The announcement of the winners came at a special dinner attended by teams representing the six finalists in the Boomtown Challenge.

One guest attending asked the security guard at the entrance if this was the place $1m was being given away, but he looked confused and didn’t crack a smile.

The announcement of the winner was made by Prime Media’s Dave Walker and Southern Cross Austereo’s Nikki Clarkson. Early in the day, Clarkson and her two colleagues on the judging panel – Mark Ritson and Nigel Marsh– reviewed the work of the six finalists before selecting Wavemaker’s San Remo pitch as the victor.

Wavemaker client director Kirby McDonald said the win reflected the team’s hard work – which also comprised Hayley Burns, Rebecca Drummond, Ben Doecke and Michael McCarthy– and Wavemaker’s dedication and passion for regional media.

McDonald and Drummond (both from regional communities) made the trip to Sydney for the announcement. They were joined on the Wavemaker table by Wavemaker CEO Peter Vogel.

McDonald said the hard work of recent months wasn’t finished, as plans begin today to spend the $1 million prize money to roll the campaign out across regional Australia.

“The winning campaign leverages an existing strategy for San Remo and is centred on the idea that regional kids need energy to fuel their sport-filled weekends, and San Remo Pasta is the perfect solution on a Friday night.

“It was great to have the support from a 100 per cent family owned Australian business in San Remo. And the Wavemaker team are excited to see this campaign come to life with regional communities at the heart of our campaign.”

Winners McDonald and Drummond (centre) with team Boomtown and Wavemaker CEO Peter Vogel (centre rear)

The judging panel comprised Ritson, Melbourne Business School adjunct professor of marketing, Marsh, CEO of strategic consultancy WEST82nd and Clarkson, SCA head of marketing and communication.

The panel said it was overwhelmed by the strong industry response to the Boomtown initiative, receiving entries that ranged from well-established brands with a national presence to new and emerging challenger brands.

The Boomtown committee was initially apprehensive about how many Boomtown entries it might get. On the final day for entries there had been little activity until over 30 arrived late in the day.

The entrants were then whittled down to a five-strong list of finalists, which was subsequently increased to six in a reflection of the entrants’ uniformly high quality.

The judges commented: “The winning team demonstrated an impressive and thorough understanding of the regional consumer, media landscape and business opportunity. And pulled it all together with a well thought through idea specifically created for the regional context. We’re confident the results will provide an unarguable case for the power of regional media. Friday nights will never be the same again.”

Prime Media Group general manager sales and marketing Dave Walker said the competitive strength on display showed the need for advertisers to broaden their approach.

“The strength, depth and diversity of the submissions really shows how the Boomtown concept struck a nerve,” he said.

Australian Community Media’s national sales and partnerships director Penny Kaleta said: “For me it demonstrates an acceptance for the industry to start lifting its gaze beyond the confines of our cities and suburbs to see the richness regional Australia offers.

“It’s still early days but the simple fact that regional Australia is home to 36 per cent of us yet account for only about 10 per cent of national advertising budgets should be as staggering a statistic as it is compelling for everyone in adland.

“For me Boomtown has led to a rethink of national brands about the effectiveness of their media investments in regional Australia.”

Boomtown chairman Brian Gallagher is on sabbatical in London and was unable to make the event. However his Boomtown colleagues at the announcement included TRSN’s Jeremy Simspon, Penny Kaletta and Dave Walker.

The Boomtown finalists were:

• San Remo submitted by Wavemaker Adelaide
• SKYN submitted by Cummins & Partners Melbourne
• IAG/NRMA submitted by Che Proximity in conjunction with Mindshare Sydney
• Pilot
• The a2 Milk Company submitted by Wavemaker Melbourne
• PepsiCo submitted by PHD Sydney

Boomtown is a joint initiative between SCA, Prime Media Group, Win Network, trsn, Australian Community Media, Imparja and News Corp Australia.

