Kyle and Jackie O’s executive producer told friends:

“I’ve been doing radio since I was 15. Now, as a balding 32-year-old, it’s time to close that chapter of my life and embark on a new journey. I’ve made lifelong friends along the way and have been blessed to work with some of the most inspiring and beautiful people I’ll ever meet.”

As the person steering the radio show hosted by the highest-paid entertainers in Australia, Bouchet has to juggle the demands made on him, his team, and the hosts each day. It’s a task he has managed magnificently since taking on the role, but one he’s ready to let go of.

L-R: Laura Bouchet, James Manning, HT&E CEO Ciaran Davis and Bruno Bouchet at ARN during a Mediaweek podcast recording in 2017

However, his decision to step back from radio can’t have been an easy decision. Bouchet is married to Laura Bouchet, who executive produces WSFM’s Jonesy and Amanda show, just down the corridor from the KIIS studios. The two drive to work together every day across Sydney. ARN executives will be hoping she doesn’t decide to throw in the towel too.

Bouchet has worked off and on with Kyle and Jackie O for many years and is arguably the most-trusted EP the radio stars have ever had. Bouchet helped write the Sandilands autobiography Scandalands.

“After two years as executive producer on The Kyle & Jackie O Show, Bruno’s contract has come to an end and he’s chosen not to renew it,” said an ARN spokesperson said.

“Breakfast radio hours are intense and after two years of 2am alarms and long days, he’s trading that in to spend more time with his young family and is moving on to a new role outside of radio.

“In the coming week, we’re excited to be announcing the new executive producer to work with Kyle, Jackie and the KIIS team.”

Behind the scenes ARN was hosing down the role of the executive producer to the success of Kyle and Jackie O. Which is correct. Kyle and Jackie O have worked with a medium sided army of producers over the years from their time in evenings at 2Day FM, many of them so talented that you wondered how they could have survived without them. But survive and thrive they did and they focused on the big prize – their own careers for which they have been well rewarded. When the breakfast show moved from 2Day to KIIS many of the star producers guiding that show didn’t make the move with them.

There is no suggestion that Bouchet has fallen out with either of the hosts. Indeed the best-ever French radio producer to work in Australia got plastered at the breakfast show’s Halloween party on Friday night, somehow got home and then woke up on his front lawn on Saturday morning.

Bouchet is returning to work at Shriro, which distributes and manufactures home appliances and consumer electronics. Bouchet previously worked for them several years ago on the watch brand Casio.

Listening to The K&J show over the next four weeks should be good – Bouchet will leave radio, for now, with a bang.

“And there is plenty of great content to sell,” 10 chief sales officer Rod Prosser told Mediaweek.

As to how quickly the new network owner CBS wants to monetise all the new content, Prosser said: “They are pragmatic and they know we have a big job ahead of us. But we have now spent close to eight months building the sales team and the operation. Along the way we have had access to resources and technology from CBS. We have some big targets, but we have some great content to help us hit them.”

Despite some recent conflict that has seen Seven lock horns with an employee, Lisa Squillace, wanting to move to Network 10, Prosser said the sales team build hasn’t been as challenging as he first thought it could be.

“Having to get another 150 people into the business is a lot of work. The reality is we’ve got a good disengagement plan for next year and some of the MCN people will move across. We have also been inundated with great CVs from seriously good people.

“We have just announced our leadership team, which is now in place, with a couple of appointments we have yet to announce.”

See also: Lean in with 10: Rod Prosser reveals new sales leadership team

Many of the presentations from Nine and Seven this year focused on the data they have access to and the programmatic sales offer. “I have noted before that we were late to the data party,” said Prosser.

“The reality is that sometimes it is not all that bad to be late and we can learn from the mistakes and experience that others have gone through. We are talking to advertisers a lot about our partnership with Tealium and our overall strategy with 10 Play.”

The change of name also signals a better product, said 10’s sales chief.

“We know we have to improve our user experience even more than what we have got today. For us it is all about the collection of the data and we have now got that strategy in place.”

Prosser and his team have already started discussions with some agencies about 2019. “Things happen a little bit differently now and there is not always a typical Upfronts agency consortium negotiation as we might have done previously. With some agencies groups we do and others we don’t.”

