Friday February 9, 2018

Nova’s marketing campaign: “All guns blazing” with new TVC, OOH, digital

• All radio broadcasters spending up on marketing to get momentum in new year

Nova Entertainment will this week reinforce Nova’s position as the #1 music network, and showcase the brand’s on air lineup around the country, with a new multiplatform marketing campaign.

The national campaign will run across TV, digital, social and out of home with transit, large format and time-targeted creative across an array of digital sites.

The campaign will see the Nova Network’s breakfast and drive on-air teams featured on outdoor billboards and transit advertising, positioned in key locations in all markets.

Nova Entertainment’s chief marketing and digital officer Tony Thomas told Mediaweek: “We had a similar strategy last year at this time when we focused the TV creative around positioning Nova as the big hits network and we used recording artists to support that. We also used our talent on out of home and digital.

“It is an important mix of positioning and in terms of the overall network and the individual talent, linking them to our shows and our brand in their respective local markets.”

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

AIDC highlights: Conference director Alice Burgin reveals program highlights

Billing itself as the premier event for the documentary, unscripted and factual sector, the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) has grown into an annual industry and creative community hub since launch in 1987.

Katrina Strickland’s mission to evolve Fairfax’s Good Weekend

• What to expect from the refreshed edition of newspaper inserted magazine

A refreshed edition of Fairfax Media’s popular insert magazine, Good Weekend, will be circulated inside The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age this weekend.

This was a project that has been in the works for more than six months. It was one of the first projects Katrina Strickland took up when she came on board as editor of the brand.

“It’s more because the new editor wants to put their stamp on things,” she told Mediaweek. “It’s a great magazine. It’s got a long-stories history. It didn’t need a massive revolution. What I am saying to people is that it’s more an evolution than revolution.”

The core of the Good Weekend, which is long reads, remains the same. Most of the changes are at the front and back of the book. Strickland wanted to introduce some shorter-form reads in the magazine. However, she pointed out that this would have no impact on the number of long-form reads in the magazine.

“If you are going to read a story about a person, an issue or a place in Good Weekend, you expect it to be a definitive story that is beautifully written and meticulously researched. It should give you a sense of knowing everything you need to know,” Strickland said.

Former Good Weekend editor Amelia Lester’s weekly column Foreign Correspondence has been moved to the front of the book, along with Dream Destination. The revitalised version of Good Weekend also introduces a new gardens column from the owner of Garden Life store Richard Unsworth, an arts column from SMH critic John McDonald and a column from Ben Law in which he talks to public figures about their private lives.

The refreshed version of the magazine also marks the return of reader letters. This section is aimed at interacting more with the readers by asking them to do things like post pictures of themselves with their copy of Good Weekend.

Week 6 TV: Thursday
THURSDAY METRO
ABCSevenNineTenSBS
ABC9.9%717.0%921.2%TEN18.2%SBS One4.0%
ABC 22.2%7TWO3.7%GO!3.1%ONE2.8%VICELAND1.3%
ABC ME0.9%7mate3.0%GEM2.9%ELEVEN2.4%Food Net1.6%
ABC News1.6%7flix2.2%9Life1.8%NITV0.2%
TOTAL14.7%25.8%29.0%23.4%7.1%
THURSDAY REGIONAL
ABCSeven AffiliatesNine AffiliatesTen AffiliatesSBS
ABC9.4%718.7%917.1%WIN15.1%SBS One3.7%
ABC 23.1%7TWO5.1%GO!4.1%ONE2.8%VICELAND1.2%
ABC ME1.0%7mate4.1%GEM4.2%ELEVEN2.4%Food Net1.4%
NEWS 241.6%7flix2.6%9Life1.5%NITV0.3%
TOTAL15.1%30.5%28.0%20.3%6.6%
THURSDAY METRO ALL TV
FTASTV
85.9%14.1%
Thursday fta
  1. Married At First Sight Nine 938,000
  2. Seven News Seven 891,000
  3. Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 844,000
  4. Nine News Nine 836,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 824,000
  6. Gogglebox Ten 714,000
  7. I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!Ten 713,000
  8. A Current Affair Nine 701,000
  9. ABC News ABC 643,000
  10. The Project 7pm Ten 560,000
  11. Home And Away Seven 558,000
  12. 7.30 ABC 500,000
  13. The Chase Australia Seven 485,000
  14. Hot Seat Nine 445,000
  15. Ten Eyewitness News First At Five Ten 430,000
  16. Would I Lie To You? ABC 387,000
  17. The Project 6.30pm Ten 356,000
  18. The Chase Australia-5pm Seven 330,000
  19. The Front Bar Seven 330,000
  20. Call The Midwife (R) ABC 326,000
Demo Top Fives