—

Top Photo: Wavemaker’s Kirby McDonald (left) and Rebecca Drummond (right) Strategy Director

Valente joins the newly streamlined, eight-person senior management team reporting directly to Warburton.

Warburton said: “Charlotte will bring a strong viewer and client focus to this newly created, senior role in the group, with a focus on launching Seven’s new marketing initiatives, as well as enhancing the look and feel of the brand.

“I worked with Charlotte at APN Outdoor, where she was instrumental in implementing a successful change strategy to help move the company from an asset-led to an audience-first business, a similar role she will perform at Seven.

“The CMO role is a first for Seven and will cover a broad range of viewer and business facing marketing initiatives, including data analytics, on-air promotions, digital optimisation and public relations”, he added.

Valente’s move to Seven comes just four months after she joined Naomi Simson at Big Red Group where Valente was general manager of the B2B division.

Valente has also worked in strategic marketing roles with range of media and marketing organisations including APN Outdoor and Adshel in Australia and the BBC and The Guardian Media Group internationally.

Valente said: “I am delighted to work with James again and be a part of Seven’s transformation towards a more audience-centric group, with a strong focus on delivering engaging broadcast and digital content.

“Integrating Seven’s multiple platforms to provide an accessible and captivating media offering will be my main priority,” she added.

The appointment of Valente will be followed by two others – chief digital officer and chief content officer – to be part of the new senior management team, joining Kurt Burnette (chief revenue officer), Bruce McWilliam (commercial director), Warwick Lynch (chief financial officer), Katie McGrath (chief people and culture officer) and Maryna Fewster (CEO – SWM WA).

Warburton added: “Charlotte’s appointment and creation of a leaner management team are all parts of our transformation strategy for the group, more details of which will be revealed at our upfronts on October 23”.

Following the successful release of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, the next series is co-created by Scott M. Gimple, with Matt Negrete who will also be the showrunners. The series will star Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Annet Mahendru, Nicolas Cantu, Hal Cumpston and Nico Tortorella.

“TV audiences around the world have demonstrated their passion for The Walking Dead universe, and we are so excited to bring this next iteration to our Prime members,” said Brad Beale, Vice President of Worldwide Licensing for Amazon Prime Video. “An exciting and heartfelt survival story that will have our viewers sitting on the edge of their seats, this next series from the world of The Walking Dead will make an excellent addition to the growing catalogue of global event series available to Amazon customers.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YptQVJGBXyM&feature=youtu.be

The new series will feature two young female protagonists and focus on the first generation to come of-age in the apocalypse as we know it. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. In the end, all of them will be changed forever. Grown-up and cemented in their identities, both good and bad.

The new series from the world of The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and will be available on Prime Video across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe (excluding Spain and Portugal). The series will be available in North and South America, Spain and Portugal on AMC. 

Images of the new series are below:

In the extended promo, we find out more about who exactly Angie Kent really is and the 20 bachelors from across Australia joining her on her enchanting quest to find love. She’s raw, unfiltered and brutally honest. “It infuriates me that I’m still standing here chatting to you,” says Angie to one of the men conversing with her. ”You get sweaty hands too! Imagine our children,” she says to another as she squirms.

“She’s fun. She’s feisty. She’s ready to fall in love. And if you think Angie is unconventional, just wait til’ you meet the men,” is narrated in the promo. With one guy offering her a key to his apartment when they meet for the very first time, and another stripping down to nothing for a nude painting class, it appears to be the most revealing Bachelorette season yet. The diverse bunch of Bachelors after Angie’s affections include a Landscaper, Freediving Instructor, Refrigeration Mechanic, Mobile Zoo Owner, BMX Stunt Rider, Luxury Car Salesman, Aircraft Engineer, a local Politician, and not one, but two Firefighters. Could Angie’s Prince Charming be among these men?

