He’s been with Gruen as a regular panellist since it first launched as The Gruen Report over a decade ago, and much more recently he replaced John Burns as co-host on the highest-rating metro radio show in Australia – 3AW breakfast.

He returns tomorrow to the 2020 season of Gruen which he agreed was an important season for the show.

At Gruen Howcroft works alongside host Wil Anderson and regular panellist Todd Sampson plus guest panellists that include Dee Madigan, Karen Ferry and Christina Aventi.

Gruen is a CJZ and ABC co-production with executive producers Nick Murray, Anderson and Polly Connolly. The ABC executive producer is Nick Hayden.

“It’s important in that we are going to be able to discuss the role advertising and communication play in a year like this,” Howcroft told Mediaweek. “The government has used the power of advertising profoundly in order to get its message out there. That demonstrates the importance of paid communication.

“I like discussing how important advertising is. We have seen that writ large in the last six months.

“It is almost not possible for the government to spend too much in the communication to the public about Covid. They need to do whatever they can do to get the message out there. Media is now so fragmented you need to use advertising to get that job done.”

There’s been so much happening in 2020, how can Gruen start to deal with it?

“Gruen tends to be immediate…looking at just what has recurred over the last week,” said Howcroft. “This year there isn’t any harm in doing a bit of retrospective, certainly in episode one. It would be interesting to examine the communication from March when the pandemic kicked off with ad ‘X’ from the Federal Government.”

Howcroft said it was hard to measure if the Government ad spend had been enough, referring to his earlier comment about it being impossible to be spending too much. “If they are in every newspaper every day and on every TV station in every break, and continuously on every radio station, I would understand the strategy.”

Howcroft will be contributing from Melbourne this year, and he noted after the experiences of 2020 so far, that is something viewers will now be used to.

In fact being physically separated won’t hurt the content of the show. He explained before a show, the panellists and the host “never talk” about the program.

“In past series I would arrive on the stage at a taping 15 minutes before we start. Wil and I would talk about the footy. I won’t talk to Todd at all, and just say g’day to the other panel members.”

See also: Russel Howcroft: Gruen panellist on hit show’s return for important season

Now that he no longer works in advertising or his former job at Network 10, Howcroft said he remains very connected to the industry.

“I am still an avid follower of the ad world and it remains a big part of my life. I love looking at good, new TV advertising which has been my core interest. I will have to do a bit more work this year because I am not as deep in advertising as I was at PwC.”

Because of his new radio job, Howcroft said he tries to be tucked up in bed about 8.30pm these days. As to missing some of the primetime hours that marketers use to spread TV communications to consumers, Howcroft replied. “The good news is there is YouTube.”

Howcroft noted that although the TV audience fragments quite dramatically after 8.30pm or maybe 9pm some nights, it doesn’t mean they are leaving the mainstream media. “They can still be reached via BVOD and other means.”

Tomorrow in Mediaweek: How Russel Howcroft is handling the 4.15am alarm to work on Australia’s #1 radio show

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Top Photo: Russel Howcroft with Wil Anderson and Todd Sampson on Gruen in 2015

The publisher has built a coalition of significant women’s groups and legal advocates to lobby State and Territory governments to criminalise Coercive Control, which in New South Wales is associated with 99% of cases where a woman is murdered by her partner or ex-partner.*

The Coercive Control campaign is the third iteration of Are Media’s Activist Agenda.

In 2019 the ‘Stop Elder Financial Abuse’ campaign, launched in partnership with the Australian Banking Association (ABA), secured agreement from governments to establish baseline minimum standards for Power of Attorneys and to create a mandatory national online register.

In 2018, the Federal Government agreed to remove the GST on women’s sanitary products following years of lobbying and Are Media’s ‘No Gender Selective Tax’ campaign.

Brendon Hill, CEO at Are Media said: “Our first two Activist Agenda campaigns have both driven significant legislative change for women of all ages across Australia. Now we are taking on the unacceptable practice of coercive control which is the root cause of serious injury and murder of women across the country. Over the coming six months our leading brands will help educate and inform our audiences and, together with our coalition partners, lobby State and Territory ministers to make meaningful changes and end violence towards women.”