Network 10 last week appointed two senior sales leaders as it draws closer to completing its sales leadership structure.

Grant Madigan will lead the 10 Exchange team as head of commerce and sales operations. He will report to Rod Prosser.

Nisar Malik has been appointed sport sales director and will report to Ten’s soon-to-be announced national sales director.

Madigan and Malik will join 10 in December.

Prosser said: “It’s great to see the sales leadership team take shape. As we continue to build the team, it’s important that we appoint leaders with a cross-section of capabilities to take us forward. With Grant and Nisar, we are bringing in two proven leaders with extensive multiplatform media sales experience. It says a lot about a company when people come back and I’m thrilled to be welcoming Grant and Nisar back to 10. They are passionate about our future and the role we play in shaping the commercial broadcasting landscape.”

New 10 sales appointment biographies:

Grant Madigan

As head of commerce and sales operations, Madigan will lead 10 Exchange, a specialist sales team responsible for revenue analytics, traffic, technology and data insights. He has over 20 years’ experience in sales and rejoins 10 from MCN where he has spent the last three years in senior trading roles, most recently as head of trading. Prior to MCN, Madigan was at Network 10 where he spent six years as a group sales manager before being appointed Sydney trading manager and then, soon after, national trading manager. He has also worked at Nine Entertainment Co and WIN Television in sales roles. He started his sales career at Network 10.

Madigan said: “This is my third stint at Network 10 and I must admit there is something that continually draws me back to the company. It’s fantastic to be part of this exciting era at 10. The team is building a future-focused sales capability and, in leading 10 Exchange, I’m very excited to play a big role in that. I’m really looking forward to working with Rod and the fantastic sales leadership team he has put together to redefine 10’s sales commercial proposition and deliver world-class solutions to advertisers.”

Nisar Malik

With over 20 years’ experience, Malik rejoins Network 10 from the Australian Radio Network (ARN) where he was agency sales director. Prior to ARN, he worked in a number of senior sales roles across the media industry including at Nine Entertainment Co., Southern Cross Austereo and eight years at Network 10.

Malik said: “What an incredible time to be rejoining 10 as it is not only re-establishing a sales team but also redefining its future-focused commercial proposition. To top it all off, 10 is welcoming back the Melbourne Cup Carnival to its screens and the partnership will be unlike anything the industry has ever seen. Throw in the MotoGP, Formula 1, A-League, Supercars and Rugby and it’s a completely different and compelling sport proposition for advertisers. I can’t wait to be part of it all.”

The appointments of Malik and Madigan follow the announcements of Damon Jackson as Melbourne sales director, Angela Neville as Brisbane sales director, Cameron Mudge as Adelaide sales director and Paul Townsend as Perth sales director.

Earlier this year, Network Ten also announced the appointments of Tamar Hovagimian as head of 10 Effect, 10’s commercial sponsorship team, and Michael Stanford as Head of 10 Imagine, 10’s strategy and creative hub.

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Top Photo: Rod Prosser, Beverley McGarvey, and Paul Anderson

“To have a 50% strike rate makes us feel very happy about the result,” McGarvey told Mediaweek.

“There was something great about each of the shows and once we got into the decision-making it was clear that there was definitely more than one show that we wanted to make. Although we have announced four, we might even do more.”

McGarvey said Pilot Week will definitely return next year, although they may not develop eight different shows as they did in 2018.

“Deciding on the best shows was such a subjective thing at times. However, once we drilled down into the data there was lots of information we got out of the ratings – the specific demos, the number of people coming back to the shows after a break etc. We also needed to take into account the time of the night and the day of the week. If a show was screened at 9.30pm it is much different from getting on air at 7.30pm. We also assessed critical feedback and audience feedback.”

Among Network 10’s biggest successes this year it is continuing to find strong audiences later in the night where shows like Have You Been Paying Attention? and Gogglebox are doing strong numbers. “What we have learnt about audiences later in the evening is the genre. The successful shows are snackable and you can watch short pieces although they are so entertaining that many watch them all.”

McGarvey said the only changes to the 7.30pm timeslot are things that have been announced already with some of them screening immediately after I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! starts and then ends its season a little earlier this year.

