Sydney

• Landmark day as 2GB loses breakfast leadership to KIIS 1065
• Kyle and Jackie O surge higher to 15.5% in new best-ever performance

Read More: Sydney Radio Ratings 2021, Survey 4: Kyle and Jackie O top Ben Fordham

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Melbourne

• No quakes here as 3AW and Gold maintain leadership
• Ross and Russ still 20%+ while Christian O’Connell again solo #1 FM

Read More: Melbourne Radio Ratings 2021, Survey 4: 3AW and Gold maintain leadership

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Brisbane

• 97.3 only commercial station up, but Nova still #1

Read More: Brisbane Radio Ratings 2021, Survey 4: 97.3 FM makes dramatic move up to #2

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Adelaide

• David & Will grow Fiveaa breakfast lead, but Mix still #1 station

See More: Adelaide Radio Ratings 2021, Survey 4: David & Will grow Fiveaa breakfast lead

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Perth

• Nova on top, Triple M stumbles with 6iX the biggest market mover

See More: Perth Radio Ratings 2021, Survey 4: Nova #1, Triple M stumbles & 6iX biggest mover

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The series Luxe Listings Sydney will premiere globally in 240 countries and territories on July 9, 2021. Amazon Prime Video’s latest Australian Original takes the global streaming platform into the heady world of prestige property on the shores of Sydney Harbour.

The new series stars three Sydney prestige property specialists – agents Gavin Rubinstein and D’Leanne Lewis and buyer’s agent Simon Cohen.

The series is made for Amazon Prime by Eureka Productions and executive produced by Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Rikkie Proost and Sophia Mogford. Luxe Listings Sydney has been developed by Kentel and is co-produced by executive producers Benjamin Scott and James Kennedy.

Working with Scott and Kennedy on the project was one person who is no stranger to TV formats – Kyle Sandilands. The market-leading FM radio host and talent show TV judge developed the original concept with Scott. This is one project though where viewers won’t get to see him onscreen.

In the first of our four-part special on the world of Sydney real estate, Mediaweek spoke with Sandilands about the TV project.

Over the remainder of the week we will also hear from agent Gavin Rubinstein, ex-producer and co-creator Benjamin Scott and Amazon Prime Video executives Tyler Bern and CJ Yu.

Mediaweek: How did you get involved in a real estate program about Sydney’s eastern suburbs?
Kyle Sandilands: I had worked with Ben Scott before on the series Meet the Hockers. That was his first time producing a television series. [The series screened on 9Go! in 2017.]

Then we came up with this idea. Everyone in the Eastern Suburbs talks about real estate agents as if they were rock stars. From when I first came to Sydney I heard about these people and then I started hearing about Gavin Rubinstein who seemed almost like the Jon Bon Jovi of Sydney real estate.

Ben has a great eye and ear for what people want because he’s worked in the entertainment business and in retail. We loved the real estate idea and we got involved with Kentel, who is Ben’s business partner. They really pushed it through while I was there at the conceptual stage.

Is Amazon the perfect place for your TV show?

So much good FTA TV has been missed in the past because somebody might not have been able to watch a show at a particular time because of various reasons. The great thing about streaming services is that you can just choose what to watch and when. Streaming services are the new video shop for viewers.

If Luxe Listings was just going to be for local viewers on FTA TV on a Saturday afternoon this might have been rubbish. We wanted to work with a premium international streaming platform that would be able to broadcast to over 200 countries. To do that it had to be world class and that has been achieved with a good budget spent wisely on production qualities.

When the stars line up like that it is important to get all the right people on board. If it was just a low-budget exercise I don’t think any of us would have been thrilled with the outcome. None of us certainly wanted that.

Amazon was great flying in and out when they could, overseeing production on the ground and on-site alongside Eureka. Both companies are all about making great content.

We are all really thrilled we have made something great together and we can’t wait to push it out and let people see it.

How good are the Sydney properties in this series?

We have all known for years that the Sydney property market is exciting and electrifying. Some of the houses we get to see in this series are just jaw-dropping. It allows us to get a look inside homes we would otherwise never get to see.

It is just fascinating to also see how the stars of the series go about running their businesses day-to-day. You get to enjoy the wins and participate in the thrill of the chase just as they do.