This season also appears to be just as drama-filled with tears galore from both the men and bachelorette Angie. “As the battle for Angie’s heart heats up, emotions are laid bare,” is said whilst a brief montage of the men fighting ends in tears; and again there are tears from Angie when she says she regrets who she sends home and says ‘he is the one’. 

“It’s my time now to fall in love” says Angie. Angie also confesses she “can definitely see a future with him” when referring to the mystery man Australia is yet to meet. Angie may be fun and games, but she is serious when finding her love as she reveals she “doesn’t want the perfect guy just for everyone, she wants the perfect guy for her”.

This season, the first ever 24-Hour Yellow Rose is introduced. The bachelor who makes the strongest first impression on the opening night cocktail party will get an incredible advantage – the opportunity to spend 24 hours alone with Angie on the first single date.

The Bachelorette Australia premieres Wednesday October 9 At 7.30 pm on 10.

Powered by Nine will bring to life big ideas for these four leading brands via unique integrated creative, in-program product placement, viewer interactivity, promotions and more.

“Last year Nine launched Love Island with one clear goal: to make it a youth favourite,” said Liana Dubois, Nine’s Director of Powered. “We are so excited to welcome brands like KFC, Tradie, MCoBeauty and Deliveroo to a format that has become a global sensation.”

“Each of the integrated moments that these brands are associated with are original and recognises their unique brand story. They also appeal to the interests of the younger audience that is tuning in for this upcoming season of Love Island Australia.”

KFC will work with Powered Studios to tap into the voice of Love Island’s narrator, Eoghan McDermott and will be published across broadcast and digital platforms.

Deliveroo will be Love Island’s official app partner with bespoke app ad units that are contextually relevant to the show. In addition to this, throughout the season Islanders will be treated to special food moments, thanks to Deliveroo.

Further to this, islanders this year will partake in challenges and activities while dressed in Tradie and KFC branded merchandise.

MCoBeauty is the official make-up sponsor of the show; throughout the season, the Islanders will have access to the latest product range to ensure they are glam ready at any moment.

Love Island premiered last night on Nine’s primary channel to a national TV audience of 639,000, with a further live streaming VPM of 35,000 and an on-demand VPM of 48,000 between it airing and midday today.

The proportion of Australians who own digital television services has shown significant growth across all brands in the past three years. As of June 2019, 12.1% of Australians aged 14 and over owned a Google Chromecast.

This was followed by Apple TV (9.4%), Foxtel Now box (7.7%), Telstra TV (6.7%), Fetch Mighty/Mini (5.5%) and other digital television services (4.5%).

The findings come from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, gathered via in-depth face-to-face interviews with over 50,000 Australians each year in their homes.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says, “Gone are the days when consumers were limited to programs dished up by a small number of commercial and public television channels. Nowadays, households enjoy a large amount of choice in their viewing.

“Our data also reveals that more Amazon Prime Video, Kayo Sports, Netflix, Stan and YouTube Premium customers have a Google Chromecast service than any other digital TV device, which is consistent with many Chromecast customers being Technology Early Adopters.”

Early tech adopters embrace Google Chromecast

Roy Morgan’s Technology Adoption Segments split Australians into six segments based on their interest and use of technology. Those with the highest interest are ‘Technology Early Adopters’, followed by ‘Professional Technology Mainstream’, ‘Digital Life’, ‘Older Tech Explorers’, ‘Technology Traditionalists’ and ‘Technophobes’.

Technology Early Adopters (17% of Australians): Always first to purchase and use new technologies, these people are well educated with high incomes and risk-taking tendencies — 23% of Technology Early Adopters use Google Chromecast.

Professional Technology Mainstream (18% of Australians): Ambitious individuals who adopt technology fairly early for career and time-saving purposes.

Digital Life (14% of Australians): Typically students and young part-time workers, fast to adapt to social media styles of technology.

Older Tech Explorers (9% of Australians): Passionate about new tech but cautious about spending money on it.

Technology Traditionalists (24% of Australians): Usually aged 45+, these individuals are wary of change and only adopt new technology once it’s become mainstream.

