JW: When I came into the organisation and sat in front of the board for the first time, it was clear to me that Sunday to Thursday was a problem.

We have total domination with sport at the back end of the week.

Our problems were too much focus on number one and total people and not enough focus on the demographics.

Everything we have done so far [since I arrived] has been geared around investing more in content.
Hopefully there has been a bit of a surprise about how much we have got to attack the 7.30pm slot.

It is not going to take much for us to be absolutely back in leadership of all the key demographics.

We don’t program for an hour a day like some. We smash it out across the schedule from sunup to sundown with a lot of really, really powerful content.

Telling advertisers the problem and the plan

JW: I couldn’t have been any more frank and open about our recent performance. The market appreciates that, but you also have to tell them what you are going to do about it – explain the problem, but also detail how you are going to fix it.

More AFL on Thursday nights?

JW: We would love as much AFL as we could get on Thursday nights. We will support the AFL in whatever they want to do. If there is talk about a twilight Grand Final we will support them. It is not up to us to lead discussions on that.

Why did you acquire the rights to Big Brother?

AR: It is still one of the most iconic and well known franchises in the world. The plans that Endemol Shine have for it got us very excited. They presented an interesting take on in their plans to relaunch it in this market.

They have been blown away by the number of responses they have already had for the number of people who want to take part.

Whenever the brand gets mentioned it always creates a lot of chatter.
[When asked about Seven showing clips of a set being built in Sydney Harbour, Ross replied:]
That just might have been stock footage. I can’t answer anything on that.
We have only just signed the deal and we don’t yet know where it will be based.

Where did the idea for Plate of Origin come from?

AR: It’s a Seven Studios idea. It was something that developed through discussions about owning the cooking space. We now have all the biggest names in food in the one place and we will have an Olympic launch pad for the new series. It will be a perfect time to launch a new show and there clearly seems to be a demand for it. The market sustains two cooking formats already and there is a big, big advertiser demand for more of that content.

The schedule James Warburton outlined seems to fill your 7.30pm slots across the full year?

AR: James came in with a very clear brief. He wanted year-round 7.30pm strip programming targeting 25-54. No more weeks of patchwork quilt programming due to cost pressures with gaps in the format.

He identified there was more investment needed in the 7.30pm entertainment schedule. We have responded to that brief.

What is your current thinking about the number of nights a format can sustain each week?

AR: Some of these shows will be part of a two pronged stripped attack each week at certain points of the year. Some of the shows will have more episodes than others. There will be some weeks when we run two different franchises.

We will be attacking five nights a week – Sunday to Thursday. Sports and Better Homes and Gardens takes care of the rest.

People forget that in 2018, Seven won everything – all people and every single demographic [metro network].

We have a really good base of news and sport. It is much harder to turn around a declining news brand or a declining sport than it is to fix 7.30pm. We have a number of key 7.30pm brand that do work, we just need to fix the other parts of the year.

—

Top Photo: James Warburton with Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell

Seven network sales director Natalie Harvey and Seven digital sales director James Bayes

Why has CODE7 returned now?

NH: We used CODE7 initially two years ago. To make sure it was right we rested it for a while, but we are ready to go now. We have some campaigns locked in.

CODE7 is live now and will halve the workload of the agency and works across broadcast and digital. It is how we deliver on dynamic trading campaigns based on a CPM and we guarantee an audience outcome with no more make goods. The dashboard we have allows people to make sense of our audiences as its shows our audiences by day and by week. It is the start of the future of trading.

What are you aims for 7CAP which enables contextual ad placement?

JB: 7CAP is a broadcast product but the digital team has been intimately involved.

NH: We put a brief through 7CAP this week looking for family moments and we got around 14000 moments within our content with family moments coming up. That gives the advertiser specific opportunities to align the brand with those moments in the linear broadcast and we haven’t been able to do that before.

JB: We know it works. You put your spot in the right contextual environment adjacent to relevant content and the cut through and brand impact of that is going to be greater.

What 7CAP allows us to do is to automate that and do it at scale.

We run all of our schedule through AWS artificial intelligence machine learning and every five seconds it takes a frame out of the content and then codes it.

Seven West Media’s chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette

Seven reported that it had already signed off on most Olympic partnerships

KB: Having 11 major sponsors already, and the last one to be completed before the end of the year, is unprecedented. I have never seen that many commitments this far out of the games.