16-39 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 269,000
  2. Gogglebox Ten 207,000
  3. I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Ten 185,000
  4. The Project 7pm Ten 153,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 121,000

 

18-49 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 417,000
  2. Gogglebox Ten 345,000
  3. I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Ten 344,000
  4. The Project 7pm Ten 257,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 218,000

 

25-54 Top 5

  1. Married At First Sight Nine 471,000
  2. I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!Ten 394,000
  3. Gogglebox Ten 392,000
  4. The Project 7pm Ten 287,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 261,000
Thursday multichannel
  1. Go Jetters ABC2 153,000
  2. Talking Married 9Life 149,000
  3. Death In Paradise 9Gem 146,000
  4. Peter Rabbit ABC2 139,000
  5. Dot. ABC2 137,000
  6. Peppa Pig-PM ABC2 134,000
  7. Father Brown-PM 7TWO 130,000
  8. Murdoch Mysteries-PM 7TWO 128,000
  9. Exit Wounds 9GO! 127,000
  10. Peppa Pig-AM ABC2 126,000
  11. Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures ABC2 126,000
  12. Octonauts ABC2 125,000
  13. Murdoch Mysteries E2 PM 7TWO 124,000
  14. Bondi Rescue Rpt ONE 119,000
  15. The Justine Clarke Show!-AM ABC2 119,000
  16. The Hive-PM ABC2 117,000
  17. Rocky Mountain Railroad ONE 117,000
  18. Kazoops!-PM ABC2 116,000
  19. Neighbours ELEVEN 113,000
  20. PJ Masks-AM ABC2 112,000
Thursday subscription tv
  1. The Great Australian Bake Off LifeStyle Channel 98,000
  2. Outback Opal Hunters Discovery Channel 71,000
  3. Grand Designs Australia LifeStyle Channel 65,000
  4. Gold Rush Discovery Channel 59,000
  5. Selling Houses Australia LifeStyle Channel 50,000
  6. Paul Murray Live SKY NEWS LIVE 48,000
  7. The Brokenwood Mysteries 13TH STREET 46,000
  8. The Bolt Report SKY NEWS LIVE 46,000
  9. Curious George Nick Jr. 45,000
  10. Play Along With Sam Nick Jr. 41,000
  11. Melbourne: Real Housewives Of… ARENA 41,000
  12. Shimmer And Shine Nick Jr. 40,000
  13. NCIS TVH!TS 39,000
  14. Outsiders SKY NEWS LIVE 39,000
  15. The Simpsons FOX8 37,000
  16. The Big Bang Theory COMEDY CHANNEL 36,000
  17. Credlin SKY NEWS LIVE 36,000
  18. Family Guy FOX8 35,000
  19. PML Overtime SKY NEWS LIVE 35,000
  20. Nella The Princess Knight Nick Jr. 34,000

TV Ratings Analysis

Primary Channels

By James Manning

• Nine’s Married At First Sight dinner party ranks #1, Nine on top too
• TEN’s Gogglebox return drives up share, wins timeslot, demos
• Seven’s Front Bar special goes national with Mick, Sam & Andy

Seven

Another feast for soap fans after the news with four episodes of Home and Away. After hovering close to 700,000 all week, the Thursday night average across the two hours was 558,000.

