very beginning there has never been any doubt in my mind that A Life of Greatness would do really well. The messages, strategies and inspiration my guests share have had ripple effects with our listeners who in such a short time have experienced immense personal growth from the stories we’ve shared.”

The mix of guests seems to resonate with the audience too.

“My audience loves the diversity of guests I choose for each series, all of them adding their own take on how they have achieved greatness in their lives and giving tips and advice on how my audience can too. Marisa Peer who is known as Britain’s best psychologist has been a personal favourite of many, she speaks about how to master your thoughts so you can master your world and create the best environment for our children so they thrive.

“Kate Langbroek’s vulnerability and wisdom was an interview that touched the heartstrings of many. Gabby Bernstein’s raw and honest conversation about mental health, the stigma around taking anti-depressants and how to attract your dream life was a definite favourite.”

The host has been on a learning journey too along with her audience: “There is not one interview I have done where I haven’t taken away a piece of useful information that has changed the way I conduct my life. The wisdom my guests have shared has had such a positive impact on me, I feel truly grateful to be able to have evolved so much.”

Sarah Grynberg and Turia Pitt

It was hard to pin down Grynberg for a particular favourite: “All of the interviews are interesting. Vishen is a fascinating man who shares a lot of wisdom in the interview about his life’s journey and how he went from humble beginnings to owning Mindvalley, the biggest online university in the world, that is changing millions of people’s lives. My interview with Andy Lee is honest and vulnerable, Andy shares stories of his childhood, what it’s like being in the public eye and the importance of family. Turia Pitt is also fascinating she talks about the power of gratitude, strategies on shifting negative thought patterns and how after everything she has gone though she couldn’t be happier.”

Listen to A Life Of Greatness here.

Introducing A Cuppa and a Yarn

The bi-weekly podcast A Cuppa and A Yarn, hosted by Michelle Aleksandrovics-Lovegrove, is presented by the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. Aleksandrovics-Lovegrove is a broadcaster and journalist now running media and communications for NSWALC.

Each episode sees NSWALC sit down for a cuppa and a yarn with members of the Land Rights network, its supporters and contributors to Australia’s rich cultural history. The producers promise “you’ll laugh, cry and be inspired by each individual tale as we delve into the big issues, history and the personal journeys of our incredible guests”.

The most recent guest is a woman who’s dedicated her life to reconciliation and social inclusion. Shelley Reys has more than 25 years’ experience in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and reconciliation landscape, was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2012 for her distinguished service to Indigenous communities and was named in The Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence.

Shelley talks with Aleksandrovics-Lovegrove about her company Arrilla, her partnership with KPMG and her poignant memories of her father Frank Reys, who became world famous when he won the 1973 Melbourne Cup.

Listen to A Cuppa and a Yarn here.

Deloitte on the rise of podcasting: Markey to be worth US$1b+

For its latest Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Predictions report, Deloitte predicts the global audiobook market will grow by 25 percent to US$3.5 billion. And audiobooks aren’t the only audio format gaining in popularity. Deloitte also predicts the global podcasting market will increase by 30 percent to reach US$1.1 billion in 2020, surpassing the US$1 billion mark for the first time.

The report continues:

These numbers may not look like much next to radio’s US$42 billion and music’s (recorded and live) US$51 billion global annual revenues. But in a world where overall media and entertainment growth stands at just 4 percent,25 to 30 percent annual growth is impressive, even considering the low absolute base.

The signal is clear: Audiobooks and podcasts are outgrowing their “niche” status to emerge as substantive markets in their own right. With anticipated revenues of just over US$1 billion in 2020, podcasts barely make enough money today to rate a slot on the media formats list. But if future growth remains as high as in the past few years, podcasts could be a US$3.3 billion–plus business by 2025.

For this to happen, however, the podcast industry should further expand globally, add new listeners, and – most crucially – get better at monetising (at least to some extent) its large listener base. Podcasts, on the other hand, have multiple revenue streams: advertising and sponsorships, subscriptions, events, merchandise, content marketing, contracts for branded podcasts, and individual listener donations. Of these, advertising and sponsorships are by far the largest, although exact splits by revenue stream do not seem to be publicly available. Because the barriers to podcasting are low, anyone can (and a great many do) make them: As of 2019, more than 700,000 podcast series encompassing 29 million episodes were active, and most were basically free for the listening.

Access the complete Deloitte report here.

However, he hasn’t stayed off the radio waves for long having returned earlier this year with the revival of the Saturday sports show The Dead Set Legends featuring Wendell Sailor and Jude Bolton, and he tells Mediaweek that this is a return to something that is near and dear to his heart- talking sport.