Radio is #1 for you, but you have a fascination too with TV?

Being on the TV is where I thought I wanted to be. However, it is really time-consuming compared to the radio. At KIIS FM I work a whole four hours flat out and then I go home. On TV they want me to be there for as long as 17 hours for a third of the pay. I had to think about where the real money in TV is.

I realised it was coming up with concepts and producing programs. That is what we are doing now and why we joined up with Kentel at the concept stage.

Journalists sometimes remind their readers you don’t own a luxury Sydney property?

They often like to point out that in Sydney I’m a renter, not an owner. It’s their way of saying, ‘He’s not that fucking rich.’ [Laughs]

I still own the farm in the Southern Highlands and Tegan and I have a place in Port Douglas. We are always looking at places. The one I want is the Swifts mansion in Darling Point, but at a cost of about $60m and I didn’t have that much spare to buy it.

What else is your business King Kyle up to?

We have an investment in the Nueva Sangria drinks.

We are funding a new start-up that will launch in about a month’s time that will help people needing to organise rental bonds. I am all over both sides of the property market!

Do you have other ideas for more TV projects?

When [Amazon Prime’s] CJ and I get together next we will have a whole afternoon eating oysters while I pitch him a number of projects.

The IMAA, the national, not for profit industry association for independent media agencies launched last year.

Since then it has continued to grow its membership base and make a series of big announcements, including its trade credit deal and a number of new media partners.

Mediaweek has been profiling members of the IMAA – previous features can be found here. This week we spoke to the managing director of Indago Digital Gary Nissim.

Nissim pinpointed his return to the GroupM owned agency, Outrider, as one of the key stepping stones to launching his own shop.

“Outrider was the perfect stepping stone for running my own agency as it flew under the radar due to it being unprofitable. I was able to bring in my own team, product, tools, process and culture but all the while taking advantage of the support an agency group provides; finance, HR, training and clout. We beat targets and no one bothered us.”

After three years the business was profitable and Nissim said that he had two realisations. The first was all clients and employees were friends of the senior management team, and secondly, there was limited growth potential for him at GroupM.

“At that point, I knew what I needed to do: resign and build my own agency, but first I looked to raise seed capital. What amazed me was how many people were interested in investing in a service based business. However, I never took the money, best move I made.

“It’s brought me peace, happiness, and most importantly control, which was the main reason I set up Indago. I enjoyed my time at the various agency groups I’ve work for and have a lot of respect for them, but I set up Indago as I wanted to do digital marketing differently.”

Things moved fast from there with Nissim quitting his job and starting Indago Digital without any seed capital, buying a house, and also having his first baby in the space of three weeks. 

“I landed my first client within the opening month whom I owe everything to – Jeremy Reitman – who was back then head of digital for the rebranded Hello World. He’d been a previous client when he was at Expedia and had quickly become a great friend.

“A week after, I landed my second client, Contiki, through another industry legend Tim Connew whom I met through my newborn babies mother’s group. I didn’t even have a sales deck, totally winged it and ended up working with Contiki for four years before they brought their digital marketing inhouse. The next cab off the rank was starting to work with the newly employed and amazingly talented Rebecca Newton at Crown Resorts and Casinos, although Rebecca moved on we’re still working with Crown seven years later.”

How Covid-19 affected the buisness

With Indago Digital having a focus on travel and hospitality, the company suffered huge losses last year.

“We had clients go bankrupt on us and some simply refused or couldn’t pay their bills. Luckily I never wanted to be a bank, so we don’t pay for client’s media, which limited our exposure. We were nearly 70% down year-on-year but we threw our resources into targeting industries that were not only riding the Covid wave but were dominating it and our client base is totally different 12 months on. Much more focus on fintech, professional services and government.”

This includes the recent announcement of new clients in Nestle Professional, Eclipx Group and the City of Parramatta, but Nissim said that the company was able to stay afloat thanks to cutting the budget and government support

“To be honest it is more like 12 new clients in the past 12-15 months. We were massively down and took a huge beating. I think we were the first agency to move to four days a week and we culled expenditure really heavily before the whole thing really kicked off in Australia. And then we had to re-build.