“Celebrity will launch on January 13 – we are usually quite coy about the start date. There is no need for us to be coy this year. We have gone hard and we have gone early. We will then have Sunday Night Takeaway and Dancing with the Stars, Changing Rooms and Ambulance Australia for a second season.

“At the top of the year you will see big changes in our 7.30pm schedule with the shows joining some very established brands, all of them with star talent. That will take us through until Bachelor in Paradise and then MasterChef. Once people get to MasterChef there will be some familiarity.”

Of the new programs, McGarvey said Changing Rooms will be screened two nights a week, Takeaway once on Sunday and Dancing with the Stars once a week.

As to drama is 2018, McGarvey said: “What I have learnt about drama this year is not to look at the overnights because they really don’t tell you the full picture. We have a lot of new drama on the slate next year. When you look at the plus 7, plus 28 and BVOD ratings numbers they tell you that the right Australian drama is being consumed by broad audiences.”

McGarvey and her team are working harder to cover up the sport shortfall with no BBL this summer, and 50 weeks of original primetime action. She said the upside of that work will be attracting big audiences year-round. “The idea that people disappear for 12 weeks every summer is just not true. If we provide an alternative for the sports schedules, and we do it well, we will get audiences coming to us.”

McGarvey said it is easier to keep audiences watching an all-entertainment schedule as opposed to moving sports viewers to entertainment programs.

“We have to realise we are not just competing with other broadcasters but the entire entertainment landscape. We cannot close down for 12 weeks – it is just not viable any more.”

Renaming the multichannels to Boss and Peach allows 10 to be more targeted with its programming, said McGarvey. “10 Boss is a little older at 40+ with 10 Peach more 16-39. There are lots of shows on those channels that will continue.”

One 10’s big challenges is to keep its big news audiences between 5pm and 6pm into the evening. At 6pm the channel has tried both Family Feud and Pointless this year. McGarvey said it has plans to continue Pointless in the 6pm slot. “It is doing well in the younger demographic but it is not performing as well as we had hoped with older viewers. We will continue to examine our options there. It is a good show and Andrew and Mark have done a great job.”

10 is also going to work hard on Saturday nights next year. “We think there is an opportunity there for us. Sport does well there and the ABC also does well. But if you are not watching sport or into British drama there is an opportunity to do something different.”

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Top Photo: Ten’s Paul Anderson and Beverley McGarvey with CBS’s Amando Nūnez
Photo: CBS Studios Inc / Jeff Katz Photography

Australia’s media agency market has delivered another month of stable advertising expenditure against a tough backdrop, with total ad spend back just 1% to $665.9 million from last year’s record September result, reports SMI.

Last September a flurry of advertising related to the Same Sex Marriage debate pushed ad spend to new highs, making the year-on-year comparison difficult for all major media. As a result, this month the only major media reporting double-digit growth is outdoor (+14.8%).

But the market remains at record levels for both the September quarter and calendar year-to-date (Jan-Sept) periods with September quarter ad spend up by 1.6% to $1.8 billion, and the CYTD figures up an even more impressive 4.2% to $5.3 billion.

SMI AU/NZ managing director Jane Ractliffe said the SMI data highlights the changing spend patterns of major product categories which are affecting the level of market demand.

“This was the first month of 2018 in which we’ve seen a year-on-year decline in spending by the domestic bank advertisers, and they have been one of the key drivers of the record levels of ad spend we’ve seen this year given their higher level of advertising investment throughout the financial services royal commission,” she said.

“And there was also unusually soft demand from the gambling advertising market with those advertisers collectively reporting a double-digit decline in ad spend despite the month featuring the AFL and NRL Grand Finals.”

In contrast the SMI data showed strong growth from automotive brand advertisers (+22%), the home furnishing/appliances market (+7.3%) and, after a year of softer demand, the toiletries/cosmetics category returned to growth in September (+6.2%).

In terms of notable trends, we continue to see softer demand for digital media (total bookings up 1.2% in September) and increasingly varied demand among key digital sectors. For example, advertising demand for social media sites soared 12.8% in September but the value of programmatic advertising has declined 8%.

More detail on the latest September ad spend trends is shown below.

