With strong audiences for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! following its early start on January 5 this year, Network 10’s chief sales officer Rod Prosser feels the broadcaster has consolidated its position across the summer.

Prosser remembered back to the day 10 learned it had lost the rights to Big Bash League. “We were all a bit shaken by it,” Prosser told Mediaweek. As senior executives talked about what might happen to their summer plans, a colleague said “It’s not the end of the world. We will do something great.”

Prosser said he wanted a high-quality production that was highly integratable. That turned out to be the plan to move forward Celebrity. One week earlier last year, an extra week earlier this year.

“It was a risk – audiences had been used to either sport or repeats across much of the summer. To go head-to-head with sports with a noisy entertainment format, and to be better, is a major achievement.”

Prosser said 10 has helped change Australian viewing habits over summer because they now have an option.

How has the market adapted to 10’s new normal – starting its 2020 TV season on the first Sunday of the new year?

“I don’t think agencies thought that I’m A Celebrity would do as well this year as it did in 2019. Seven would have been writing more money for its Big Bash League. But after their performance and ours people are now questioning that.”

Prosser expects a major re-examination of how brands are supporting the cricket. “We have been the #1 network in 25-54 in early January and we will continue to be seriously close [up against the start of the tennis]. Brands will need to readjust their thinking and look at their investment.

“The amount of money brands are paying to be part of the Big Bash League would be huge.”

While Prosser is happy about Celebrity v BBL, he’s not about to underestimate the power of Nine’s tennis. “It has been doing a great job. But I am sure people will look again at January for next year and question whether money should be going to Seven or 10.”

While there is much focus on 10’s performance with its key 7.30pm franchises, Prosser is keen to point out the network is a lot more than that. “The argument that we might be just doing well for an hour and a half is not correct. Our commercial audience share is higher than its been for some time so far in 2020.”

Network 10 has been spending big on formats and rights. One of the key acquisitions in 2019 was rights to the Melbourne Cup. Prosser and his newish 10 sales team worked hard at selling the event beforehand and then partied with clients just as enthusiastically across the Spring Carnival four days.

“It gave us the opportunity to talk to clients we hadn’t talked to before that were invested in the sport. The Spring Carnival was a success in terms of audience and revenue – we lifted both.”

A big challenge for Prosser’s team in 2020 is selling new faces on MasterChef to brands who had long relationships with the former hosts. The sales chief said he thought the brand is bigger than the personalities.

Network’s 10’s Paul Anderson, Beverley McGarvey and Rod Prosser (right and left) with new MasterChef hosts Andy Allen, Melissa Leong and Jock Zonfrillo

“It was 10’s team that was brokering most of the arrangements for the [former] judges and we will do exactly the same for the new judges.”

Prosser said reports back from production on the new season early in the piece describe the new team as “sensational”.

Another key 10 franchise for brands in 2020 will be year two of The Masked Singer. “The clients are lining up,” said Prosser.

“During 2020 negotiations there has been much demand for that as there has been for Australian Survivor: All Stars.”

Key to interest in The Masked Singer is “family friendly” which makes it a safe haven for audiences and advertisers. “It is a show you can watch with your kids and advertisers are looking for more and more of that.”

As to an outlook for the market this year. Prosser is confident 10 will be up year-on-year despite an overall market plunge at the end of 2019.

“I can say that our January revenue will be up as well as our revenue share which you would expect after the success of I’m A Celebrity last year. But I can say I believe it should be better than what it is.

“We have proven ourselves and we should be getting more and I think that will come.”

Prosser is expecting a sluggish market start overall to 2020, but he added 10 forward bookings are starting to fill out for later in the year.

Network 10 sales is happy about the programming decision to extend the 5pm news through until The Project starts, improving the audience flow which was being disrupted somewhat by unsuccessful game shows at 6pm.

“It is very early days, but we are seeing some encouraging results. The market knows how critical that slot is for us.”

Prosser is more positive about 10’s schedule than ever. “Full credit to Beverley McGarvey [chief content officer] and her team for this year. In the 10 years I have been at 10 I’ve never seen anything this strong. Everything is tried and tested. It is a really strong slate.”