“Job Keeper saved us, there is no here or there about it. The Job Keeper was perfect for us and allowed us to ride out the storm and gave us the opportunity to land new clients in different verticals and build ourselves back up.

“We are back to pre-covid numbers which, considering we took a 70% hit, I think is pretty awesome.”

Indago Digitals specialisations 

Nissim described Indago Digital as honest, passionate, loyal and as always trying to do right by their clients.

“We specialise in acquisition media and in Australia, search marketing is still the best acquisition media out there so that’s what we’re best at – paid search and SEO.”

Being a memeber of the IMAA

Nissim is a proud member of the IMAA and said that his agency has enjoyed the benefits.

“The barrier to entry was low, I love what they’re trying to achieve and the ‘whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. To date, it’s been great. I got a free choc top courtesy of Val Morgan but had to watch the worst film of the decade in Godzilla vs. Kong, I have attended numerous education sessions, and benefitted from their PR.”

Nissim said that the indie sector is doing well because they offer accountability in the quality of their work.

“When I’m picking a service provider the first question I ask is; ‘Do you own the business?’. Do I want a privately owned business or a corporation to install my kitchen, teach my kid guitar or detail my car? I want a privately owned business where the owner cares about his / her brand and understands that their reputation is only as good as their last job.

“Marketing is no different and as technology has levelled the playing field Indie’s have increasingly become a better option. The heads of all the business units at Indago are owners and therefore naturally incentivised to provide great account management and drive world leading results. I assume a lot of indie’s are similar in that regard.”

The Out of Home (OOH) industry has announced an increase of 125 per cent on net media revenue for the second quarter of 2021, reporting $203.3 million, up from $90.3 million for the same period in 2020. Digital OOH (DOOH) revenue accounts for 61 per cent of total net media revenue year-to-date, an increase over the recorded 57.9 per cent for the same period last year.

Year-to-date revenue has increased 22 per cent and is sitting at $374.6 million, an increase from $307 million on 2020 revenue.

“Out of Home advertising felt the full brunt of the pandemic at the height of lockdowns in Q2 2020, which explains the explosive increase of 125 per cent year-on-year. A better indication of our recovery is that we are only down by 17 per cent on pre-pandemic revenue from Q2 2019. Each month this year has been better than the previous month,” said Charmaine Moldrich, OMA CEO.

“We are determined to see Out of Home revenue recover to pre-pandemic levels by December 2021. We are also determined to innovate the way we sell Out of Home, making it easier for advertisers to measure its value. We are not only making it easier to buy by updating our audience measurement system, but we are also introducing a new value-based currency in Q3 following an extensive neuroscience research study we have conducted over past two years. These innovations have attracted 10 new members who have joined the membership in the last six months,” continued Moldrich.

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this month showed the Australian economy grew 1.8 per cent in Q1 to pre-pandemic levels; one of only five other global economies to do so. Advertising spend is also on track to report growth this financial year according to SMI (Standard Media Index), with OOH bookings year-on-year up +198 per cent in May. 

“Leading the charge in Out of Home are advertisers looking to break into new markets, such as tech companies, who are buying OOH campaigns for the first time. If you want to attract new customers and be front of mind, you need to anchor your brand in the real world—Outdoor achieves that,” concluded Moldrich.

Australian independent TV production house Kentel has appointed Jacqui Feeney as chief executive to lead its next phase of growth as it launches its first global streaming show.

Kentel founder and executive chairman James Kennedy welcomed the appointment of television executive Feeney as Kentel CEO, starting immediately.

Feeney has extensive experience in global media and entertainment across content creation, distribution, rights negotiations, as well as tech and innovation.

She was previously ANZ managing director of Fox Networks Group and National Geographic and has held senior roles at Foxtel. Most recently she has advised start-up businesses and founders on their growth strategies and is a board director for Fishburners.

Kentel is the creator and co-producer of the new six-part docu-drama series Luxe Listings Sydney which will launch on July 9 in Australia and in over 240 countries and territories around the world on Amazon Prime Video.

Luxe Listings Sydney is an inside look at the glamorous world of three elite agents as they negotiate multi-million-dollar deals in Sydney.