This gives us a signal that 2020 is going to be a much better year than 2019. This year has been a tough year with advertisers unsure and the Olympics represents a known entity they can commit to. The people I talk to say it gives them a chance to forward plan and go long for a change instead of short term [trading].

With paywalls in 2012 [Foxtel] and 2016 [Seven], Seven is promising everything for free from the Tokyo games

KB: This is the first time TV audiences will get to see everything at an Olympics for free.

We will be covering Tokyo on Seven and 7TWO with six additional curated channels and then another 35+ streams of multiple sports that give viewers the chance to choose and athlete or a sport.

Improving the FTA drama viewing experience

KB: We launched Secret Bridesmaid’s Business with solace 60 second spots where the break would countdown with the ad running. We did some preliminary research that showed that Westpac had a recall rate of 80% from those spots. Our dramas next year will have shorter breaks – we need to make drama a better experience and that’s what we will be doing.

More advertising opportunity during Big Bash League

KB: Cricket will have strategic timeouts in Big Bash League matches. Cricket Australia spoke to the players about it and we saw it as a great opportunity to get not just ads, but also on ground activations and strategic messaging. We will give it the special treatment it deserves.

—

Top Photo: Kurt Burnette with Seven’s Charlotte Valente and James Warburton

The former Block star Jess Eva jumped ship from breakfast radio in the Sunshine Coast to Sydney’s Triple M network at the start of 2019.

With the huge shift from regional to metro radio, Eva is content in her new role at Triple M co-hosting breakfast show Moonman In The Morning alongside Lawrence Mooney, the soon-to-depart Gus Worland, and Chris Page. Eva told Mediaweek what it’s like co-hosting a show with three men, her experiences in metro radio, and her favourite moments so far at the new gig. 

Eva said she is very grateful for her time in the smaller radio market. “I loved Sunshine Coast Radio. I have so much respect for every regional and provincial breakfast team. I was doing that for 13 years where you’re also playing producer, audio producer, breakfast announcer, semi promotions manager, meeting with the guys from Harvey Norman or something trying to get a sales pitch over the line; then you teach yourself how to edit video to get your social likes up, and it’s all purely for the love of radio,” explained Eva. 

“You don’t get many ratings results and for most of my regional time we didn’t have ratings at all, so the only reason why you would work hard is because you love radio and you want to create a good product. Coming to Sydney you surrounded by four or five producers, an audio producer and a video producer.” 

Eva has only been familiar to co-hosting a two-person radio show for her entire career, and is now co-hosting a four-person radio show. Eva said it was quite challenging at the start with adjusting to the team size. “However after the first couple of days, I thought to myself ‘oh my gosh. I’m getting paid more money than I’ve ever been paid before and I have to talk less’,” laughed Eva.

“Everyone in that show has something valid to say. We have this mindset that as long as the speakers sound good, it doesn’t matter who’s talking.”

Eva said she feels like one of the luckiest people in Australia working with Lawrence Mooney. “Anyone that’s met Mooney knows that he is one of the greatest minds in radio; to be able to work alongside him and observe and learn from him is fantastic,” shared Eva. 

“There is no school in the world that would give you that training and he’s very generous in the way that he teaches you how to perform. I feel like I’ve improved more in the last eight months than I have in 13 years in radio. He has a genuine desire for this show to work and he is very generous in passing on his knowledge.”

On that note of working alongside Mooney, Eva shared with Mediaweek how she doesn’t mind working with the team of men as she gets along with them really well. “I love the boys and I would honestly tell you otherwise, because I want to make my experiences as real as they can for other women who are going into all-male environments,” said Eva. “Of course men are going to act a little differently to women off-air, but I quite enjoy it; It’s like having a whole bunch of brothers, and at the end of the day they stand up for you, they protect you.

“I had an incident I spoke about on-air a couple of months ago where a taxi driver was quite abusive to me, and Moonman was outraged. He talked about it on-air and he was actually emotional. Even though I know from an outside point of view he’s a comedy/satire guy, he has a heart of gold and would go to war for you if necessary. So, how lucky am I?” said Eva. “The male and female relationships have been really beautiful and healthy in my environment and my experiences.”