Prosser said it was too early to forecast what he has planned for the 2021 Upfronts after his starring role in Carpool Karaoke last year. “There will be no more singing,” he laughed, recalling his performance alongside James Corden.

• Winner: Grant Blackley, Southern Cross Austereo

The continued fragmentation of audiences across a diverse market of options is a challenge for all media businesses. This puts pressure on revenues as marketers chase the biggest crowd. Also putting pressure on revenue has been the economy and the lack of confidence in where Australia might be headed.

The main broadcast media chiefs all faced challenging years. Seven flipped Tim Worner for James Warburton mid-year, new 10 owner ViacomCBS promoted Paul Anderson to run the combined business, while Hugh Marks had the challenge of bolting on the Macquarie Radio business to his already-bulging cupboard of assets.

Foxtel’s Patrick Delany continues to find ways to keep customers subscribing in a market being flooded with free and low-cost streaming options.

The radio chiefs have had it relatively easier in recent times. But by the end of the year they too were buffeted by revenue challenges as retailers in particular held back.

This had implications for leaders including ARN’s Ciaran Davies and Nova’s Cathy O’Connor.

Mediaweek readers voted for Southern Cross Austereo’s Grant Blackley as CEO of the Year perhaps in part because he has to manage his revenue across two main platforms – radio with Australia’s biggest radio network (now rebranded nationally as Triple and Hit) plus TV via affiliation deals with various broadcasters, but mainly with his former business partner Hugh Marks at Nine.

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) owns and operates 96 commercial radio stations, 12 DAB+ radio networks, 105 TV broadcast signals (with affiliation to both Nine and Seven), Australia’s PodcastOne platform along with a myriad of digital consumer product extensions.

Much was made of a number of retrenchments during 2019, but SCA still employs 2500 talented people – operating from 65 offices around Australia. The staff impacted came from various divisions, and it included the cutting of the small Brandworks team which surprised some.

However SCA’s connection with its regional audiences was confirmed during the year as it was the driving force behind the Boomtown initiative.

SCA is able to reach and engage with 95% of Australians every week and boasts a localised operating model with teams positioned in 65 key locations across Australia.

Blackley told Mediaweek: “SCA has in the last three years completed a number of critical activities including but not limited to a considerable reduction in company debt, rebranding of 76 radio stations, deployment of 8 new DAB radio networks, a change of TV affiliation to Nine, the sale of the Northern NSW TV asset , the sale of 43 Transmission Towers, along with the long term outsourcing of our TV playout and transmission services to specialist providers.

“Whilst the market has been challenging and difficult to navigate in recent times – SCA has continued to invest and develop new audio products evidenced by the success of Podcast One. In addition SCA has invested in the development of an Addressable InStream advertising business which combined with the power of an exclusive new contract with global music streaming company Soundcloud will create a scaled and meaningful new revenue opportunity.

“Finally, SCA has been hard at work considering new products and investments which will be announced and released in the year ahead. These set of strategies are designed to ensure that SCA is stronger, fitter and capable of being curious and invest in new products and services both now and into the future.”

Important initiatives in addition to Boomtown last year included the acquisition of the Redwave radio assets and the achievement of 200 million podcast downloads for PodcastOne since launch two years ago.

During 2019 SCA restructured its national executive group, adding Nikki Clarkson (promoted to chief marketing & communications officer), Dave Cameron (promoted to chief content officer) and Annaliese Van Riet (who joined as chief people and culture officer).

The busy Blackley is also the chairman of Commercial Radio Australia and a director of Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA).

Nine’s Hugh Marks was the winner of this award last year.

Moonman Across Australia with Lawrence Mooney, Jess Eva and Chris Page, will be heard on 40 stations across the Triple M Network reaching of over 3.7 million people

Mooney said: “I’m so stoked that millions of people can now hear the fun we have on Moonman in the Morning. I encourage you all to get involved with two hours of concentrated laughs over your weekend.”