Coercive control is the foundational element of domestic abuse towards women in which the perpetrator uses emotional, psychological and other non-physical abuse to intimidate and control their partner. It is an inevitable lead up to physical abuse and, too often, to domestic homicide.

Developed by Story54, Are Media’s commercial insights, content and marketing division, and spearheaded by The Australian Women’s Weekly and Marie Claire, together with 40 of Are Media’s leading brands, the coalition includes White Ribbon, Small Steps for Hannah, Women’s Safety NSW, Queensland Women’s Legal Service and journalist and author of ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, Jess Hill.

An advertising campaign called ‘Join the Dots’ which highlights the indicators of Coercive Control has been created by Story54. Designed to drive education and encourage people to sign a petition calling on laws to be changed, the ads will run across Are Media’s women’s brands with specific ads targeting men across its auto division.

Jane Waterhouse, general manager of Story54 said: “Our brands are well placed to drive understanding and awareness of such a complex issue and through our magazines we have the ideal environment to share these harrowing stories and spark an in-depth conversation with our audiences.”

The coalition is a single issue, politically bi-partisan group calling on governments to take immediate steps towards introducing an offence of Coercive Control, including:

• Each State and Territory committing to criminalising Coercive Control by the end of 2021.
• Putting in place a consultation period, particularly with organisations on the front line, to provide input into how the new law would operate.
• Guaranteeing the necessary resources and funding to ensure the judiciary and the police are trained and effectively able to enforce the law.

The launch of the ‘Criminalise Coercive Control ‘campaign was held today at the head office of Women’s Safety NSW in Sydney.

Nicky Briger, editor of Marie Claire, said over the coming months the media group would be using all its titles and its 30 million strong social network to underline the appalling way in which many women around Australia are emotionally and psychologically abused by their partners.

“Importantly our nine million readers will be left in no doubt where the federal government and each state and territory government stands on the issue. We will be holding our lawmakers to account until the law is introduced,” she said. 

Governments across Australia have consistently failed to address this major issue, despite the overwhelming evidence it is a precursor to physical violence and often murder.

• In NSW between 2017 and 2019 77 of the 78 perpetrators used coercive control on their partner before killing them according to the NSW Domestic Violence Death Review.

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Top Photo: At the Are Media Coercive Control campaign launch (left to right): Nicole Byers, editor-in-chief, The Australian Women’s Weekly; Nithya Reddy, advocate and Preethi Reddy’s sister; Jess Hill, advocate and author of See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse; Karen Williams, psychiatrist and founder, Doctors Against Violence Towards Women; Nicky Briger, editor, Marie Claire; and Hayley Foster, CEO, Women’s Safety NSW

From 28 October through to 26 November, Vogue Australia will present VOGUE CODES 2020 as a reimagined virtual series of free events featuring an impressive line-up of local and international speakers to inspire women to be creators of the digital future and encourage female innovation.

Edwina McCann said: “VOGUE CODES is our crusade to see women empowered by technology. We are excited by the opportunity to present the VOGUE CODES event series fully online this year, and we’re making it free to register.

“Our VOGUE CODES webinar series earlier this year was incredibly well received. It gave us a fantastic opportunity to play in the virtual world and take the campaign across geographic borders and audiences ahead of launching this year’s program of events.

“2020 has highlighted the importance of connectivity, community and of bridging the gaps between us. Now, more than ever, we believe women must embrace the technology powering our society to ensure we play a role in shaping the future we all want to see, and 2020 has given us a unique opportunity to extend this message further.

“We’re delighted to have Westpac return as presenting partner for VOGUE CODES 2020 along with our supporting partners Audi and Estee Lauder, and welcome Barbie and Optus who have come on board this year. Together, we are all committed to making this a highly successful campaign which really makes a difference.”

Speakers participating in this year’s events include:

• Debbie Wosskow OBE, co-founder and chairperson of AllBright, is recognised as one of the most prominent serial entrepreneurs in the UK, known for successfully launching and scaling businesses in the areas of digital disruption, the sharing economy and female empowerment.

• Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, a global self-service ticketing and experience technology platform that serves a community of nearly one million event creators.