Eva shared her thoughts on the head of Triple M network Mike Fitzpatrick, and said he is a great leader when it comes to teamwork. “At the ACRAs on Saturday night, we were on his table. Every region, no matter where you came from, Mike Fitzpatrick was standing up giving his biggest round of applause in that entire crowd and had the rest of our table up to congratulate. Coming from a regional market, it just really hit me,” said Eva. “I think that’s where the culture of that love and teamwork comes from. I think we were the only network to do that; it’s very uncommon.”

Eva laughed when she said that some of her favourite moments at Triple M have been the hilarious conversations off-air. Although, Eva revealed that on-air, she’s really loved helping people that are in need. “We’ve taken a bit of the Block part of my background. We’ve teamed up with different tradesmen and renovated houses for people who are in desperate need – so I’ve really enjoyed that,” said Eva. 

“I’ve also really enjoyed Moonman’s different characters – I think the idea of characters was a really brave thing to bring into the market, because you’re so vulnerable and it’s just you and I think he nailed them,” said Eva. “I love listening to Mooney talk, so sometimes I have to remember it’s my turn to talk and that I’m not an audience member,” said Eva as she laughed. 

“Another great moment was the introduction of [executive producer] Laura Bouchet who we poached from Jonesy and Amanda. I think the introduction of her to our show in March was a winning move by the company – she’s the best in the industry and I think she has just fitted in so well and just made our little team complete.”

Banijay Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of Endemol Shine Group, which is co-owned by The Walt Disney and funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global.

Analysts have valued that deal at around $3 billion.

The acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances and consultation with the relevant employee representative bodies, will encompass Endemol Shine’s 120 production labels with an estimated 66,000 hours of scripted and non-scripted programming together with over 4,300 registered formats.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Banijay Group will own almost 200 production companies in 23 territories and the rights for close to 100,000 hours of content. Total pro-forma revenue of the combined group is expected to be approximately €3 billion for the year ending December 31st 2019.

In Australia Banijay owns Screentime Australia under the leadership of executive chairman Bob Campbell and CEO Rory Callaghan. The Endemol Shine Group operates Endemol Shine Australia under joint CEO’s Carl and Mark Fennessy.

Once the acquisition has been completed it is expected the two Australian production companies will continue to operate separately.

Marco Bassetti, chief executive officer at Banijay, said: “Endemol Shine brings an incredible array of industry-leading talent, globally-renowned brands and high-quality creative content. Combining the resources of these two companies will instantly strengthen our position in the global market, and our capabilities across genres will further define us as a go-to provider of first class IP worldwide. Welcoming the Endemol Shine brands and talents to our existing business will signal enhanced opportunities in the marketplace, and we are all excited by what the future holds for the combined entity.”

Sophie Turner Laing, Endemol Shine Group chief executive officer, added: “At Endemol Shine, we have continually inspired and entertained audiences around the world, a testament to every single person across the group. This deal takes us into a whole new and exciting chapter and into a new enhanced global content house with many opportunities ahead.”

—

Top Photo: Endemol Shine Australia co-founders and joint CEOs Mark and Carl Fennessy

WA’s remarkable generosity was on full show again across the weekend when the state raised $42,596,034 million for the 2019 edition of the annual fundraising event.

Steve Butler reported in The West Australian:

Underpinned by multimillion donations from the Federal and State Governments and several other WA businesses and philanthropists, the record total pushed Telethon’s combined annual medical funding to almost $350 million since its 1968 inception.

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes said WA was now Australia’s undisputed leader of community giving.

“I know it is,” Stokes, the immediate former Telethon chairman, said bluntly.

“There are even premiers from other States who have asked if we can replicate it for them and I just keep telling them it has to be West Australian. It’s become something way bigger than we ever contemplated and I’m just so excited that we’ve come on this journey.

“This is human spirit on a total Statewide level as well as individual, from the smallest kid giving their pocket money to the people who get treated better than they would have because of all this generosity. It’s not just corporate, it’s the whole community and I think it can still get bigger and we can do even more.”

—

Top Photo: Seven’s Basil Zempilas reveals the Telethon total last night

Fans were left reeling at the end of season 7 after the death of two much loved inmates and the staggering reveal that Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson is very much alive.

