After announcing Nine’s results for the first half 2019/20, CEO Hugh Marks explained in greater detail to Mediaweek some of the triumphs and challenges across the various divisions.

Is it a hard thing for Nine to improve its ad share?

No, it’s not a hard thing. What I will accept is that our sales team had a lot on their plate last year – mergers and acquisitions – and I didn’t make their job easy. As we go into this year with no more acquisitions or mergers, hopefully with all the sales structures resolved, we can focus on operating performance and get out to do some basic selling. We want to rely less on market structures and more on the traditional success of the sales team which is selling the vision of where the value for advertisers is.

Michael Stephenson [chief sales officer] and the sales team have embraced that as we move into this year and we are seeing some results from that.

Is there still a perception Seven is the market leader?

Market dynamics play a role. But we should have been able to do a 40% share across the calendar year [2019]. We are not far away, but that is worth probably $20m across the year and that is the size of the opportunity we need to pursue this calendar year.

Making 9Now a stronger free on-demand platform

At 9Now we see huge traffic with programs like Married At First Sight and Love Island – the big reality shows drive more traffic. But we then have troughs around that which makes it hard from an advertiser perspective to consistently buy across the year. What we have to do is focus on lifting the troughs and content acquisition allows us to lift to a more consistent level across the year.

We won’t be making a huge investment and it’s pretty targeted. The distinction with Stan is that it plays in the premium content end of the game and the material 9Now will buy will not be high end. It will more likely be US network content rather than product more at home on cable.

Sports rights – bigger is better

We will continue with any sports we are able to have long-term relationships with. [Marks yesterday indicated the 2019 World Cup One Day cricket broadcasts last year were not financially attractive.] To be selling one-off content is harder to do. We will be much more focused on sports where we can work with sponsors across many years.

Netball is a good example of what we will keep. It didn’t have significant commercial presence and we have seen that grow with Nine. It is a consistent delivery to the audience year-on-year, and our involvement is much more than what we just put on air.

See also:
Nine Entertainment reports flat revenue as first half profit slips 10%
• Digital revenues climb, more content for 9Now, Stan subs hits 1.8m

Where will $100m of cost savings come from?

We are going to focus on where we get a return on investment. International content is the thing that really struggles from an audience perspective. If we keep paying what we have been paying in the past the industry will be killed.

As we move into North Sydney we will be looking for costs savings – we will have two technology teams, a number of finance teams, multiple sales structures and we will look at the way he produce short form video. There has to be efficiencies as we move into those premises.

Nine Radio: 2GB we (still) have a problem

There will be continual evolution at Nine Radio, but for the time being it’s about revenue and content which will be the focus. We have reset the cost base. We really need to focus on rebuilding the revenue lines that are weaker than they should be.

3AW has been performing very strongly in line with its [ratings] consistency and reliability. Meanwhile the breakfast issues at 2GB have been a real challenge. It hasn’t turned around and this is a revenue business. Audience does lead to revenue – if audience doesn’t revert to revenue you have a problem.

Revenue at 2GB remains an ongoing issue and remains a reasonably significant issue in the context of the business. Everybody needs to work from Tom Malone and Alan Jones and down to resolve that issue. If we don’t convert Alan’s fantastic audience into revenue then the business has a challenge. There have also been some Sydney-specific sales issues we are in the process of addressing.

Newsbrand business model and future of print

There are significant overhead costs for newspapers and how do we allocate that cost between print and digital? It becomes very hard to separate the businesses. Print always remains a component of those mastheads. It stands for what they are and print is a very important part of the brands. You will however see a transition of the business where more investment will go into digital revenue areas and maybe less into areas linked to the print publication.

Stan powering toward 2m subscribers

We have over 1.8m Stan subscribers on average now which includes free trial subscriptions. We have a low rate of subscriber acquisition so at the moment the number of paying subscribers would be very close to 1.8m.

That’s a great result given the activity in the streaming marketplace and indicates the strength of Stan’s brand.

Why Nine is not about to start a production business

We have had a good model by using outside production houses for our programs. The benefit for Seven has been [making] Home and Away. It’s a legacy production from 30 years ago. We don’t have one of those. Without that you can’t really support the overhead of investing in program development and associated costs. We should remain open to the best ideas wherever they may come from. Our business is then how we take those ideas and execute them with whoever it is that makes the program. We then use our distribution network to provide a revenue base for those ideas. That’s our model and we will continue with that model. I’ve been in the production business and it is not an easy business.