Moonman Across Australia timings:

Metro Triple M Stations: Triple M Sydney, 8am – 10am, Triple M Melbourne, 6am – 8am, Adelaide, 7am – 9am, Brisbane 8am – 10am, Perth – commencing Feb 1, timing TBC.
Non-Metro Triple M stations: across Australia Sunday morning’s 10am-12pm

Walls is responsible for delivering large-scale ICT and business projects and pioneering the company’s digital transformation.

“Technology already plays a significant role in our business and this will only increase; Andrew’s appointment to the Executive Leadership Team is recognition of this,” O’Connor said.

“We look forward to welcoming Andrew to the ELT – he joins a group of strong and experienced leaders, well placed to steer the company as we navigate significant change and growth over the coming years.”

Commenting on his promotion, Walls said: “I am excited to be joining such an experienced leadership team at a time when technology can deliver real efficiencies and growth for JCDecaux Australia and New Zealand.”

Walls’ appointment follows the recent promotion of Cassandra Cameron, the out-of-home company’s head of trading and sales operations, to the ELT.

Walls joins CEO Steve O’Connor, general manager – people & culture Alissa Bartlett, head of trading & sales operations Cassandra Cameron, chief commercial officer Max Eburne, chief operating officer Andrew Hines, corporate counsel Peter Karcher, director of government & public relations Tess Phillips, chief marketing officer Essie Wake, NZ country head Mike Watkins, and finance director David Watkins, on the Executive Leadership Team.

Walls’ appointment on the ELT is effective immediately.

The podcast delivers breaking news and the biggest headlines of the day in an engaging way in under seven minutes; presented by news.com.au journalists Andrew Bucklow (Bucky) and Bronte Coy.

The short, bite-sized news podcast has been created to target a busy millennial audience for the daily commute. It is available on the news.com.au homepage from 7.00am weekdays or via Google Play,, Google Play, and Spotify.

News Corp Australia’s head of audio Del Fordham said: “Short-form podcasts are where we see the market going for this audience. They work well on smart speakers, and respect listeners’ time during the busy morning period.

“From the Newsroom has been designed to deliver listeners on the move their daily fix of the latest headlines and stories behind the stories, in a style that reflects how news.com.au talks to its audience every day. We plan to extend the podcast for the afternoon commute and will begin recording the evening headlines shortly.

“Bronte and Bucky are a dynamic duo. They both have a radio background and it’s great to see them combining their radio skills and digital expertise to create the next wave of audio news on the go.”

News.com.au editor Lisa Muxworthy said: “The news.com.au editorial team works tirelessly to bring our audience the best of Australian and world news every day – owning news moments and providing a unique take on events. 

“This podcast gives us a new way to deliver that news in colour, showcasing the breadth of our content, pace of delivery and angles on the news that Australian consumers trust and enjoy. I’m excited by the opportunity for us in audio and we have a lot more planned for the year ahead.”

Nine’s metro share for its combined channel offered was 33.7%, up from 26% in week 3.

Nine’s primary share surged from 15.8% to 26.1% week-on-week, a lift of 10.3 to make it a very clear #1 thanks to big audiences growing each night of the week for the Australian Open.

As the games got better so did Nine’s share. The tennis started on Monday with 22%, then it grew steadily across the week to 23%, 28%, 32% and finally 39.2% on Saturday.

The biggest tennis audience was for Nick Kyrgios’ Saturday five-set marathon with close to 1m metro watching the tennis early and late.

9Now is also seeing audience growth through the tournament to date with 73.1m live minutes consumed during the week – up 53% year-on-year.

See more detail about Nine’s Saturday night ratings here.

In a week dominated by tennis, Seven News primetime did well to rank #1 in each of the seven days.

Seven’s biggest evening audience was 530,000 for a session of Big Bash League during the week.

In breakfast, Sunrise continued to dominate despite Nine’s Today being able to broadcast from the Australian Open every morning and having access to the best overnight highlights.

Breakfast TV weekday averages 7-9am
Sunrise 271,000
Today 199,000

10’s share held up best week-on-week, albeit down a little, with the numbers dropping from 13.7% to 12.2% for the primary channel.