When Wentworth returns in 2020, the prison community is still reeling from the aftermath of the bloody siege with a new leader at the helm. New characters joining the impressive ensemble of actors include Kate Box (Upright, Les Norton, Rake) as former top dog of Wentworth, Lou Kelly with a reputation for impulsive brutality; Zoe Terakes (Janet King, The End) as Rebel ‘Reb’ Keane a man trapped inside a woman’s skin and Jane Hall (Neighbours, House Husbands) as the new General Manager, Ann Reynolds who charms her colleagues but treats her prisoners with hard line prejudice.

Foxtel executive director of Television Brian Walsh said: “Wentworth has been the shining star of Foxtel’s extensive slate of Australian dramas and we are very proud to call “action” on the new season. We are indebted to the remarkable creative talent involved and to showcase the outstanding line-up of actors who bring to life this compelling series.

“Since its debut in 2013 Wentworth has had a large and loyal worldwide following and continually attracts some of the country’s finest actors and production creatives, we are thrilled to welcome Kate, Jane and Zoe on board.”

Fremantle director of scripted and Wentworth executive producer Jo Porter said: “Some 12 months after we wrapped series 7 it was more than a little bit exciting to see the gates of Wentworth spring open and reveal not only our beloved cast but some new faces join our incredible ensemble of acting talent. We are all so proud of the calibre of actors this production has always been able to attract – and post the first read through it was clear Kate, Jane and Zoe are already comfortable in the skin of their new roles.

“Marcia Gardiner and her team of writers have shaped another exhilarating season and introduced some compelling characters that continue to draw on the legacy of Prisoner while shaping the women to reflect a contemporary Australia. Together with Pino Amenta, Marcia and our incredible writers directors, cast and crew we can’t wait to get started.”

Returning cast are: Pamela Rabe (Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson), Kate Atkinson (Vera Bennett), Leah Purcell (Rita Connors), Susie Porter (Marie Winter), Kate Jenkinson (Allie Novak), Rarriwuy Hick (Ruby Mitchell), Katrina Milosevic (Sue ‘Boomer’ Jenkins), Robbie Magasiva (Will Jackson), Bernard Curry (Jake Stewart) and support cast Jacquie Brennan (Linda Miles) and David de Loutour (Dr. Greg Miller).

Wentworth is a Fremantle production for Foxtel with Fremantle director of scripted, Jo Porter and Foxtel’s senior drama consultant, Penny Win as executive producers.

Pino Amenta is series producer for season eight. The directors are Kevin Carlin, Beck Cole, Fiona Banks, Corrie Chen, Roger Hodgman and Mat King.

The writers are John Ridley, Kim Wilson, Peter McTighe, Max Conroy and Marcia Gardner, who is both script producer and writer.

Season 8 is supported by funding from Film Victoria.

Wentworth is distributed by Fremantle International and has been sold to 158 international territories.

—

Top Photo: Wentworth season 8 new cast Jane Hall, Kate Box and Zoe Terakes

Nine’s best was The Block Sunday episode, followed by the Tuesday, Monday and then Wednesday episodes.

Nine has claimed demos wins in key demos for primary and network shares, while Love Island is still the clear leader in BVOD viewing.

Seven had a low share last week, but it slipped to a new survey year primary channel low with 16.9% in week 43. The collection of multichannels pushed the combined channel share to 27.1%.

Seven News had the only entries in the top 20, while Home and Away came in at #22 for the week.

Shows in the top 30 and close to 500,000 each were Motorbike Cops, the return of The Good Doctor and the ever-reliable Better Homes and Gardens.

10 ended the week with a primary channel share of 12.8% with the numbers getting a boost from The Masked Singer final on Monday which was the #1 show of the week with 1.37m watching the reveal and 1.05m watching the remainder of the season finale.

Have You Been Paying Attention? busted above 900,000 for a second successive week and ranked #4 for the week while both episodes of The Bachelorette cracked the top 20.

Elsewhere on 10 Trial By Kyle debuted #1 in its timeslot and Rugby World Cup 2019: England vs. New Zealand Semi Final achieved the biggest audience for a Rugby World Cup game since 2011.

The ABC’s best for the week was again Gruen, but the numbers were lower, down to 640,000.

The best for SBS again was Struggle Street on 255,000.

Singles

We start the chart how we have every week for the past 13 weeks with an update on the records busted by Tones and I. Dance Monkey is in week 13 at #1 and has now gone 5x platinum. The track joins Old Town Road by Lil Nas X (2019), Despacito by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (2017) and Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio (1995/1996) at equal second in the list of most weeks spent at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Meanwhile Tones and I has spent a fourth week at the top n the UK with 81,000 chart sales over the past seven days, including 9 million streams. Dance Monkey outperformed its closest UK competitor, Regard’s Ride It, by almost double.