The rate of decline in news media ad revenue has slowed significantly, despite a tough month for agency-only ad spend in September, as the market recovered from a record September 2017 driven by Federal Government and interest group spending on the Same Sex Marriage plebiscite. News media performed significantly better than the latest SMI agency-only ad spend data.

Metro and national newspapers led the strengthening position for news media. Metro newspapers saw a 1.5% increase in display ad revenue in the same period. The metro display advertising growth was particularly strong in NSW, with ad spend up 6.8%. In Victoria metro was up 6.6% and Queensland it increased by 4.5% in Q3.

For digital ad revenue, news media is growing at a faster rate than the SMI agency-only market. The News Media Index shows digital revenues up by 8.1% in Q3, while SMI’s agency-only data shows digital ad spend grew a lesser 4.1%.

Australia’s news media sector remains the third largest media sector by ad revenue, reporting $2 billion for the full 2018 financial year.

“We continue to be encouraged that the news media sector is being reappraised by both agencies and marketers. The fact that the bedrock of print advertising is metro newspapers demonstrates that our core business is strong. Digital ad revenues are also growing and outperforming the total market, which is supported by our emma data showing that 13.1 million Australians read digital news media,” NewsMediaWorks CEO, Peter Miller, said.

“After a strong four months of revenue growth, the decline in September was expected due to the lack of Federal Government spending. The strength of reader trust in news media in the fake news era cannot be underestimated, and we continue to provide advertisers with the most trusted media environment for their brands.”

SMI AU/NZ managing director Jane Ractliffe confirmed that the Q3 decline was impacted by falls in September total media market spending. In the second quarter, however, news media ad spend declined by just 3.7%, the lowest since the NMI records began in 2014.

“The NMI data highlights the ongoing improvements in advertising onto news media generally, and especially the higher print spending from the media agency market,” she said.

“But it’s also notable that direct advertisers are a large contributor to the growth of general news websites with the total ad spend from those advertisers soaring 42.4% in the quarter, ensuring those websites collectively grew ad spend by 5.2% over the same three months last year.”

Direct ad spend now accounts for 55% of all news media advertising, again highlighting the difference between the agency and direct ad revenue, although the media agency sector continues to improve.

Unlike the monthly SMI data which reports agency-only revenue, the quarterly News Media Index reports all print and digital ad revenue to Australia’s largest news media publishers from both agencies and direct advertisers and is independently verified by SMI.

Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week will celebrate the Australian music industry in the countdown to the 2018 ARIA Awards with Apple Music. In a series of shows from Wednesday November 21, Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week will feature performances by Keith Urban, Amy Shark, Vance Joy and Vera Blue at the Lansdowne in Sydney.

Paul Jackson, Nova Entertainment’s group program director, said, “We’re proud to be working with our label partners and their artists to bring together some of the best in Australian music in support of the ARIAs for Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week. It’s been a big year for Australian artists as they put their mark on the world stage, so we will continue our support and look forward to celebrating with their fans and our industry partners during the Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week series.”

Vera Blue will kick off this special series of Nova’s Red Room shows on Wednesday November 21. Off the back of the success of her album Perennial, the Sydney singer/songwriter has returned with the release of her new single All The Pretty Girls, as well as the launch of a new live album, Lady Powers Live At The Forum, recorded in Melbourne during her 2017 tour.

ARIA award-winning singer-songwriter Amy Shark will perform in her second Nova’s Red Room show on Thursday November 22. Best known for her four times platinum single Adore and debut album Love Monster, Shark is up for nine ARIA Awards including Album of The Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release and best hit Single for I Said Hi.

Fresh off the back of releasing his new single Way Too Long from the top five ARIA album Graffiti U, multi-Grammy and ARIA award-winning artist Keith Urban will deliver a special intimate live performance with Kate, Tim & Marty for Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week on Monday November 26.

Keith Urban has consistently topped charts in Australia and the US over the last decade, amassing more than 22 million album sales worldwide with combined sales of 1.4 million albums in Australia. His last album Ripcord was the second highest-selling album in Australia in 2016 and the highest-selling album for an Australian artist that year. Urban has total of 14 ARIA Platinum selling singles and albums and has scored five ARIA Awards.