• Derek Blasberg joined YouTube in 2018 as head of fashion and beauty, a newly created role. A New York Times best-selling author, his first job was as an assistant at Vogue, and in his career he has been the editor-at-large of Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair’s Man on the Street.

• Fanny Moizant, president and co-founder of Vestiaire Collective, the leading global platform for desirable pre-owned fashion.

• Sandra Capponi, co-founder of Good On You, a world-leading source of trusted brand ratings and expertise on sustainable fashion. Good On You empowers shoppers, retailers and influencers to know the impact of brands and make better choices.

• Stephanie Hannon, currently working with Google on the Exposure Notification System, a joint Covid-19 contact tracing platform with Apple. She was previously a volunteer with the US Digital Response group providing tech support to the US government; and former CTO, Hillary for America.

• Aubrey Blanche, director of equitable design & impact at Culture Amp, an employee feedback and analytics platform aimed at managing and developing people and culture within organisations.

• Tip Piumsomboon, principal of Blackbird Ventures, a top venture capital firm seeding the likes of Canva, Zoox and Culture Amp. Blackbird has invested in over 70 companies in a range of industries and typically leads Seed and Series A rounds with follow-on investments.

• Manuri Gunawardena, CEO and founder of HealthMatch, a patient-facing clinical trial recruitment platform. Recognised as the Healthcare honouree in the Forbes ‘30 Under 30 Asia’ list for her innovative approach to empowering patients through digital healthcare.

Vogue Australia’s global first VOGUE CODES initiative was established in 2016 in answer to a gender imbalance in the technology industry with the aim of inspiring more women to pursue careers in tech-related industries.

All events will stream live online with select sessions made available for on-demand replay. For more information on VOGUE CODES 2020 visit vogue.com.au/vogue-codes.

VOGUE CODES 2020 – Program of Events

VOGUE CODES LIVE – 5 November

VOGUE CODES Live creates a platform for young women starting out in their careers to engage and be inspired by leading entrepreneurs. Vogue Australia, together with some of the most influential names in technology, fashion and business, has created a series of talks designed to motivate women to navigate the digital landscape in new and innovative ways. VOGUE CODES Live presents a series of forward thinking Q&A’s, keynotes and in conversation sessions packed with practical tips from international and Australian speakers. Engage with digital innovators and inspiring entrepreneurs who are influencing the technology landscape globally to spark new ideas and empower future female innovation.

VOGUE CODES KIDS – 7 November

Join VOGUE CODES Kids and Code Camp for a fun, engaging and educational virtual workshop just for kids aged 7-12. Each of the five one-hour sessions will include a live workshop for kids to create and develop their own online game.

VOGUE CODES SUMMIT – 10 & 11 November

The fifth annual VOGUE CODES Summit will go virtual for 2020 and take place over two days. Technology touches more roles and careers than ever before and continues to open up new areas of opportunity. The 2020 VOGUE CODES Summit will explore technology as a force for good, how to create a culture of inclusion, and career-defining moments from top Australian business women. Hear from international and Australian speakers who are driving change in the technology industry and discover how to scale your business from founders of successful start-up companies. Melissa Doyle, journalist, author, TV presenter and radio host will MC the Summit.

VOGUE CODES IN CONVERSATION BREAKFAST SERIES PRESENTED BY AUDI

The VOGUE CODES In Conversation Breakfast events presented by Audi Australia will recognise women who drive progress in their fields. The live Q&A events with special guests will all feature an opportunity for guests to engage with speakers and connect over breakfast.

Sydney – 28 October: Hosted by Audi Ambassador, Sandra Sully in conversation with author and entrepreneur Jodie Fox

Gold Coast – 29 October: Hosted by Audi Ambassador, Stephanie Gilmore in conversation with Outland Denim’s Erica Bartle 

Melbourne – 25 November: Hosted by Audi Ambassador, Lisa Wilkinson in conversation with Bridget Loudon from Expert360

Adelaide – 26 November: Hosted by Audi Ambassador, Melissa Doyle in conversation with Flavia Tata Nardini from Fleet Space Technologies

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Top Photo: Edwina McCann with Melissa Doyle at Vogue Codes 2019

ARN/iHeartPodcast Network Australia remains the publisher with the most downloads on just over 11m. PodcastOne Australia has the most active podcasts with 381.