Gone fishing with Hook, Line & Sinker

The podcast series from fishing experts Nick Duigan, Andrew Hart and Luke McCredden is new from PodcastOne this month. Although you might ask what has taken them so long to branch out in to audio episodes. The companion TV fishing show Hook, Line and Sinker has been around for close to 20 years and the Tasmanian-based production has been seen initially on Southern Cross Television and more recently on 7mate and Fox Sports/Kayo Sports.

The idea for the first audio series of seven episodes is to take fishing “off its pedestal and giving it back to the people”. There are no silly questions in this back-to-basics primer for people eager to get away from the office and into the outdoors.

The series encourages families and children to spend more quality time together outdoors, exploring Australia’s great rivers, oceans and waterways. “Fishing can be very complicated, but our aim is to strip it back to the very core,” said the hosts.

The podcast hosts aim to hook listeners with their simple step-by-step guide. From where the best locations are to fish, to what to buy in the tackle shop and what to do when you get your very first bite – the expert fishermen will share their insider tips and tricks.

Luke McCredden, said: “We are so thrilled to be working with PodcastOne Australia on the Hook, Line and Sinker series. Our TV show has been such a great success, it’s fantastic to be able to take it back to the basics again in the hope of opening the joys of fishing to a whole new audience. The more we can get people learning how simply it can be done – the more people can enjoy it!”

Listen to Hook, Line & Sinker here.

Olympic Games Preview…from Nine

Seven West Media might be the Olympic Games rights holder in Australia for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but it’s the major sporting event of the year and all media companies want a piece of the action. Nine will be covering the Games from sometimes outside the official stadiums on its print, broadcast and digital platforms and has just launched a Tokyo 2020 preview podcast – Ready Set Tokyo.

The podcast series was actually launched in July last year when the 12-month countdown started for the 2020 Games.

The podcast claims to be the only one of its type in Australia, delivering a variety of interviews, news and opinion, all about the Olympic Games, with a focus on Tokyo 2020.

The Nine Radio series is hosted by 3AW’s Shane McInnes and 2GB’s Natalie Peters.

McInnes and Peters are no novices when it comes to major sporting events, both having covered two Olympic Games – London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Among the guests featured to date are John Coates, Kieren Perkins, Kevan Gosper, Andrew Gaze, Sally Pearson and Steve Hooker.

So far in the three episodes dropped from season two subscribers have heard from the Olympic team doctor about the coronavirus, Bronte Campbell on qualifying for Tokyo and Michael Klim on his swimming career.

For the remainder of the series the hosts are promising to chat with athletes from across the globe as they prepare to make the trip to Tokyo for the sporting event that captivates the world.

Shane McInnes is a sports broadcaster with 3AW. As well as the Olympics, he has covered two Commonwealth Games, Glasgow and the Gold Coast.

Natalie Peters is the 2GB news director. She has also covered two Winter Olympics, in Sochi and PyeongChang.

Listen to Ready, Set, Tokyo here.

Start your podcast search engine: Supercars are go

The Loud Pedal podcast is promising to be create headlines again in 2020. Fox Sports podcast hosts Chris Stubbs and Supercars driver Lee Holdsworth will be joined by the biggest names in the sport as they take all the major talking points to the next level.

The third season of the podcast covering everything Supercars is moments away from the green light for its third season with the first races of the season last week in Adelaide.

With exclusive insights from drivers, team managers and the media, the Loud Pedal keeps motorsport fans informed and entertained in between events. It’s more than just breaking news and opinion, the Loud Pedal is a free pass to the personalities, politics and passion of pit lane.

Listen to Loud Pedal here.

11/11/1975: The day some say broke Australian Democracy

People old enough to remember and those young to want to know what all the fuss about can now relive the most dramatic day in Australian politics with a new ABC podcast, The Eleventh.

What do you know about the 11th of November 1975? The day that the 21st Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam was sacked and removed from office by the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, the Governor-General.

The Eleventh is being marketed as an explosive thriller that tells everything you never knew about one of the most famous chapters of Australian political history – the dismissal of Prime Minister Whitlam.

The podcast series, which released its first three episodes Tuesday February 25, has all the elements of an epic, combining political drama, secrets and spies, plus a story of love and lust. It’s about big power, big egos…and even bigger mistakes.

Award-winning investigative journalist, Alex Mann, seeks new clues and perspectives about what led to the sacking of Whitlam, shining new light on the gap between what’s been told and what actually happened, and what remains hidden under lock and key.