After his first ever performance at Nova’s Red Room, Urban will host the 2018 ARIA Awards, before returning to Australia for his Graffiti U World Tour in January 2019.

Multi-award winning singer-songwriter Vance Joy will play Nova’s Red Room on ARIA eve on Tuesday November 27. Vance Joy has three ARIA nominations including the coveted Apple Music Song of the Year for Lay It On Me, Best Male Artist and Best Adult Contemporary Album for his # 1, gold-accredited album Nation of Two.

Nation of Two has not dropped from the ARIA Top 50 since its release in February, with the lead single Lay It On Me 3x platinum (210,000+ sales) taking Joy’s platinum accreditations to 24 overall. His Nation of Two world tour, which winds up in Europe this month, has totalled 83 dates globally. Vance Joy will be performing locally at Fairgrounds Festival in November and Falls Festival over New Years and was recently announced as the main support on P!ink’s European Summer Tour for 2019.

Dan Rosen, ARIA Chief Executive Officer, said, “I am thrilled to welcome the Nova’s Red Room series to ARIA Week. It is a brilliant celebration of Australian music incorporating breakthrough acts like Amy Shark through to legendary performers such as Keith Urban. No doubt these shows will be a highlight of the jam-packed ARIA Week Calendar.”

Listeners will have the chance to attend the Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week shows by listening to Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa, Kate, Tim & Marty and Smallzy’s Surgery from Monday November 5.

Nova’s Red Room ARIA Week

• Vera Blue – Wednesday November 21
• Amy Shark – Thursday November 22
• Keith Urban – Monday November 26
• Vance Joy – Tuesday November 27

Singles

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were an unlikely star pop duo when we reported on their chart success last week with the single Shallow from the A Star Is Born soundtrack landing at #1 on the chart in just its third week of release. Now they have posted a second week on top in their fourth week of chart activity. As more people see the hit movie other tracks from the soundtrack are also working their way up the chart:

#18 to #12 Lady Gaga with Always Remember Us This Way
#32 to #15 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper with I’ll Never Love Again

There was only one new top 10 entry this week with Post Malone and Swae Lee pushing Sunflower from #13 to #7 in its second week.

New arrivals into the top 50 – just three – and two of them were chart debuts:

#14 XXXTentacion and Lil Pump with Arms Around You featuring Swae Lee & Maluma
#26 P!nk with A Million Dreams. P!nk and her daughter Willow perform a cover of a tune from The Greatest Showman – Reimagined album due soon. Worth noting the original soundtrack album remains top 10 after 47 weeks.
#45 Ava Max with Sweet By Psycho in its second week charting after a debut at #61 a week ago.

Albums

A Star Is Born towers over the album chart again this week too with a repeat performance at #1. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper got some stiff competition this week though from another soundtrack release – Bohemian Rhapsody which has climbed from #5 to #2 in its second week on the charts as what will be remembered as one of the greatest rock biopics ever opens in cinemas around Australia.

Freddie Mercury fever has gripped the charts elsewhere too with Queen’s Greatest Hits narrowly missing a top 10 spot as it climbed from #25 to #11 on its – wait for it – 310th week charting.

Chart action too for Queen’s The Platinum Collection, up from #29 to #18, a lazy 81 weeks on the chart.

Seven albums debuted inside the top 50:

#5 MTV Unplugged (Live In Melbourne) Gang Of Youths. This was a colossal live performance and subsequent TV special that seems to have been captured well in the recording process.
#7 Andrea Bocelli with Si. Fresh from his performance at the Royal Wedding 2, Bocelli cracks the top 10 on debut.
#13 Pierce Brothers with Atlas Shoulders. New from the Melbourne folk duo.
#17 Joji with Ballads 1 is the first full length project from the producer, rapper and singer.
#20 Robyn with Honey is the eighth album from the Swedish pop star.
#34 David Campbell with Baby It’s Christmas is the first appearance of a Christmas album on the ARIA chart. (Appearances from Bublé and Human Nature can only be days away!) Campbell’s promo push got a massive boost on the weekend when he made the cover of both The Sunday Telegraph and Stellar magazine.
#41 Chillinit with Women Weed & Wordplay

Worth noting that Taylor Swift has returned to the top 10 at #4 with Reputation as she tours Australia. The album has been on the chart for 51 weeks, notching up 12 months of sales next week.