Three new entities appear in the Top 100 Podcast Ranker this reporting period, including This is Actually Happening (Wondery), Watch What Crappens (Stitcher), and Bunga Bunga (Wondery).

Stuff You Should Know (ARN/iHeartMedia) remained in the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the country in September. 

As for the All-Australian Top 100, three new entities appear this reporting period, including The New South Wales Briefing (Southern Cross Austereo), League Pass and Chill (News Corp Australia), and The Imperfects (ARN/iHeartMedia).

Casefile True Crime (Audioboom) remained the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the country. 

Total downloads of all shows by all participating publishers in the month of September is 48.7m.

Participating publishers in the Australian Ranker include ARN/iHeartMedia, Southern Cross Austereo, News Corp Australia, Audioboom, Stitcher, Wondery, Nova, Nine, SEN / Crocmedia, Schwartz Media, TOFOP Productions, Kinderling Kids Radio, Australian Radio Network, Wavelength Creative, NBC News, West Australian Newspapers, and Fear and Greed. Additionally, as of the August 2020 Australian Podcast Ranker, Nine Radio has been expanded to include podcasts from Nine’s Digital and Publishing divisions.

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Unique listeners reached 1.5 million* in September, demonstrating audience desire to listen on connected devices. SCA’s total digital audio network reach includes audiences across Hit, Triple M and SoundCloud Radio. When combined with SoundCloud’s music streaming platform of 2.5 million monthly listeners, SCA has a market leading advertiser offering.

People are increasingly tuning into Hit and Triple M, with a 27% year on year jump in active live radio streams to reach 9.1 million – the highest ever. 

SCA’s total listening hours also hit a new record of 10.5 million in September, creating more addressable ad opportunities than ever before. 

Smart speakers achieved the highest year on year growth of all devices, up 66% to 2.3 million listening hours. Smart speaker listening has an average session duration of 2 hours and 26 minutes and accounts for almost a quarter of all listening.

The SoundCloud audience also grew by 18% year on year in September^.

“Our digital audio listening and live radio streaming is the fastest growing ad platform in the market right now and continues to break listening records and record extraordinary growth, demonstrating the strength of digital audio. As a growing and addressable channel with a loyal and engaged audience, now is the time to tap into this exceptionally effective channel,” SCA chief sales officer, Brian Gallagher, said.

“SCA audiences are tuning in for longer listening sessions driven by daytime listening on smart speakers and desktop, creating more Instream ad opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers with a high quality ad experience. Our new digital audio attribution products, SCA Footsteps and SCA Soundcheck help complete the consumer journey and prove the ROI of this burgeoning channel.

“SCA is focused on providing our listeners the opportunity to engage with our products whether in home, at the office or on the daily commute where device flexibility enables listening to reach new levels of engagement each month. We urge advertisers to take advantage of this rapid listener behaviour shift and the growing popularity of radio products in the connected home.  We expect this growth to continue as Australian homes around the country are all embarking on a ‘connected makeover’ journey.”

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Source:
*Adswizz Audiometrix September 2019 v September 2020
^ SoundCloud 1P Data

Host of Australia’s first and longest-running music countdown, Take 40 Australia, Barry Bissell will be heard alongside the Matt and Jo Show (with Troy Ellis), Osher Günsberg, Hamish and Andy, The Hot 30’s Ugly Phil, Tony Martin, Tracy Bartram and Gavin Wood.

The Matt and Jo Show dominated FM breakfast in Melbourne for close to a decade and the pair remember it fondly with Matt Tilley calling it, “The most impactful 10 years of my life. The best fun and the best people to work with.” Jo Stanley added: “I look back and cannot believe how fortunate we were to have had such creative freedom and the joy of making each other laugh every day.”

Matt and Jo with Troy Ellis

40 Years of The Fox will also reveal how Matt Tilley was able to get his infamous “Gotcha Calls” to air, that Barry Bissell made an on air remark that a young Kylie Minogue was “not really a singer” and Ugly Phil’s minor issue that set Madonna off in a Beverly Hills hotel.