“Jacqui is a perfect fit to build on the current positive momentum at Kentel and realise our ambitious goals,” said Kennedy, who is also a co-executive producer of Luxe Listings Sydney. “Kentel is a proudly Australian creator of premium original entertainment content. Jacqui will help us specialise further in the development and management of high-quality content across an international platform, showcasing the Australian culture and way of life.

“We’re particularly proud to be the creator and co-producers of Luxe Listings Sydney which will be a great springboard for the company’s growth with Jacqui’s skills at the helm.’’

Jacqui Feeney said: “I’m delighted to join Kentel as it is new, agile and ambitious to make its mark as an IP powerhouse leveraging its access to Australian stories and characters from all walks of life. Luxe Listings Sydney is just our start. I particularly look forward to partnering with the many talented people, both on and off-screen, that make the media industry tick as we bring remarkable, engaging and frankly great fun stories to local and global audiences and screens of all kinds.”

News Corp Australia has appointed Kristin Carlos to head up its digital platform business including News Xtend which specialises in marketing solutions for small and medium enterprises.

As managing director, commercial platform, she will report to chief financial officer Michael Ford who said Carlos would bring a solid track record of developing innovative client solutions to News Corp Australia.

“Kristin has a wealth of digital experience in a range of senior roles,” Ford said.

“She brings to News Corp Australia a customer-centric focus to technology solutions and demonstrated success in developing high-performance teams. It’s great to have her join us and we all look forward to working closely with Kristin.”

Previously, Carlos spent more than a decade in various senior executive roles including at Yahoo! as the director of connected entertainment, and Qantas, where she headed its Digital & Entertainment division.

“The role presents an exciting opportunity to grow the digital platform business and to lead a key function at Australia’s premier digital media company,” Carlos said.

The Platform division, which Carlos will lead, is charged with evolving News Corp Australia’s commercial model and leveraging the News Xtend and News Connect platforms to provide a seamless, end-to-end customer experience to a variety of clients.

News Xtend is a digital marketing business that provides advice and know-how to small and medium businesses to market themselves digitally. Its marketing specialists work one-on-one with business owners to understand their specific market needs and create targeted digital campaigns to increase customer numbers.

News Xtend has enjoyed robust growth since its establishment almost seven years ago.

News Connect collects two billion data points from News Corp Australia websites and apps, as well as from partnerships. With 15 key partners – including Near, flybuys, Qantas Red Planet, realestate.com.au, Fox Sports, productreview.com.au, smrtr, TEG and more – News Connect offers more than 2,700 segments where marketing partners are able to find any audience, particularly intenders.

News Connect finds the right customer by layering first party audience data with partner data. It then targets those audiences in News Corp Australia’s premium publisher environments. This combination of targeted audiences with high levels of engagement delivers outcomes for marketers.

SCA has announced two senior sales appointments in Sydney and NSW.

Nick Unger (pictured) becomes head of sales – regional NSW where he will be responsible for the NSW sales team, overseeing sales management and strategy for SCA’s operations across TV, audio and digital. Unger will report to head of regional sales strategy, Joel Feuerherdt.

Unger was previously head of sales – TV Sydney and stepping into that role will be Holly Bradley. Bradley has worked in the TV sales team for the past eight years at SCA and was most recently group sales manager. Bradley will report to SCA national head of TV sales, Otto Ablinger.

“Nick returned to SCA just over 16 months ago and in that short time has taken the team on to deliver record revenue results, share growth and new business. He has also helped develop what was already an exceptional sales team to best in market performances during challenging circumstances,” SCA national head of TV sales, Otto Ablinger, said.

“Holly is respected by both her team and clients and l have every confidence that Holly and her team will continue to deliver best in market performance with our new TV affiliation with the 10 Network.”

Commenting on her new role, Bradley said: “I am absolutely delighted to lead the SCA TV team in Sydney, particularly as we start our exciting new affiliation with Network 10. With Boomtown thriving and our new partnership with 10, I can’t wait to see how we connect further with our agencies and clients to help their businesses grow.”

Commenting on his new role, Unger said: “There is no doubt that regional NSW is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in Australia, with more than 3 million Australians now residing outside of Sydney metro areas. SCA is uniquely positioned in this market with assets across TV, audio and digital to help our local businesses and communities take advantage of this population shift.