Events are explained in forensic detail from those central to the story, including would-be PM John Howard, former New York ABC correspondent (before he joined Nine) Ray Martin, Canberra Press Gallery insider Paul Kelly, alongside government, police and ASIO insiders.

Host Alex Mann is an award-winning Sydney-based journalist with the ABC investigative radio documentary program, Background Briefing. In 2017 he was recognised as South Australia’s Journalist of the Year and has won several other media awards for his reporting with ABC’s 7.30 program.

Listen to The Eleventh here.

Podcast Event alerts: Spotify, IAB, Content Melbourne & Audioland

Spotify has an invite-only event this week for podcasters called The Podcast (R)evolution. The Sydney afternoon event agenda includes Spotify’s transformation into an engine for podcast innovation. Special guest is Cecilia Qvist, global head of markets at Spotify. The audio platform will then be hosting a “Meet the Makers” panel featuring Rowdie Walden from Spotify Originals, Clancy Overell from The Beetoota Advocate, Julian Morgans from Vice and popular podcaster and broadcaster, Mamamia’s Rachel Corbett.

Meanwhile Mumbrella’s May Sydney event Audioland continues to add guest speakers. Confirmed so far are podcasters Meshel Laurie, Osher Günsberg and Andy Lee, BBC Global News president of commercial development Alistair McEwan, Travis Johnson, CEO of Amazon special agency Podean, Grant Tothill, head of PodcastOne and Guy Scott-Wilson, content director at Acast.

Melbourne was the host city of two events this week. First was a Content Melbourne gathering looking at trends in content. Among the speakers was Alana Mahony from Whooshkaa Podcasting.

A day later was IAB’s Audio Summit part one, the Sydney edition is coming on March 4. Speakers in Melbourne included IAB’s Gai Le Roy, Emily Croker from Acast, Dan Staudinger from Eardrum and Richard Palmer from Triton Digital.

The Audio Summit coincided with new research from IAB.
Read more here.
Agencies using podcast advertising to help build brand awareness

New US Podcast Ranker from Edison

Edison Research has released its first Top 10 Podcast ranker, new from the company’s subscription product, the Podcast Consumer Tracker (PCT). The ranker depicts the top 10 podcasts in America by reach among weekly podcast consumers. Edison claims PCT is the only comprehensive and all-inclusive study of the reach of podcast networks and shows in America.

The top 10 podcasts in America for the third and fourth quarters of 2019, as ranked by the percentage of weekly podcast consumers 18+ who have listened to them, is as follows:

1.The Joe Rogan Experience
2. This American Life
3. The Daily
4. My Favorite Murder
5. Crime Junkie
6. Stuff You Should Know
7. Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
8. Serial
9. Pod Save America
10. Radiolab

The Podcast Consumer Tracker data is based upon 4,053 online interviews with weekly podcast consumers, ages 18 and older.

Today’s announcement follows ARN’s move in October 2019 to secure exclusive sales representation for all Australian downloads of the iHeartPodcast Network. The catalogue reinforces the company’s leadership position in Defining Audio through delivering the most complete audio offering for audiences and advertisers. 

The iHeartPodcast Network Australia has significant scale with over 30 million monthly Australian impressions across International, Local and Catchup podcasts – bolstered by a Run of Genre ad offering across eight categories.

The iHeartPodcast Network Australia is integrated across the business and sets ARN on course to dominate the Australian podcast advertising landscape, providing brands with access to significant scale.

Key to ARN’s iHeartPodcast Network Australia is the support of local content creators. Through a slate of evolving iHeartRadio Australia Original Podcast partnerships including ‘Life Uncut’ with Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley, ‘Rise and Conquer’ and ‘Equity Mates’, ARN is using its scale to help listeners overcome the challenge of podcast discovery. 

ARN Commercial Product and Audio Partnerships Director Corey Layton said: “Australians are listening to more audio than ever before, using podcasts to complement rather than replace other audio. Our ability to integrate podcast and radio talent into advertising campaigns provides our clients with best in class solutions, across all forms of audio.”

ARN Chief Commercial Officer Peter Whitehead said: “ARN is the only audio company that has been able to consolidate radio, music and podcasts all in one place for Australian audiences through our ongoing investment in iHeartRadio. With our unique audience-led approach to creating targeted commercial and custom content across broadcast and on-demand audio, we have cemented our leadership position in Defining Audio in Australia. With the launch of iHeartPodcast Network Australia, we reinforce our commercial offering to clients powered by enhanced data and targeting to maximise cut through.”