Starting Monday 12 October, The Fox audiences will be treated to a week of celebratory playlists of listener favourites from the last 40 years with pop up birthday messages from some of the biggest music and celebrity names in the country.

In the 90s The Fox was home to one of Australia’s most successful FM radio shows, Tony Martin and Mick Molloy’s Martin/Molloy and in the early 2000s breakfast show Tracy and Matt in the Morning shook up the Melbourne media establishment when it knocked AM institution 3AW off the top of the radio ratings survey.

The Fox dominated as the biggest radio brand in the country and ushered in the era of radio superstars. Some of the biggest names in entertainment have been part of The Fox over the decades including Hamish and Andy, Fifi Box, Jules Lund, Carrie Bickmore, Tommy Little, Dave Thornton, Brendan Fevola, Dave Hughes, Kate Langbroek, Ed Kavalee and Ash London.

SCA chief content officer Dave Cameron has been at The Fox since the 90s and said: “The Fox has always set the benchmark for on air talent. From the very beginning we have engaged with the best, most experienced entertainers in the country who have created some of the best radio in the world. Our breakfast show Fifi, Fev and Byron has never been as connected to our audience than they are in 2020 and they’re going to have a lot of fun celebrating the last 40 years this week.”

The Fox has also played an instrumental role in creating and nurturing some of radio’s most influential behind the scenes players and content director, Amanda Lee, will host an intimate podcast series, 40 Years of The Fox, with a selection of former leaders including Rex Morris, Brian Ford, Jamie Angel, Dave Cameron and Adrian Brine for a true peek behind the curtains of running one of Australia’s most loved radio brands.

The Fox content director Amanda Lee said: “Pulling together this 40-year celebration of The Fox has reinforced that the people on air and behind the scenes have built who we are and their passion and talent has created one of Melbourne’s most iconic radio stations. Our listeners have always been front and centre in everything we do, and I think they are going to absolutely love this trip down memory lane.”

40 Years of The Fox celebrations can be heard on the Hit App, DAB+, on your smart speaker or via fox.com.au.  The 40 Years of the Fox podcast will be available via The Fox app.

A new membership rate has also been announced, that will give these media owners access to IAB research, resources, briefings, and mentorship program.

The measures have been developed for the 3000+ so called long tail publishers Australia-wide who have audience sizes of less than 500,000 people visiting per month. 

Gai Le Roy (pictured), CEO of IAB Australia commented: “One of our key objectives is to help support a sustainable and diverse digital media and advertising market. We are delighted to share these new resources specifically developed for smaller publishers who are evolving digital ad offerings and exploring different revenue models.

“The passion and commitment of these smaller publishers to finding sustainable ways of serving and informing our communities will bring a rich and important chorus of voices across their channels. Although there has always been a rich fabric of small and mid-sized publishers, we are excited to see a range of new titles servicing regional areas as well as other site, apps and podcasts servicing particular niche audiences.” said Le Roy.

Australians consume digital content from many publishers and platforms.  Nielsen’s Digital Media Panel measures the audiences of about 3,800 global and local media owners with Australian audience sizes varying from the very large (nearly 20 million people a month) to the small (about 10,000 people a month). Nearly nine in 10 of these media properties have an audience size of less than 500,000 people visiting per month and three-quarters have an audience size of less than 250,000 people per month.

Jobs360 addresses the growing jobs crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic following the worst economic downturn in a century.

The centre-plank of the series is the Jobs360 Roundtable – a panel of key experts debating the big issues confronting Australian workers and employers and their ideas for workable solutions.

It builds on the recent Aged Care 360, which shone a light on the nation’s nursing homes, dissecting the failings posed by COVID-19.

The key findings and proposals from the roundtable panel will be released today outlining changes needed to strengthen the economy and ways to get the jobs market back on track.

Free childcare, scrapping penalty rates for small business, rent relief in the bush and training for older Australians are among the solutions for Australia’s jobs recovery suggested by the high-level 360 think tank spanning business, unions and government.

National editor News 360 Kathy Lipari said the 360 Roundtable was proving an effective means to bring disparate but powerful voices into a single forum to highlight complex issues affecting millions of ordinary Australians.