The Front Bar: The Winter Edition was delivered by MickSam and Andy in the first week of the last month of summer. The trio previewed the Winter Olympics which start this weekend in what was possibly their first episode networked around the country at the same time on the primary channel. Good to see the team didn’t try and raise the Bar too high – Mick dropped a fart joke and then a brown run gag in the first segment. The program just made the top 20 and up against Gogglebox the best it could do was 330,000. The Melbourne audience was close to double the number watching in Melbourne.

Surveillance Oz followed at 10pm on 223,000.

Nine

A Current Affair returned to five metro markets last night with 701,000 watching. The stories featured included a mum fighting for justice after the murder of her daughter and how shopping centres are spying on their customers.

On Married At First Sight the program’s second week ended on 938,000 at a dinner party where the 11 couples met each other for the first time. Thursday was again a good night with no MKR – last week the Thursday ep did 993,000.

The 2015 movie Hot Pursuit followed with 298,000.

TEN

The Project 7pm featured the great Maude Garrett speaking with Clint Eastwood and the real-life heroes portraying themselves in the new movie 15:17 To Paris. No sign of Lisa Wilkinson last night with the new panellist travelling overseas for a mystery interview for the Network Ten program. The Thursday episode started on 356,000 and then grew to 560,000.

Gogglebox then returned where shows being watched included My Kitchen RulesHome and AwayMarried and The Project. The first ep of the new season did 714,000, which helped lift the TEN share to over 18%, its best since the end of the Big Bash League.

ABC

At 6pm the new Think Tank dropped again with 122,000 after audiences earlier in the work were trending down from 203,000 to 170,000.

The final episode of Would I Lie To You? featured one of the greats from The Young Ones – Ade Edmondson – with 387,000 watching.

The final episode of season five of Call The Midwife followed with 326,000 before season six launches in this timeslot next week.

Good Karma Hospital then did 199,000 at 9.30pm.

SBS

Michael Portillo was in Scotland as his Great British Railway Journey travelled from Stirling to Invergowrie with 239,000 watching.

Launch day for the much-anticipated arrival of the food truck on Shane Delia’s Recipe For Life is getting close. The episode did 119,000.

Episode two of Running Wild With Bear Grylls was next where he was joined by Ben Stiller. The show did 113,000.

After a big launch double-episode crowd last week of 215,000, Knightfall returned with 124,000 which is a good number after poor lead-in performances.

Media News Roundup

Media Business

Optus has delivered revenue growth of 5% year-on-year to $2,328m following its highest ever postpaid handset customer growth.

During the quarter, Optus reported record postpaid handset customer growth of 127,000. This was slightly offset by a 29,000 decline in prepaid customers.

The telco reported an increase of 65,000 NBN customers and higher NBN migration payments during the quarter. Optus now has 416,000 NBN broadband customers.

Allen Lew, Optus chief executive, said, “This is a pleasing result that demonstrates our continued focus on compelling content such as premium sports, National Geographic and free live streaming of music and video, and consistent network investment is really resonating with Australian consumers. Strong postpaid mobile customer growth for the quarter has also benefited from new premium handset releases and continued network expansion.”

Optus’s growing entertainment portfolio was enhanced through a partnership with the Seven Network, which gives eligible free data streaming of the 2018 Australian Open Tennis, the forthcoming 2018 Winter Olympic Games and the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

 

21st Century Fox has reported total quarterly revenues of US$8.04 billion, a $355 million – or 5% – increase from the $7.68b of revenues reported in the prior year quarter. The increase reflects higher affiliate, syndication and advertising revenues reported at the cable network programming segment partially offset by lower revenues reported at the television segment.

Executive Chairmen Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said:

“We delivered another quarter of solid top-line revenue growth including the further acceleration of gains in global affiliate revenues and despite challenging revenue comparisons for our TV segment. Our results also reflect increased investment behind higher volumes of global sporting events as well as film releases from our studio, which led the industry in Golden Globe awards and Oscar nominations. Looking ahead, we are focused on continuing to deliver value to our shareholders through achieving our near-term growth plans, completing our proposed acquisition of the balance of Sky, obtaining the required approvals for the successful completion of our transaction with Disney and planning for the exciting launch of the new ‘Fox’.”