The game has had the second largest opening in entertainment history, with more than USD $725 million in sell-through worldwide in three days. Only Grand Theft Auto V – also from Rockstar Games – has been larger, topping USD $1 billion in the same timeframe.

Why is Red Dead Redemption II such a big deal? Well, it’s the prequel to one of the most highly regarded games of the last generation, taking players back to the dying days of the American Wild West, and to characters they know intimately. It’s a true blockbuster too. This project has consumed the lives of hundreds of developers for the better part of seven years, and has almost certainly cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make.

Rockstar Games has a reputation for delivering games on a scale no other developer can touch, and that’s absolutely true of Red Dead 2. This game takes place across an absolutely vast, incredibly picturesque landscape, yet its painstaking attention to detail is evident at every turn. And with 60+ hours of gameplay just to get through the story, let alone all the side activities, it’s a very good deal for gamers.

Red Dead Redemption II’s considered pace and sometimes obtuse systems won’t necessarily be for everyone, but there’s no doubt it’s quite an achievement. The rest of the top ten is similar to last week, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and FIFA 19 sales holding strong.

By James Manning

Seven

All Together Now was the channel’s Sunday centrepiece again with 660,000 after 514,000 a week ago. For only the second time this season, an act managed to receive a perfect score of 100.

Sunday Night then featured new evidence in the investigation of Jeffrey Brooks’s death. His parents have always believed he was murdered – and now, as the coroner announces the case has been reopened, reporter Denham Hitchcock and a team of forensic experts presented a new picture of what really happened. The episode did 553,000 after 518,000 last week.

Nine

Family Food Fight saw the teams in a two-round elimination challenge. The Sunday episode did 422,000 after a week of three episodes that started on Monday with audiences of 411,000, 358,000 and 379,000.

On 60 Minutes Tom Steinfort investigated the death of young Australian Elly Warren who died in Mozambique. The episode also spoke to Pamela Anderson about bringing Julian Assange back to Australia. After a very strong 797,000 a week ago after The Block auctions, last night the audience sagged to 436,000.

TEN

A week after The Block finished, Tommy Little looked at the history of The Gatwick Hotel on The Sunday Project. Also on the show were Ricki–Lee and Bryan Ferry. (It’s been a big 24 hours for the Aussie singer after she starred on last night’s #1 program and then backed up on The Kyle and Jackie O Show this morning.) The Sunday Project was on 339,000 after 326,000 last week.

Game Of Games then did 297,000 after 256,000 last week.

New NCIS then did 268,000 followed by a repeat on 178,000.

ABC

The much-anticipated reunion episode of Spicks And Specks with host Adam Hills and team captains Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough ranked #1 Sunday. While it tied with Seven News Sunday in regional markets, the episode was #1 nationally with 1.36m, ahead of the Seven News on 1.35m. The reunion episode boasted great guests and the episode continued to tick the entertainment boxes with nonstop guests across the hour. They included Dave O’Neil introducing an all-too-brief appearance from Pseudo Echo, Kram, Kate Ceberano, Troy Cassar-Daley, Russell Morris, Antoinette Halloran (opera singer), Cal Wilson introduced Kram and some mates including Adalita in an Aussie edgy rock supergroup, many more on video from Brian Mannix to Hamish Blake to Guy Pearce, plus Luke McGregor, Wiggle Murray, Angie from Frente, Lindsay McDougall, Ross Wilson, Guido Hatzis, Kate Miller-Heidke (multi-ARIA award loser with 15 noms, no wins). The episode kicked off ABC’s big commitment to Ausmusic Month. Spicks and Specks’ secret weapon on the winning team – Denise Scott. The special finished with a wonderful all-star performance of the bogan national anthem – Run To Paradise. The episode was dedicated to Richard Gill, Australian conductor and former contestant, who passed away last week.

Pine Gap followed with 358,000 after 363,000 a week ago.

SBS

A night of history ancient and modern started with the final episode of Ancient Invisible Cities – Istanbul on 202,000.

Later in the night there were two episodes of The 2000s on 146,000 and then two more of The Nineties late in the evening.