 “Our trusted news brands bring together a variety of experts whose views and insights are rarely heard within the same forum,” Lipari said.

“We’re able to cut across all divides, whether political or social, and cut to the heart of an issue to hear all sides of a story. And this means we can cast an eye to the future to begin developing practical solutions to problems that can appear intractable.

 “The next issue we will tackle will be the state of the nation’s mental health.”

The high-profile Jobs 360 expert panel featured Federal Minister for Employment Michaelia Cash, Flight Centre chief Graham Turner, Australian Retailers Association chief Peter Zahra, demographer Bernard Salt, Council of Small Business of Australia chief Peter Strong, ACTU president Michele O’Neil, founder of Western Sydney Women, Amanda Rose and Australians whose working lives have been disrupted by the jobs downturn. `

New data released this week revealed 3300 private sector jobs daily have disappeared since March, with more than 3.5 million Australians now relying on JobKeeper to survive.

The planning tool harnesses the power of VMO’s facial analytics data with third-party consumer data and machine learning. Together, this allows VMO to determine hourly audience at a screen level across VMO’s retail, health club and petro-convenience environments. DART R&F delivers clients a new benchmark in OOH audience planning and provides actionable results for campaigns.

“DART represents an enormous wealth of human interaction data that, when calibrated against third-party and independent data sources, it provides a highly accurate and scalable view of true audiences at VMO locations. Whether clients are buying traditional campaigns or programmatic campaigns, marketers can have confidence the audience methodology applied is consistent across all VMO assets and has been independently built and verified. DART R&F utilises the best data science in market to deliver a highly accurate third-party measurement tool that will revolutionise OOH audience planning,” Paul Butler, managing director VMO said.

DART R&F’s granularity of data enables VMO to build accurate measurement of impressions hourly and at an individual screen level.

VMO worked with Data2Decisions to independently build and verify the audience reach methodology, which from today will apply to all campaigns.

“Using the latest machine learning techniques to combine datasets, we were able to create a prediction model of specific audiences by the hour at an individual screen level. This has helped us, in partnership with VMO, to create reach and frequency calculations that provide the most robust measure of OOH audiences to date,” said John Price, Managing Partner Data2Decisions.

CF Entertainment, part of the Byron Allen empire, has acquired all nine seasons – 129 hours – of popular Canadian ob-doc series Highway Thru Hell for syndication across the company’s extensive local television network. Produced by Great Pacific Media Inc, the series follows truckers on the treacherous Coquihalla Highway in British Columbia as they battle steep hills, rock falls and winter snowstorms on the hazardous but economically important route.

Series nine of Highway Thru Hell (18 x 60) and series five of Heavy Rescue: 401 (14 x 60) have also been licensed to The Weather Channel. Heavy Rescue: 401, which follows the unique challenges and difficult working conditions endured by tow truck operators and rescue and maintenance crews on a busy highway, is also a Great Pacific Media Inc production.

Animal Planet US has acquired series four and five (12 x 60) of Chasing Monsters, the Untamed Productions 4K title that sees extreme adventurer Cyril Chauquet travel the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes in search of the planet’s biggest – and scariest – fish.

The first five series, totalling 130 hours, of property title Love It or List It, produced by Big Coat Productions in Canada have been licensed to HGTV US, along with season three of Love It or List It Australia (10 x 60), produced by Beyond Productions for Foxtel. The popular original series now has numerous international versions, all helping people decide whether to sell their house and move or invest in it and renovate, in order to meet their changing property needs.

Finally, White Rabbit Project (10 x 60) has been acquired by the Science Channel. Produced by Beyond Productions and featuring the popular hosts of the Emmy-nominated series MythBusters, the series sees the presenters immerse themselves in experiments, builds and tests as they head down the rabbit hole to investigate many weird and wonderful events from pop culture, science and history.

Sherry Fynbo, recently promoted to EVP of sales for North America at Beyond Rights, comments: “Naturally I am pleased to have placed so many hours of key titles with leading American broadcasters. But, most importantly, deals such as these endorse Beyond Rights’ strategy of finding the best international producer partners possible and then working closely with them to invest in great content with long-running potential. This in turn enables us to launch exciting programme brands into the marketplace and then work with our broadcaster clients to help build those brands for their audiences.”