Technophobes (18% of Australians): The oldest segment, technophobes aren’t so much scared of new technology as uninterested, preferring more traditional pursuits (TV, gardening, reading).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, Jan. 2019-Jun. 2019, n = 559. Base: Australians aged 14+ using Google Chromecast.

Google Chromecast experienced the largest percentage increase over the past three years (+6.8%), followed by Telstra TV (+4.9%), Apple TV (+0.8%) and Foxtel Now box (+0.7% since July 2018).

Michele Levine added, “Given recent strong industry growth and the fact that digital services are still in their infancy, we can expect the proportion of Australians using Chromecast and other similar services to continue to increase rapidly in future years.”

Digital television service ownership among Australians

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source Australia, January 2016 – June 2019, average six-month rolling period n = 7,341. Base: Australians aged 14+.

Google Chromecast experienced the largest percentage increase over the past three years (+6.8%), followed by Telstra TV (+4.9%), Apple TV (+0.8%) and Foxtel Now box (+0.7% since July 2018). Michele Levine says, “Given recent strong industry growth and the fact that digital services are still in their infancy, we can expect the proportion of Australians using Chromecast and other similar services to continue to increase rapidly in future years.”

By Trent Thomas

It has also been top of the charts in New Zealand 15 of the last 16 weeks to boot. Despite the fact that it seemed to be declining as time has passed since its third season release on Netflix, the shows average demand expressions actually went up this week by 1m.

How is TV Demand charts formulated? Read here

While Stranger Things continued to dominate there is movement on the chart by a lot of old favorites including The Walking Dead which continues to move up after beginning its 10th season last month.

One big mover has been Breaking Bad which is starting to gain momentum with the impending release of El Camino: A Breaking Bad movie which is dropping on Netflix October 11. The film will pick up where the show left off, exploring the escape of Jesse Pinkman from his captors as he is also pursued by law enforcement agencies.

This will be the first extension of the Breaking Bad story since the series concluded in 2013 besides the prequel Better Call Saul which premiered in 2015. 

The show won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards including four Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series wins for Bryan Cranston, and Aaron Paul winning three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. 

A  new entry to the Australian Overall TV charts is American Horror Story which is currently airing its ninth season American Horror Story: 1984 after premiering the first episode on September 18, 2019.

The latest version of the horror anthology series is based on the horror trope of 80s films set in the titular year of 1984 and is heavily influenced by classic horror slasher films such as Friday the 13th and Halloween.

Another show which has made its way into the Australian Overall TV charts is NCIS which scrapes in at number 10 after begining its 17th season on September 24, with the show now sitting at 380 episodes.

There were no other new releases in the top five but after three weeks Dora and the Lost City of Gold has cracked the top five thanks to a holiday surge. 

The two films to give way were Ad Astra (three weeks, $4.99m) and Downton Abbey (Four weeks, $11.30m) with both films slipping out of the top five after three films in the top five increased their totals from the previous weekend.

The only Australian film in the top five is once again Ride Like a Girl which has almost produced an identical total to its opening weekend making only $4,000 less on three fewer screens.

#1 Joker $9.74m

The latest adaption of the DC Comics villain the Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker/Arthur Fleck in an origin story set in 1981 following a failed stand-up comedian who turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City. The film had a very successful first week averaging $17,530 on 556 screens which were both the highest numbers for those categories this past weekend.

#2 Abominable $1.72m

The DreamWorks Animation/Pearl Studio production has continued its climb up the Australian box office chart improving its position for the third week in a row after improving 45% on last weekend’s total. The film increased from 284 to 299 screens producing an average of $5,759.

#3 Ride Like a Girl $1.66m

The Aussie made hit based on Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne hasn’t slowed down in its second week declining less than 1% on its opening weekend earning $6,085 on 273 screens making a total of $5.28m.