Don’t miss the huge new edition of Podcast Week in Mediaweek Morning Report on Thursday

Global podcast engine Acast has launched Acast Marketplace, the new home of podcast buying globally and in Australia.

The company says Acast Marketplace gives advertisers both direct and automated access to the world’s best podcasts, the most talented creators, and the most engaged listeners across any and every podcast platform.

Acast invented dynamic ad insertion in podcasts back in 2014 – today widely adopted as the norm throughout the industry – and is now present in 13 markets worldwide.

In Australia, Acast now exceeds 20 million Australian listens each month.

Global advertiser spend with Acast has increased 90% in the last year and locally some of Australia’s most respectable brands are choosing to invest in the Acast network. The number of unique advertisers spending with Acast in Australia increased 52% over the same period to more than 250.

These figures mirror a recent report from Deloitte forecasting Australian podcast revenue is set to outpace the 30 per cent growth rate predicted globally to reach AUD$47 million in 2020.

Henrik Isaksson, Acast managing director for Australia and New Zealand, said: “Acast Marketplace sets a new standard for the entire podcast industry by bringing everything we do for advertisers under a single, easy-to-access umbrella.

“While Acast Marketplace is being launched globally, it is also a much-needed tool for Australian advertisers. With our unparalleled reach, unique audience and list of premium content creators, Acast Marketplace will give local advertisers an easy and efficient way to advertise in what we believe is the widest range of publishers and independent podcasters in Australia.”

Acast Marketplace will continue to expand and develop throughout 2020 – including innovations in its technology, growing its artificial intelligence functions, further exploration of pioneering voice recognition, and much more.

See also:
IAB’s Audio Advertising State of the Nation Report: Agencies using podcast advertising to help build brand awareness

One in 10 Australians had four or more subscription services in the home in 2019, up from just four per cent in 2017. Overall 83% of Australian internet users reported viewing either paid or unpaid video content online in the past six months.

In the three months to 30 June 2019, Australians downloaded a total of almost six million terabytes of data, enough to watch around 2.2 billion hours of high-definition video. Of that data, more than 88% was downloaded through fixed internet services.

This data and other insights were published today in the ACMA Communications report 2018–19, which provides a comprehensive profile of Australia’s communications and media sector.

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the report shows the ongoing importance of Australia’s fixed network.

“Australians are using their fixed internet connections for data-hungry applications such as video streaming and are spending more time watching content online,” O’Loughlin said.

“Online video and use of smart devices is exploding in popularity as high-speed networks are creating markets for new, innovative services across the Australian economy.

“It’s clear that Australians have embraced technology which is helping drive demand for faster internet.”

The report also shows Australians are increasingly reliant on mobile phones to get online with 87% accessing the internet over their phone compared with 69% for laptops.

The communications report can be downloaded here.

A new one-click integration allows over 8,000 podcasters on the Whooshkaa platform to distribute their shows to Deezer’s 14 million active users across 180 countries.

Whooshkaa founder and CEO Robert Loewenthal noted the significance of the French-based Deezer: “Deezer is the music streaming and podcast platform of choice for millions of European listeners. Australian creators are producing some of the world’s best podcasts and this integration represents another opportunity for that content to be discovered by global audiences.”

Frédéric Antelme, VP content and productions at Deezer also commented: “We’ve seen first-hand how podcasts complement the overall music experience. Over the last few years, we’ve grown our podcast library to make sure fans can enjoy something new every day. Partnering with Whooshkaa means that even more podcasters can grow their audience, while listeners regularly get fresh content to suit their tastes.”

Whooshkaa hosted podcasts will now appear in Deezer’s Shows tab and in personalised recommendations based on user’s listening history and preferences.

The slate includes Kate Miller-Heidke composing for Imogen Banks’ new musical dramedy; a television adaptation of Melanie Cheng’s acclaimed book Australia Day; and a feature film from Helpmann Award-winning playwright S. Shakthidharan.

Screen Australia’s Head of Development, Nerida Moore said: “We are looking for projects that are distinctive in the market, have a very specific audience in mind and reflect a range of Australian experiences. As such, it’s fantastic to be able to support the development of these 22 productions, which give an exciting glimpse into the diversity of stories, formats and genres we will hopefully see on our screens in the coming years.

“I’m particularly pleased Screen Australia is able to support creators to expand their skill sets and take creative risks, including actors Lucy Durack and Maria Angelico teaming up as writers on Unbeweavable and The Letdown’s Alison Bell moving into longer-form television with drama series Australia Day.”