The company reported that prior to the Disney acquisition of key assets, the company will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and its owned and operated television stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network and certain other assets into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.

 

The New York Times has reported it added 157,000 net digital-only subscriptions in the fourth quarter of the year, pushing overall subscription revenue to more than US$1 billion for the year. Subscription revenue now accounts for 60% of the company’s total revenue.

Buoyed by the growth in digital subscriptions, total revenue for the year increased 8%, to $1.7b, and 10% in the fourth quarter, to $484 million.

The Times Company had more than 2.6 million digital-only subscriptions, which include news, cooking and crossword products, at the end of 2017. Digital-only subscription revenue increased 46% last year, to $340m, and 51% the quarter, to $96m. Subscription revenue for the year increased 15%. For the quarter, it rose 19%, to $269m.

With more than $600m in digital revenue in 2017, the company drew closer to reaching its goal of $800m by 2020.

[Read the original]

 

The inaugural Australian International Screen Forum will take place in New York City across March 19-22, 2018. Hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the forum will include screenings and previews, industry-focused events, seminars, roundtables, keynote conversations, and master classes, to highlight the creative cinema, television and digital content emerging from Australia’s entertainment industry, and foster new relationships and international growth between the film industries of Australia and the United States.

The non-profit industry event, presented in partnership with Screen Australia, Ausfilm, the Chris and Francesca Beale Foundation, IFP, The Australian Consulate-General, Qantas and Arthur. J. Gallagher & Co., will feature screenings including the New York premiere of Simon Baker‘s directorial debut film Breath, an adaptation of author Tim Winton‘s novel of the same name. Baker will participate in a post-screening Q & A.

The forum will also incorporate a variety of industry events open to industry members, filmmakers and the public, including panels and workshops such as a Masterclass in Directing, hosted by director and producer Gillian Armstrong.

 

ABC chairman Justin Milne says the public broadcaster needs to ramp up its digital transformation to better reflect where its viewers are going and remain relevant for decades to come, reports The AFR’s Max Mason.

On Friday, at the ABC’s first annual public meeting, where members of the public have been selected to join executives and board members in the broadcaster’s Ultimo head office, and linked up via video conference to Rockhampton in Queensland and Launceston in Tasmania, Milne will unveil the broadcaster’s vision for the future, known as ABC 2.0.

Speaking to The Australian Financial Review ahead of the meeting, Milne said the need to invest more in digital was akin to the ABC’s decision to move into television in 1956.

[Read the original]

News Brands

ABC News has issued an apology to Kevin Rudd following a report linked to a document found in the cabinet files.

The apology said:

On 31 January 2018, ABC News reported on a document prepared in April 2009 for the Strategic Priorities and Budget Committee (SPBC) warning of critical risks in the rollout of the Energy Efficient Homes Package.

In reporting on that document, the ABC did not intend to suggest that Mr Rudd recklessly ignored critical risks of the home insulation scheme before the deaths of four young installers or that he lied to the Royal Commission that examined those deaths.

The ABC accepts that, as found by the Royal Commission, Mr Rudd was not warned of, and was not aware of critical safety risks at the time.

The Royal Commission made no adverse findings against Mr Rudd and there is no suggestion that Mr Rudd lied to the Commission.

The ABC unreservedly apologises to Mr Rudd for any harm or embarrassment caused.

 

Seven News will release daily audio bulletins across a suite of new home smart speaker products launching in Australia.

The twice-daily bulletins featuring the latest news headlines, weather, business and sport updates are now streaming to Amazon’s new Alexa devices.

The bulletins will also stream to Google Home users in coming weeks, as well as to mobile phones, Android Auto, Bose headphone or Android watch via Google Assistant.

Seven News audio bulletins will be also available on Apple HomePod when it launches in Australia today.

Users of all devices will be able to voice search Seven News as their daily audio news service.

Seven network director of news and public affairs Craig McPherson said: “As Australia’s leading, most trusted and innovative news service, we are excited to be part of this emerging content channel. It forms part of our plan to continue to evolve our news offering and distribute content to audiences across all platforms.”