“As a resident of Boomtown myself, I’ve witnessed first-hand the huge growth and potential of the NSW market. I’m looking forward to working with and supporting our local sales teams, advertising partners and our local communities across NSW.”

Both appointments are effective immediately.

Cultural insights and strategy company The Lab has announced it has recruited eight new team members across its Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane offices.

The new staff, who have joined over the past six months, are a key part of The Lab’s growth strategy. Their arrival follows the recent addition of several new clients and the launch of The Lab’s innovative new artificial intelligence and machine learning division, Lab AI.

The Lab Co-Founder and CEO, Neale Cotton, said: “Rapid and constant change in business and culture means that now more than ever, companies are looking for new ways to stay ahead. This has been a catalyst for our growth, as we continue to create breakthrough insights and ideas for our clients.

“I’m excited to announce so many new additions to our team, from senior executives through to recent university graduates. Our new recruits come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, from behavioural and social sciences to strategy. Diversity in thought is really important to us as it helps sparks new ideas and fresh perspectives for our clients.”

Christine O’Keefe has joined The Lab in Melbourne as strategy director. She most recently worked at AJF Partnership as a strategy director across key clients including Officeworks, Forty Winks and Bupa.

In Brisbane, Casey Greig has been appointed strategy director. She joins after more than a decade as an insights and strategy leader at media companies including Nova Entertainment, Southern Cross Austereo and Bauer Media.

Tallon Mason-Kaine has joined The Lab in Melbourne as senior strategy consultant after several years as a planner for the advertising agencies AJF Partnership and Leo Burnett.

The Lab Sydney has added two new senior strategy consultants with strong cultural strategy backgrounds: Malcolm Miller, whose resume includes roles at For The People and Pacific Magazines, and Katie Buckley, who has worked at Landor and a range of other leading companies.

The Lab Brisbane has hired Maddison Croker as strategy consultant; she previously worked at News Corp.

Finally, The Lab has added two recent graduates as team members: Jed Larwood (Marketing and Economics) in Brisbane and Corrie Dinmore (Anthropology) in Melbourne.

Pictured:
TOP ROW, left to right: Christine O’Keefe, Casey Greig, Tallon Mason-Kaine, Malcolm Miller
BOTTOM ROW, left to right: Katie Buckley, Maddison Croker, Jed Larwood, Corrie Dinmore

Val Morgan Digital’s food, culture and travel publication Thrillist Australia and restaurant booking app TheFork have partnered to create a digital support network for the hospitality industry at a time they need it the most. Hosted on Thrillist Australia, Thrillist Serves 2.0 is a platform for hospitality business owners to add their restaurants, cafes, and pubs to the Thrillist Serves directory to help promote their offerings.

The launch comes at a time where the hospitality industry especially needs support following lockdown orders across most of Australia’s states and territories. It seeks to help hospitality business owners promote takeaway menus, sell merchandise and drive bookings if/when they are open for business.

To sweeten the deal, Val Morgan is offering businesses who add themselves to the Thrillist Serves 2.0 platform a chance to win a $50,000 ad package across the Val Morgan Digital network (Thrillist, The Latch, POPSUGAR and Fandom), with content amplified across Val Morgan Outdoor.

On the partnership and new platform, Val Morgan Digital publisher Amanda Bardas says: “At the heart and soul of Thrillist is the hospitality industry – restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, and their staff. It would be a disservice to not use our platform to support the industry and community we couldn’t live without.

“If you own a restaurant or café, or know someone who does, get them onto Thrillist Serves, so we can help link the hospitality industry directly with more customers. Our partnership with TheFork helps bring it all to life and amplify our cause.”

TheFork Australia managing director, Gary Burrows adds: “Over the last week we’ve seen how important it is to continue supporting the hospitality industry. When restrictions are eased, we want all Australians to be dining out at restaurants, but during lockdown periods businesses need help in other ways. We’re proud to be partnering with Thrillist Australia to support the launch of Thrillist Serves 2.0. This platform provides an opportunity for the industry to let Aussie diners know exactly what they can do to help restaurants when they need it most.”

Thrillist Australia launched in February 2021 and has quickly cemented itself as one of the leading food, drink, and travel websites for Gen Z and Millennials in Australia. With the backing of Val Morgan Group, Thrillist Australia creates content for every screen, channel and platform.