The projects funded for development include:

•  Aparna: A feature film about Sri-Lankan woman, Aparna and her son who were separated during Sri Lanka’s civil war and years later reunited in modern day Sri Lanka. 

• Australia Day (working title): A six-part television series adapted from the award-winning collection of short stories by Melanie Cheng, which weaves together narratives of the diverse Australian experience. The series begins when a person is stabbed late one night and an unlikely bunch run to their aid. These strangers come together by chance and, experiencing a connection in this moment of crisis, their lives are changed for the better. 

• Butch: A six-part online comedy series that follows ex-lovers, Tiff and Gem who are forced to work together to co-parent their all-knowing (and talking) dog, Butch. While Tiff and Gem try to get back out into the dating scene, Butch goes to drastic lengths to bring them back together. 

• Hair: A seven-part online magic realist comedy about 21-year-old Geraldine who opts for laser hair removal only to discover an incredibly hairy young woman trapped in her shower drain. Geraldine’s reluctance to accept her new found friend’s hairiness begins to expose the tangled relationship she has with her hair and with herself. 

• Lucy’s Cannon: A 52-part animated children’s series from Blue Rocket Beyond, a joint venture between Tasmania’s Blue Rocket Productions and Beyond Entertainment, about eight-year-old Lucy and her brother Randall who embark on far flung adventures by blasting out of an old-fashioned cannon. Together they travel into the extraordinary world of their imagination, meeting new friends along the way. 

• Unbeweavable: An eight-part television series that follows the unlikely friendship between Anna, a Christian who is questioning her faith in God, and Josie, a hairdresser who is haunted by visions of her late grandmother. When the pair meet, they discover that they share electrifying, psychic visions in the form of choreographed musical numbers. While they can’t agree on what these visions mean, both Anna and Josie understand the potential of their newfound power. 

For the complete list of development funding approvals, refer to television, online and feature film breakdowns.

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Photo: Six part online comedy series – Butch

Award-winning host, Andrew Winter is back with his brutal honesty and real estate expertise as he teams up with interior designer Shaynna Blaze and landscape designer Charlie Albone to help homeowners with property dreams that have turned sour. However, this will be the final season featuring Albone; a nationwide search is currently underway for a new ‘landscape legend’ to join the top-rating Foxtel series alongside Winter and Blaze.

After scouring the length and breadth of Australia’s heartland the Selling Houses team has found 10 more properties in dire need of a facelift – and don’t they have their work cut out for them. A tiny stone cottage in Tassie, a classic Aussie pub in remote western Victoria, and a huge resort style home on Brisbane’s tropical outskirts are some of the properties struggling to secure a sale.

This season will also celebrate a landmark 100^th sale. A half renovated house/shop in Crows Nest needs help – despite a realistic asking price, the place doesn’t appeal to buyers who need it to be more residence and less business. The Selling Houses team will need to turn this commercial dream into a dream home and secure their 100^th sale.

Married At First Sight has ended the week not too far from where it started with a winning audience over 1.1m for the third dinner party. A major talking point for many was the very loud green shirt worn by David. Wardrobe choices from the team at Endemol Shine have often been edgy and hopefully this trend will continue! The Wednesday audience was up from 1.058m a week ago.

Doctor Doctor followed the reality juggernaut with another 500,000+ audience.

After audiences so far this week of 600,000 and 549,000, Seven’s Home and Away lifted a little to 575,000.

Team Colin were working in one of his kitchen’s last night on My Kitchen Rules: The Rivals with 453,000 watching after 416,000 a week ago. The show was ranked #4 in the timeslot all people.

A double episode of First Dates Australia followed with audiences of 317,000 and then 182,000.

The Project just made it over 400,000 after 7pm on 10.

Australian Survivor: All Stars did 563,000 after 584,000 a week prior. After four years, Brooke finally got sweet revenge on her bestie, Flick, sending her home via a perfectly executed blindside. Flick became the 11th person voted out of the game.

Later in the night Bull did 216,000.

ABC share was close to a year midweek best on 12.9% with its comedy line-up complementing News and 7.30.

Hard Quiz featured a couple in the final showdown with 610,000 watching.

The numbers lifted a little to 614,000 for Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell.

Black Comedy was on 268,000 and then The Last Leg did 182,000.

Tony Robinson has a grip on the midweek SBS 7.30pm slot and episode three of his Hidden Britain By Drone did 210,000.

Dublin Murders followed with 192,000.