Read More: Turning off the Grill: Gus Worland on life after breakfast radio

This is nothing new for Worland who got his start with the cricket show An Aussie Goes Barmy which was followed by an Aussie Goes Bolly, and An Aussie Goes Calypso which aired between 2006 to 2008.

The series was produced by Worland’s close friend Hugh Jackman’s production company and was the first time that Worland had ever produced any content. The show ended up taking him from a computer salesman in England to a breakfast radio host in Sydney.

Since then Worland has continued to make content for Foxtel including the Cricket Tragic on Fox Cricket which just wrapped up its second season, but he says that he is still keen to see more possible iterations of the Aussie Goes series.

“Working with Fox Cricket has made me think that we can do Aussie Goes Barmy again, but over in England and I think South Africa and Sri Lanka would be two countries. I also have the idea for an Aussie goes Aussie that looks at all the countries living in Australia and the world of cricket that exists in our country.”

While Worland always has an eye on TV he tells Mediaweek that his current focus is his new radio show Dead Set Legends which launched earlier this year and is scheduled for 42 weeks, and he is looking forward to starting the show in an Olympic year,

“Everyone loves talking about the Olympics and they fall in love with sport every four years, so its the perfect time to bring back a show like this.”

After 10 years at Triple M Worland said that he jumped at the opportunity to stay with the station, especially if it meant that he could  get paid to talk about sport. 

“They asked me what would you like to do? I said well what about Dead Set Legends? I never understood why the show was taken off in the first place since it was such a great show, and they said that’s perfect.”

“I knew I had to do doing something for my own mental fitness I couldn’t just do Gotcha4Life, I needed another outlet and weekend radio was perfect.”

When asked about whether we would see The Grill Team again Worland said never say never but he is extremely happy with his new co-hosts and says it feels like it did when he was on The Grill Team,

“They asked me who I wanted to work with and I asked if we could get Dell from the afternoon show, and Jude Bolton is one of my ambassadors and one of the blokes that I truly adore and together they provide the type of balance that we needed. So those where the blokes I wanted and within a week they were signed and I was like it sounds like we have a show, let’s do it.

“It feels like we are building another mini Grill Team again.”

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Top Photo: Wendell Sailor, Gus Worland, and Jude Botlon

The week sees the launch of Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA), a new national not-for-profit industry association that gives the independent media agency industry a collaborative voice and supports Australian owned businesses.

Twenty independent media agencies will become founding members of the IMAA, with many more expected.

The IMAA’s purpose is to:

• Promote the benefits of working with independent media agencies, including the benefit of working directly with the owners of these agencies and their staff
• Build further respect for independent media agencies by promoting the experience, care and flexibility that they provide
• Educate advertisers about the value independent media agencies can bring to their business
• Promote collaboration between independent media agencies as a forum to share knowledge
• Create a verified platform for reputable and established independent media agencies
• Build the Australian economy through supporting 100% Australian owned independent media agencies, meaning that money stays in Australia

The founding IMAA members, Dominic Pearman from Pearman Media; Ant Colreavy from Sandbox Media; Dan O’Brien from Frontier Australia; Nick Behr from Kaimera and Sam Buchanan from McKenzie Partners, will comprise a five-member management committee for the first year. The management committee will rotate with other members annually. Dominic Pearman is the chairman of the IMAA.

“One quarter, or more than $2.5 billion in advertising expenditure, is represented by Australia’s independent media agencies. Collectively, we act for some of Australia’s best-known brands and our agencies are led by industry experts and leaders,” Pearman said.

“There are many benefits for advertisers to work with independent media agencies, one of the most important being the depth and longevity of experience they provide and staff consistency and stability. We are business owners working within the business. The IMAA will provide the independent sector with a louder, unified voice to educate the industry and demonstrate the great work we do and help grow the Australian economy.”

To be eligible to join the IMAA, independent media agencies must be 100% Australian owned, be in business for more than two years or must be in the industry for more than 10 years, and show evidence of respect for Australia’s media owners. Members receive a range of benefits including a formalised network of industry leaders, a code of conduct, staff training, pitch support and IMAA certification.

Thirteen of Australia’s media owners have pledged their support for the IMAA and will be involved in learning sessions, insights briefings and management meetings.

“Independent media agencies pride themselves on strong, respectful and open and transparent relationships with media owners. We work collaboratively and are strong supporters of the local media market. We are delighted that 13 media owners will support the IMAA and its charter,” Pearman said.

The IMAA will be actively involved in the industry and has several initiatives planned which will be announced shortly.