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Top Photo: Love It Or List It Australia hosts Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker

The Outpost took the spot of horror film Antebellum as the rest of the top five looks entrenched with each film ranging from 3-7 weeks in the top spots. 

Trolls World Tour stayed #1 for the third week in a row as Tenet continues its slow slide down the Australian box office, seven weeks after its release.

Overall, the Australian box office declined 17% after making a total of $3.35m over the weekend.

#1 Trolls World Tour $780,124

After seven weeks in theatres, the film has been boosted by the school holidays over the last few weeks as it continues to find itself in the #1 spot. The film now has a total of $6.48m after producing a weekend average of $3,278 on 238 screens.

#2 The Secret Garden $394,839

After four weeks The Secret Garden is still continuing its move up the charts finding itself in second spot, the highest placement the film has achieved since its release. The film averaged $1,687 on 234 screens during the weekend and its total is now $2.53m.

#3 Tenet $347,599

While it is sliding down the Australian box office as its weekend totals continue to dip, Chris Nolan‘s sci-fi blockbuster continues to add to its overall total which now sits at $11.34m. This makes the film easily the highest release since cinemas began to re-open after the Covid-19 enforced lockdown. Over the weekend Tenet averaged $1,228 on 283 screens.

#4 The Outpost $285,735

The only new film to join the top five this week is based on a 2012 non-fiction book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper which covers the Battle of Kamdesh in the Afghan war. The film averaged $1,742 on 164 screens.

#5 Cats & Dogs 3: Paws Unite $205,649

The kid-friendly release finds itself in the top five for the second week in a row thanks in part to the school holiday surge after it averaged $1,077 on 191 screens.

Primetime News
Seven News 1,052,000/1,012,000
Nine News 937,000/901,000
ABC News 753,000
10 News First 300,000/197,000
SBS World News 167,000

Daily current affairs
A Current Affair 748,000
7.30 643,000
The Project 306,000/497,000
The Drum 200,000

Breakfast TV
Sunrise 258,000
Today 236,000
News Breakfast 179,000

Late night news
Nine News Late 233,000
The Latest 144,000
ABC Late News 108,000
World News Late 47,000

Monday TV 

Seven: Home and Away started the week with 544,000 after a week 41 average of 538,000.

Border Security: Australia’s Front Line got a weeknight primetime slot for this Monday only with two episodes after 7.30pm on 331,000 and 339,000.

The Monday movie was 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians on 318,000.

Nine: A Current Affair had an average of 720,000 across the weekday episodes last week and started this week on 748,000.

The Block featured some of the fallout teased on Sunday – Sarah and George giving the judges a message and Keith and Harry having a blow-up. There was also a lengthy promo for a Ford Mustang, transporting Tash to other ad partners. The Monday episode was on 863,000 after 898,000 last week.

RBT was then on late again with an hour starting about 8.45pm with 386,000 watching.

After the Late News, 100% Footy was on 57,000 and Footy Classified did 131,000.

10: MasterChef Australia didn’t have a dream debut with 524,000 on Sunday, but it climbed a little last night to 546,000 watching episode two.

Have You Been Paying Attention? managed to grow the audience to 628,000 with Marty Sheargold, Abby Coleman and Melanie Bracewell joining Ed and Sam on episode 24 for 2020. The number was up from 599,000 last week.

Drunk History Australia then did 241,000.

ABC: Australian Story was part one of the story of Di McDonald and a man who terrorised her for years with 619,000 watching.

Four Corners looked how Tinder is helping facilitate sexual assault in an investigation in partnership with triple j Hack for the audience of 553,000.

Media Watch followed on 478,000 and then Q+A did 245,000 with a program with guest Anthony Albanese. Host Hamish Macdonald noted Albanese may not have been first choice though after successive knockbacks from the PM and treasurer.

SBS: Episode four of How the Victorians Built Britain saw the primetime audience on 205,000.

It was followed by 24 Hours in Emergency on 148,000.