Seven West Media chief digital officer Clive Dickens added: “We continue to work very closely with Google, Amazon and Apple as this voice search category grows. Audio on demand is a rapidly growing space, especially in home, and Seven West Media intend to take a leading role with audio content from Pacific and West Australian Newspapers to come.”

Photo: Amazon’s Alexa-enabled Echo device

The Courts

Geoffrey Rush is attempting to suppress accusations contained in defence documents lodged in court by The Daily Telegraph in his defamation case, reports the paper’s Sarah Crawford.

The Oscar winner, who is suing the Telegraph for its reporting of a Sydney Theatre Company investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him, is seeking to “strike out” parts of the newspaper’s defence documents and block their public release.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star, who did not appear at court today, has launched defamation action over articles published last year that he was the subject of a complaint involving “inappropriate behaviour” during the Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear which ran from November 2015 until January 2016.

All parties agreed to a proposal by Justice Wigney to keep the Daily Telegraph’s defence document confidential until the next hearing on February 19.

[Read the original]

Publishing

The owner of Limelight, a monthly magazine devoted to classical music and the arts in Australia, is scrambling to find financial backers after the abrupt closure of the publication this week, reports The Australian’s Ashleigh Wilson.

Its publisher, Andrew Batt-Rawden, told staff on Tuesday afternoon their employment had been terminated, effective immediately.

The magazine had been due to send its March issue to the printers yesterday – opera singer Nicole Car was to be on the cover – but that issue has been cancelled.

The magazine was founded in 1976, a subsidiary of ABC Classic FM and originally known as 24 Hours. It was relaunched as Limelight in 2003, then published by Haymarket Media Group from 2006 to 2014, when ownership was transferred to Arts Illuminated Pty Ltd with Batt-Rawden as publisher.

[Read the original]

Nielsen Digital Content Ratings

The top three news brands as measured by Nielsen for the week ending February 4 were news.com.au, nine.com.au and ABC News websites.

In a look at the food and cooking category, taste.com.au was way ahead with an average daily unique audience of nearly 200,000 more than goodfood in second place.

Radio

Jackie O slept in this morning with Australia’s highest-paid entertainer apparently losing $1,000 for every second she was late for her program at KIIS 1065. It was an agreement she made with KIIS content boss Derek Bargwanna. By 6.10am she has been docked $600,000.

The executive producer of Sydney’s #1 FM breakfast show, Bruno Bouchet, said because Jackie is rich and famous they ring her at 5am precisely every day to wake her up. That call was made today but then the radio host was MIA with no further contact possible. Just after 6pm another producer updated the audience that she had slept in and was still in bed.

A plan to have Intern Pete co-host was quickly abandoned after Kyle Sandilands was unhappy with the appearance of Australia’s oldest intern in a blonde wig.

Jackie appeared on-air at 6.09am reporting her phone was dead and she had no idea what time it was. Her excuse… her phone did not charge properly. “I’m sorry guys,” she said.

While Jackie made her way to work, Sandilands took calls from listeners who thought they could perhaps replace his co-host. The way Sandilands worked with his listeners was a reminder of why he gets the big dollars.

Kyle interviewed the first guest on the show today, Aaron Jeffery (pictured), before Jackie O arrived.

Jackie then made up for lost time, as she always does, by staying on-air with Kyle until 10am.

 

Southern Cross Austereo’s Bundaberg station 93.1 SEA FM will be renamed 93.1 Triple M. The change will come into effect on Monday, February 26.

Celebrating its 18th anniversary on-air, this brand change will see the Bundaberg station join Australia’s second-largest radio network. The Triple M network consists of 35 stations across metro and regional markets as well as four digital stations.

SCA Bundaberg GM Nicholas Purdie said, “We are really excited about the changes that lie ahead and look forward to providing the community with something different, while maintaining a strong connection to our local market.

“In a nutshell, we will still be the same local station but now with an extended family. There will be loads of sport with the Triple M Footy call, the music that our listeners know and love, plus lots of national and international prizes.”