#4 The Angry Birds Movie 2 $1.50m

Despite a slow start for the animated sequel it has continued to steadily grow its total which now sits at $7.58m after four weeks. The mobile phone game inspired film averaged $4,227 on 355 screens and improved 37% on last weekend’s total.

#5 Dora and the Lost City of Gold $1.07m

After three weeks of release, the film based on the children’s animated TV series finally cracks the top five of the Australian box office thanks to a boost from the holiday season. The film increased 27% on last weekends revenue averaging $3,559 on 301 screens bringing its total to $4.93m.

Tuesday Week 41 2019

By James Manning

• Seven News 966,000/932,000
• Nine News 752,000/799,000
• A Current Affair 669,000
• ABC News 671,000
• 7.30 533,000
• The Project 258,000/464,000
• 10 News First 315,000
• The Drum 170,000
• SBS World News 148,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 248,000
• Today 188,000

Seven

After starting on 638,000 on Monday, Home and Away was on 633,000.

On Bride & Prejudice: The Forbidden Weddings, parents were taking part in a group therapy session where objections to the weddings were discussed. The episode did 430,000 after 416,000 on Tuesday last week.

Episode four of Secret Bridesmaid’s Business came after a three-night binge-a-thon last week. Those three episodes did an average of 354,000, which morphed into 361,000 last night.

Episode six of The Proposal followed at 10pm with pub owner Kate searching for the perfect husband. The audience was 152,000.

Nine

The Tuesday A Current Affair audience of 669,000 saw Reid Butler in the rain on the streets of Melbourne talking to Extinction Rebellion protestors and some of the people inconvenienced. “F@#$ the environment,” said one motorist. “There are more important things.”

On The Block it is time for the studios – the biggest rooms on the build. But it was all about another Body Corporate meeting and the aftermath. Keith and Dan’s builders seem to have let down Mitch and Mark in that the exterior work was far from finished on the studio space. There was more bad news for them later in the episode when the body corporate unanimously said “no” to their plans for a rooftop spa. If it wasn’t game on before, it certainly is now. “You f@#% with us…we will @#% with you,” said Mitch. It made for great viewing and it will be interesting to see how the remainder of the series unfolds. The Tuesday audience was 897,000 after 822,000 a week ago.

Episode two of Love Island saw more potential “couplings”. “My heart is saying two girls, my head is saying five,” said Eoghan as he interviewed one at a time. The episode did 357,000 after launching on 494,000 on Monday.

Nine programmers then saw fit to lead that audience into the to start series five of Botched, with a story about a botched breast augmentation procedure. The show did 224,000.

10

The Project was again close to 460,000 with Renée Zellweger on the program.

The Masked Singer then revealed country singer Adam Brand as The Dragon, giving Dannii Minogue another correct guess. The Tuesday episode did 877,000 and 713,000, down from 1.02m and 852,000 a week ago.

Episode three of BH90210 was The Photo Shoot and the cast members were trying to get Shannen Doherty back in the fold. The program was on 232,000 after 291,000 last week.

ABC

On Foreign Correspondent the busy Hamish Macdonald was reporting from Denmark on a nation with an identity crisis with the program on 511,000, up from 409,000 seven days prior.

Catalyst looked at risk takers and those who were risk averse with 395,000 watching.

The Show Must Go On followed as actor-turned-filmmaker Ben Steel looked at mental health issues in the entertainment industry for an audience of 214,000.

SBS

Professor Alice Roberts took 246,000 viewers of Britain’s Most Historic Towns to the British Channel coastline to talk about the history of Dover and its key part in the struggle against Nazi Germany.

Jenny Brockie was then investigating footballers and concussion on Insight and there were some fearsome tackles that were hard to watch. Former NRL footballer Ray Price didn’t have much nice to say about referees, but he wasn’t worried about his hard knocks. His family and his doctor are a bit more concerned. The audience was 251,000, up from 171,000 last week.

Dateline then looked at mental health care in Florida with 140,000 watching.