Add yourself to the Thrillist Serves 2.0 platform here.

ABC and Screen Australia have announced that production has begun on the ten-episode children’s political comedy-drama, The PM’s Daughter.

The PM’s Daughter follows Cat Parkes Pérez, a young activist whose relatively normal teen life is thrown into disarray when political turmoil strikes and Cat’s mother is unexpectedly thrust into the role of Prime Minister. As major disruptions begin to occur at Canberra landmarks – all seemingly designed to directly sabotage the Prime Minister – Cat and her new friends, Sadie and Ollie, set out to track down and unmask a rogue faction within a youth action group called Action Uprising. The clues will take them across every inch of the capital and lead them to investigate even their own schoolmates.

Created by Tristram Baumber (The Unlisted, Born to Spy) and newcomer Matthew Allred and produced by Alice Willison (The Other Guy), The PM’s Daughter will introduce an exciting new cast of young talent to the Australian landscape, including Cassandra Helmot as Cat, Natalie English as Sadie, Jaga Yap (Babyteeth) as Ollie, Nya Cofie (The Unlisted) as Miro and Amelie James-Power as Georgina, joined by Claire Fearon as Prime Minister Isabel Pérez, Anthony Brandon Wong (The Family Law) as Deputy Prime Minister Tim Yeung, Gemma Bird Matheson (The Housemate, Content) as Yvette and Renee Lim (Please Like Me) as Deputy Principal Tan.

The ten-episode series will be helmed by set-up director Julietta Boscolo (Doctor, Doctor), alongside Erin White (Little Lunch) and Alana Hicks (Chicken). Writers for the series include Baumber, Lou Sanz, Hannah Samuel, Angela McDonald, Craig Irvin, Bird Matheson and Magda Wozniak. The series is executive produced by Fremantle’s Chris Oliver-Taylor (The Heights, Wanted) and Baumber. Kieran Hoyle will co-produce.

Libbie Doherty, head of ABC Children’s production said, “This series has the lot! Political intrigue, full on teens, great fashion and oh yes, life in “The Lodge” as imagined by a stellar team of Australian creatives. We’ve had a lot of fun developing the series and are delighted to be launching the careers of this super cool cast. We wish them well as production kicks off and look forward to sharing the performances on screen soon.”

Chris Oliver-Taylor, Fremantle CEO Asia-Pacific, said: “We are excited to start filming on this dynamic series and bring to life the hilarious adventures of Catalina and her friends brilliantly created by Tristram Baumber and Matthew Allred. The series has brought together an exceptional team of creatives from writers, directors and producers, and will showcase an ensemble of Australia’s brightest new talent and seasoned performers.”

Sally Caplan, head of content at Screen Australia said, “We look forward to Cat and her friends beginning their adventures in Canberra, as The PM’s Daughter heads into production. This is an intriguing and thoroughly original concept from creators Tristram Baumber and Matthew Allred, and in the capable hands of the standout creative team behind the series we expect The PM’s Daughter will engage and inspire children around Australia when it heads to ABC ME.”

The PM’s Daughter will be filmed in locations throughout Sydney and Canberra and broadcst on ABC ME next year.

This week, the Australian box office made a total of $7.08 million. This was down 25% on last week, as the new set of lockdown restrictions take their toll on cinema.

Fast & Furious 9 is still enjoying its time at the top of the box office, a position it has sat solidly in since its release three weeks ago. Fast & Furious 9 brought in almost 9 million in its opening weekend – the highest opening weekend release audience since Jumanji: The Next Level in December 2019 – and has made an impressive $17.8 million to date.

Finding itself back in the top five after previously dropping out is Spirit Untamed. After coming in at seventh last week, the animated film based on the Netflix series Spirit Riding Free has galloped back up the charts this week to come in at third.

Dropping out of the top five this week is The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It, slipping to seventh place this week.

#1, Fast & Furious 9, $1.93 million

Showing no signs of pumping the brakes, Fast & Furious 9 was the only film this week to crack the $1 million mark. In its third week of release, it averaged $4,874 across 395 screens. 

#2, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, $979,128

Starring Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds, and Samuel L. Jackson, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard debuted to second place last week. Holding steady, this week it averaged $3,613 across 271 screens, bringing it to a total of $5.81 million to date.