Across the week, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! continued its strong performance in the demos, securing 8 of the top 10 spots in under 50s, 25 to 54s and 18 to 49s. The show continued to be summer’s #1 show and the #1 show in under 50s and all key age groups (25 to 54s, 16 to 39s and 18 to 49s). This season is also recording record commercial shares for the series.

The ABC’s best of the week was ABC News and then Back Roads.

On SBS the biggest crowd was attracted by Decoding the Pyramids.

Singles

Although we have a new number one single – The Weeknd with Blinding Lights – we have seen Tones and I slip from top spot before only to have Dance Monkey return for another extended stay on top. The initial run of 21 weeks at #1 was only broken by Mariah Carey at Christmas. Dance Monkey returned to the top a week later on January 6 for a further three weeks. What are the chances of that happening again?

The Weeknd has secured his first #1 ARIA single, taking eight weeks to climb to #1 after resting at #2 last week.

Eminem is the biggest chart mover this week with a #1 album and five tracks featured on the singles chart. The highest is Godzilla featuring Juice WRLD at #3. The others tracks are at #25 Those Kinda Nights featuring Ed Sheeran, #32 Darkness, #34 Unaccommodating featuring Young M.A and #36 You Gon’ Learn featuring Royce da 5’9” & White Gold.

The only other chart debut in the top 50 is Jonas Brothers with What A Man Gotta Do at #39. The group has a chance of winning a Grammy today for Sucker.

Albums

Eminem achieves his 10th #1 album in Australia with the surprise release of Music To Be Murdered By. Artists collaborating on the project include Ed Sheeran, Juice WRLD, Skylar Grey, Q-Tip and Anderson .Paak.

Eminem narrowly won the race to the top as two other artists also debuted top five:

#2 Halsey with Manic. Her third album is also her third album to hit #2 after Badlands in 2015 and Hopeless Fountain Kingdom in 2017.

#3 Mac Miller with Circles. The first posthumous album release from Mac Miller, the US rapper and producer who died from an accidental drug overdose in 2018.

The only other top 50 chart debut was Magic Dirt with Life Was Better. This is a re-release of the 1994 Au Go Go label EP of the same name and marks the first time it has been available also on vinyl. Magic Dirt are supporting Cold Chisel on their tour until it wraps on February 9.

The big stars have been turning it on for Nine’ audiences watching the Australian Open and the tournament might have had close to its TV audience climax last night with 2.5m national watching Nadal oust Krygios from the first Grand Slam event of 2020.

Nine has this morning reported a national average audience of 2,473,000 watching the clash with 1,918,000 metro and 555,000 regional. The TV audience peaked at 3,363,000 (metro: 2,536,000 regional 827,000).

The men’s final at the Australian Open last year (Nadal v Djokovic) had an average metro audience 1,589,000 – over 300,000 less than were watching last night.

Nine News was a beneficiary of the interest surrounding the tennis clash with audiences over 1m for both halves of the bulletin.

As you would expect Nine was a clear leader in all demos with combined channel shares in key demos pushing close to 70% share.

It was not an ideal night perhaps for Seven to launch Home and Away for 2020. The three-episode opening night did 548,000 with the tennis sucking up much of the available audience.

The 8.30pm movie was 2009’s The Proposal with 277,000 watching.

In the final week of I’m A Celebrity it was time for Perez Hilton to depart just days after arriving. The regular part of the episode was on 575,000 before the elimination of the gossip reporter grew to 677,000.

Earlier in the night The Project started on 275,000 and grew to 398,000.

Later in the evening Hughesy, We Have A Problem managed 247,000 against the Nadal v Krygios match.

ABC saw 433,000 watching the Menindee episode of Back Roads. Later in the night the channel was winding up some series before the return of Four Corners and Q&A next week. Last night the final of the repeat of Magical Land of Oz did 215,000 followed by a repeat of the last episode of Exposed: The Case of Kelli Lane did 100,000.

SBS peaked with 127.000 watching a repeat of Michael Mosley: Trust Me I’m A Doctor.