Tones and I also has another tune in the top 10 with Never Seen the Rain reaching a new chart peak at #10 after 14 weeks creeping higher. Only two Australian artists have had two singles in the Top 10 in the same week in the last decade: Harrison Craig in June 2013 and Karise Eden in June 2012. Before that, Savage Garden also joined that club in June 1997.

There was only one new arrival debuting in the top 50 this week – Katy Perry with Harleys in Hawaii at #36. The track is the third single to be released from her forthcoming sixth studio album with inspiration came from riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Oahu with fiancé Orlando Bloom.

Albums

The Mauboy magic sweeps across the top of the ARIA Albums chart this week as her fourth studio album Hilda lands at #1.

It’s the first time there has been a new album at #1 since Post Malone replaced Tool at the top of the chart in the first week of September.

Hilda is Mauboy’s second solo #1 and features a collection of songs co-written by her. Mauboy’s other trips to the top of the chart were for The Secret Daughter soundtrack in October 2016 and as member of the cast of the film The Sapphires in August 2012.

With Mauboy and Tones And I at the top of the Albums and Singles Chart, this is the first week since August 2004 that two Australian female solo artists have sat at the top of both ARIA Charts. The last time this occurred, Missy Higgins topped the Singles Chart with the Scar EP and Paulini was at #1 on the Albums Chart with One Determined Heart. It is only the third time this has happened in ARIA chart history.

Seven other albums found their way onto the chart on debut:

#6 Various Artists on Triple J Like A Version 15. The previous compilation peaked at #6 a year ago while the collections #9 to #13 all peaked at #1. The new compilation features covers performed by Amy Shark, Adrian Eagle, Holy Holy, Thelma Plum, Vance Joy, The Presets, Cub Sport, Parcels, Lily Allen, The Wombats and more.
#7 Alter Bridge with Walk The Sky. The sixth album from the Florida rockers led by singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy.
#9 Horrorshow with New Normal. The Sydney hip-hop duo score a third top 10 appearance for their fifth album.
#10 Foals with Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2. The second album from the band this year after ENSWBL Part 1 in March this year which peaked at #11.
#15 Christie Lamb with Broken Lines. The third album from Lamb, one of the Australian country music artists on the ABC Music roster. Lamb was voted CMC Female Artist of the Year 2018.
#23 James Arthur with You. Third album from the UK winner of The X Factor back in 2012.
#38 Bad//Dreems with Doomsday Ballet. The third album from the Adelaide rockers was supported by shows in Sydney and Brisbane on the weekend with Melbourne, Perth and their hometown in the next fortnight.

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Sunday Week 44 2019

• Seven News 901,000
• Nine News 867,000
• ABC News 633,000
• Insiders 331,000
• The Project 227,000/353,000
• Offsiders 154,000
• SBS World News 148,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 222,000
• Today 180,000

Seven

Bride & Prejudice – The Forbidden Weddings ran after 7pm with 440,000 watching. The biggest audience last week was 484,000 on Tuesday.

Sunday Night then did 376,000.

Nine

The Block saw the delivery of the hallways, media rooms and studies. Mitch and Mark were again the winners, narrowly in front of Jesse and Mel. The winner last night also got to drive home in a new VW Touareg loaded with $10,000. The Sunday episode did 1.087m after 1.098m on Sunday a week ago.

60 Minutes kept Nine ranked #1 with 610,000 after 535,000 a week ago.

10

The Sunday Project was on 353,000 after 363,000 a week ago.
The Graham Norton Show did 300,000 followed by NCIS on 288,000.
The Sunday afternoon coverage of the Supercars on the Gold Coast did 286,000.

ABC

Total Control managed to attract the channel’s biggest audience with 495,000. The audience of 454,000 last week grew to 641,000 when adding in consolidated 7 data. The drama continues to be #1 on iview for the ABC.

SBS

The primary channel has had successive Sunday shares over 6% for the first time this year since the first two weeks of January.

The premiere of Secrets of the Railway visited Cairns with 241,000 watching which put the channel in the top 20.

Next best was Egypt’s Top 10 Treasures with 219,000.