Foundation member agencies:

Above Trading – https://www.abovetrading.com.au/

Avenue C – https://www.avenuec.com.au/

Benedictus Media – https://www.benedictusmedia.com/

Blue Sky Media – https://www.blueskymm.com.au/

BRMM (Co.Gency Group) – https://brmm.com.au/

Communicate Australia – http://communicateaustralia.com.au/

Customedia – http://www.customedia.com.au/

Enigma Communications – https://www.enigma.net.au/

Frontier – https://www.frontieraustralia.com.au/

Hyland Agency – https://hylandagency.com/

Joy – https://www.joyagency.co/

Kaimera – https://kaimera.com.au/

Love Media – https://www.lovemediagroup.com.au/

McKenzie Partners – https://www.mckenzie.com.au/

Mediasmiths – https://www.mediasmiths.com.au/

Multi Media – https://www.multimediabuying.com.au/

Pearman Media – https://pearman.com.au/

Sandbox Media – https://sandboxmedia.com.au/

Sweeney Advertising – https://www.sweeneyadvertising.com.au/

The Media Store – https://themediastore.com.au/

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Top Photo: IMAA committee members (L-R): Dan O’Brien, Sam Buchanan, Dominic Pearman (Chairman), Nick Behr and Ant Colreavy

Amanda and Tash walked in separately. After another week of zero connection and no effort on Tash’s end, Amanda decided it was best they didn’t ‘fake it anymore’, therefore walking in hand-in-hand to the event was off the table.

Tash. Credit: 9Now

Hayley and David came and left strong. It’s funny to think back to last Wednesday night when notorious TV star Hayley was the centre of attention at the party, and for all the wrong reasons. After a complete 180, Hayley was on her best behaviour and actually lectured couples on how to improve their own relationships since hers is ‘so successful now’ – which didn’t really sit well with them, actually.

Michael. Credit: 9Now

After a few drinks in, it was three versus one: Steve and Michael had a screaming match which ended with Steve’s new bride Mishel teaming with Michael and Stacey. This was due to Steve publicly shutting Mishel down which utterly infuriated her – and she was already deeply upset with him.

Steve. Credit: 9Now

Michael, who waved the bait at Steve, decided one fight wasn’t enough for the evening. The second enemy he made last night was Natasha. 

Natasha joked with Ken and Barbie couple Michael and Stacey earlier in the evening that she and Mikey had consummated their marriage during intimacy week, and that it was the best 10 seconds of her life and she can’t wait to make it 20.

Mikey. Credit: 9Now

Michael snitched to Mikey, which left Mikey almost in tears due to his new wife’s betrayal of trust and so he walked away from the party. Michael and Natasha had their screamfest, and then Natasha and Mikey headed home separately.

Married at First Sight returns on Sunday at 7pm on Nine and 9Now.

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Top photo credit: 9Now

This year, JCDecaux is also an official media partner for the event and will feature advertising for the Sydney Mardi Gras festival on other street furniture, rail and transit signage across the city.

JCDecaux ANZ CEO, Steve O’Connor, said: “The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of the oldest, continuously operating LGBTQI organisations in Australia.

“Last year was our first time converting our parade route signage to rainbow colours, and we received such great feedback on this global-first initiative that we decided continue this tribute to equality. We are thrilled to be able to again participate in both the lead-up to Mardi Gras and the event itself, where more than 300,000 people join the celebrations along the parade route, in a unique, interesting way.”

The JCDecaux rainbow logo will feature on all 20 of its advertising panels, including bus stops and phone bollards, along the parade route throughout the Mardi Gras festival from 16th February until 2nd March.

Dinner party time on Married At First Sight kept the audience enthralled and the numbers over 1m. There was quite a bit of chat about handprints on an ass amongst other things. Nine’s primary share was over 24% and its network share close to 31%.
Also working well for Nine was A Current Affair on 681,000.
Doctor Doctor followed MAFS with 540,000 and a special appearance from guest star Robyn Nevin.

Seven trailed the leader by a considerable margin.
Home and Away again was best after the News but the audience was just over 5000,000.
The numbers then dropped to just over 400,000 for My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals on 416,000.

Johnny’s truth bombs at tribal council couldn’t save him on Australian Survivor All Stars where 10 was again competitive in the demos with an all people metro audience of 584,000.

Earlier in the night The Project featured Ryan Fitzgerald at the desk and included a cross to the MasterChef launch as the hosts talked to Poh and Hayden about returning to the kitchen. The show did 445,000 after 7pm.

Mad As Hell was again close to 600,000 with Shaun Micallef holding the biggest audience on ABC after the News. Hard Quiz was not far behind on 588,000.

Two shows averaged 228,000 for SBS – Tony Robinson’s Hidden Britain By Drone at 7.30pm and then the new drama Dublin Murders at 8.30pm.