Television

As we close in on the end of ratings warm-up week, Network Ten’s TV Week Logie Award-winning lifestyle program The Living Room returns tonight at 7.30pm.

Family Feud host Grant Denyer (pictured) and Jamie Durie join Amanda Keller and Miguel Maestre.

Denyer is let loose in Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, and is given the task of finding the smallest, sweetest things the city has to offer.

Durie is sent in to transform a suburban backyard riddled with eyesores, including a particularly difficult air conditioning unit, into an idyllic entertainment area for the whole family.

Maestre gets the kids involved in preparing some deliciously fruity desserts, while Amanda heads to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research to learn more about the fight against cancer, a disease which is deeply personal to The Living Room team as they support Barry Du Bois and his ongoing battle.

 

TV Tonight has reviewed Sunday night’s Underbelly Files: Chopper, giving the Screentime miniseries three out of five stars.

Part II is the richer of the two instalments, showing vulnerability in the title character and a particularly rewarding chemistry between Aaron Jeffery and Michael Caton as rogue son and father – both deserve nominations for their work, writes David Knox.

This is where director Peter Andrikidis delivers some of the better moments of the miniseries, which also boasts some impressive lighting.

The drama notes that “Characters and scenes have been fictionalised for dramatic purposes,” which is the TV version of Chopper’s own mantra: “Why tell the truth when a story is better?”

Throughout the saga I found myself wondering if the Underbelly franchise was now all a bit tired. How many more times must we see [VinceColosimo swagger on screen?  I guess ratings (albeit in a new landscape) will ultimately determine if it is still warranted.

But this should still be seen for the performance of Jeffery. It’s the best thing he’s done.

[Read the original]

 

DHX Media, A Stark Production and Technicolor have announced that ABC ME has ordered 13 new half-hour episodes of the global hit series The Deep, bringing the total number of episodes to 52 half-hours. Season three of The Deep will be available to Netflix members worldwide, and on DHX Media’s own Family CHRGD in Canada.

“ABC ME brings children content that they love and we are excited to be expanding that experience with a new season of The Deep – a high quality and engaging underwater adventure series like no other,” said Michael Carrington, head of ABC children’s television.

Avrill Stark, CEO, A Stark Production, and executive producer of The Deep, said: “We are extremely pleased to be announcing a third season of The Deep with our wonderful collaborators, DHX Media and Technicolor. With broadcast and streaming support from ABC, Netflix and Family CHRGD, plus some exciting licensing deals in place, we are looking forward to the continued local and international success of The Deep.”

The Deep is a co-production between Australia-based A Stark Production (scripts, design and music) and Canada-based DHX Media (animation, voices and post-production), with distribution also handled by DHX Media.

The Deep was originally optioned from Nekton Productions. The television series is based on the Aurealis Award-winning graphic novel series, “The Deep”, which was created by multi-award winning, best-selling comic book author and playwright Tom Taylor (“All-New Wolverine”, “Earth 2”, “Superior Iron Man”, “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight”, “Injustice: Gods Among Us”, “Star Wars: Blood Ties”) and co-creator, artist James Brouwer (“Justice League Beyond”), and published by Wolfgang Bylsma and Skye Ogden’s Gestalt Comics.

Outdoor

APN Outdoor is again bringing the Olympic spirit to the streets, following the success of its Summer Olympics 2016 campaign. APN Outdoor has teamed up with the AOC to amplify the Winter Games action taking place in PyeongChang, starting today, and to support the 51 athletes selected to represent Australia.

The campaign has been broadcast on APN Outdoor’s premium digital assets in major cities around Australia, encompassing pre-games hype, final team announcements, daily countdowns and special messages from the AOC and winter athletes.

Over the course of the Games, the campaign content will extend to showcase key Olympic moments, medal announcements and individual meet the team creatives.

James Warburton, CEO of APN Outdoor, said: “The power of outdoor, combined with the flexible nature of our Elite Screens, creates the perfect stage to amplify the games and get Australians engaged with these incredible winter sports.”

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