#3, Spirit Untamed, $663,507

Making a climb back into the top five after briefly dropping out, Spirit Untamed averaged $2,422 over 274 screens. The animated adventure has now pulled in a total of $3.95 million.

#4, Cruella, $570,809

In its sixth week of release, Cruella has been out for the longest of all the films in the top five. Averaging $2,460 across 232 screens, the latest Disney live-action film has made a total of $8.40 million.

#5, In the Heights, $565,639

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote a musical before Hamilton, and it has now been given the movie treatment. In the Heights averaged $2,407 over 235 this week, and in its second week has made a total of $2.61 million.

Primetime News
Seven News 1,185,000/1,137,000
Nine News 1,108,000/1,056,000
ABC News 767,000
10 News First 442,000 (5:00pm)/ 307,000 (6:00pm)
SBS World News 182,000 (6:30pm) 162,000 (7:00pm)

Daily current affairs
A Current Affair 805,000
7.30 721,000
The Project 334,000 (6:30pm)/482,000 (7pm)
The Drum 213,000

Breakfast TV
Sunrise 259,000
Today 226,000
News Breakfast 188,000

Late News
The Latest 110,000
Nine News Late Edition 105,000
ABC Late News 102,000
SBS World News Late 48,000

Nine

Nine was the top primary channel (21.1%) and network (31.2%) last night thanks to a combination of Nine News, Australian Ninja Warrior and Wimbledon.

Night one of the Ninja Warrior Grand Final had 709,000 viewers as it held off Farmer Wants a Wife to be the top non-news program.

The night saw ‘Flashlin’ Ashlin Herbert set the bar with a blistering run, while fan favourites such as Nathan Ryles, Sam Goodall, and Jack Wilson were unable to make it the second night of the Grand Final.

Emergency then followed with 340,000 viewers.

Footy Classified had 102,000 while 100% Footy had 88,000.

9Gem powered its way to the #1 multichannel last night thanks to Ash Barty‘s Wimbledon performance that saw her be the first Aussie woman in the quarter-final since the year 2000. 243,000 tuned in for the late-night programming of Wimbledon.

Seven

Home and Away had 645,000 viewers, with the Aussie soap then followed by Farmer Wants a Wife.

Farmer Wants a Wife‘s second episode had 697,000 as it took each of the farmer’s five women and the viewers to the farms for the first time.

However, five of the women got a head start with each of them having a 24-hour date with their farmer before the other four girls arrived.

The Farmers received a letter explaining they must ask one of the ladies to leave if they didn’t feel connected with her, leading Farmer Will to ask Tammy to leave. “This is so ridiculously hard for me. That’s why I can’t even make eye contact. You have done absolutely nothing wrong. You’re wonderful,” he told her.

“Every one of the ladies is keen to have a family one day. They’re at an advantage because they’re a lot younger than me. That might be a decider for him,” mused Tammy on her departure. 

10

The Project had 334,000 (6:30) and 482,000 (7:00) as the show discussed if Sydney should brace for a longer lockdown, and the superannuation experiment shocking millennials. 

MasterChef Australia had 626,000 viewers as finals week got underway as the top six competed in a service challenge at Martin Benn’s new fine dining restaurant, Society. They each had to prepare a course with a feature ingredient chosen by Benn.

Sabina was the one to go home after Benn had assigned her macadamia. The curd in her dish was lovely, but the judges agreed that they didn’t like the raw macadamia flavour of her ice cream.

Have You Been Paying Attention? had 657,000 and was #1 in the 16-39 and 18-49 key demos. The show featured Denise Scott making her season debut and was joined by fellow fresh face Andy Lee, and Celia Pacquola, Lloyd Langford and Ed Kavalee.

ABC

Courtney Act’s One on One featured Nat’s What I Reckon as the pair shared a meal in the kitchen and discussed his thoughts on religious dogma, mental health struggles, and losing half a lung. The episode had 392,000 viewers.

Four Corners (419,000) and Mediawatch (440,000) then followed.

SBS

The top two non-news programs on SBS last night were a repeat of Secrets of the Tower of London with 177,000 and Secret Scotland with 153,000.