By James Manning

Network 10 is surging toward the end of the TV calendar year with a production slate that must be bulging at the seams.

Normally productions are under way in Q4 in earnest for content for the following year. While that is still the case, 10 is up to its eyeballs preparing recently acquired formats The Masked Singer and The Amazing Race for broadcast this year.

As Network 10 CEO Paul Anderson explained to Mediaweek, it’s part of an injection of more CBS money to rebuild the schedule.

“This year was always going to be a year about rebuilding parts of our schedule right across the year. We were very clear that we were going to have an entertainment schedule for 50 weeks a year and targeting under 50.

“We have packed the last half of this year with the tail end of MasterChef, Australian Survivor, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Masked Singer and The Amazing Race.

The Masked Singer

“On top of that we have two big events [Rugby World Cup and Melbourne Cup Carnival].

“This has been about us building an entertainment schedule to create some momentum in the market. The pleasing thing for us is that we have shows that are performing well in overnights and seven-day catch-up, but they are also performing well on our BVOD platform 10 Play. There is a social community that surrounds those shows with additional content.”

Chasing TV ad dollars has been a challenge for all this year, not just 10.

“The revenue market has been difficult overall,” agreed Anderson. “We are starting to see signs of growth as we get into the back half of the year. We have a schedule that will convert into good audiences that will convert into revenue.

“The market is getting better from September-October and that coincides with some great demos we are attracting. We had best share of the year last week. It’s good timing for us.”

Anderson said the ambition has been to build audiences this year that will attract more investment into 10’s 2020 schedule. “This game is all about creating momentum which drives our strategy of attracting an under 50 audience with brand safe, advertiser-friendly content that makes it easy for our advertisers to integrate into. We also have a strong digital presence.

“We have had that in patches before. We had new shows like Dancing with the Stars, which will have real longevity. All of which we believe will give us a better share [of ad revenue] next year.”

Anderson said not having to report the 10 results to the ASX as a locally listed company allows the business to use that time and energy to focus on content delivery on its various platforms.

“This is not a short-term strategy we are pursuing. We are about building content and franchises that will last for multiple years.

“[Financially] we are starting to see the benefits of that now.

“Early indications of how we have monetised the Rugby World Cup and the Melbourne Cup Carnival have been very encouraging.”

Anderson will not join commentary on how 10 performs against either Seven or Nine.

“We have an editorial strategy very different than our competitors. We talk a lot about brand-safe, advertiser-friendly content. Survivor is a great example of that with content that is extremely friendly to advertisers, easily integratable, you can watch with the whole family and lives across numerous digital platforms. It creates a real buzz, far beyond than the numbers that are reported for overnight performance.

“Our strategy of creating an eco-system [around shows] is starting to pay dividends. This is not about us being in the press every day, it is about creating a good outcome for our viewers and an outstanding experience for our advertisers that helps them sell their products.”

MasterChef: The Next Generation

The market would be expecting 10 to reveal who will be replacing Gary, George and Matt at next month’s Upfront. Will that happen?

“That is a million dollar question.” Anderson hesitated after the unintentional pun, he added there will be no announcement before then.

“We have been through an extensive process [looking for new judges] and the hope is we can announce them at Upfronts.

“Upfronts for us this year will be about demonstrating how we have delivered programming and ratings for the last six months. We will also talk about our data strategy, which is in market now.

“We have spoken about owning demographics and there is an acknowledgement now that, in the past couple of months, we have achieved what we said we were going to do.”

10 All Access

Tell Me A Story

The SVOD service is perhaps still light on with original, first-run exclusive content. That will change.

Anderson: “CBS has a number of originals for next year. We are happy with the way that subscriber numbers have developed since we launched last December.

“We are conscious the streaming world is changing quite dramatically.”

Like many SVOD platforms, 10 won’t reveal its numbers.

“We have a steady audience,” is how Anderson replied. “We have a great platform to build on.”

Strange Angel

Just what happens with the content that might be available from the merged Viacom-CBS will help shape how 10 All Access grows.

Original series on 10 All Access currently include Tell Me A Story, Strange Angel, The Twilight Zone and Why Women Kill.

—

Top Photo:  Paul Anderson

The Weekly Times this week celebrates 150 years of continuous publication on Wednesday, September 11, 2019 with a special edition featuring a 20-page wrap and reproduction of the original, September 11, 1869 edition.

The Weekly Times has long-held the position of Australia’s most widely read rural newspaper, with a print readership of 126,000 and total reach of 699,000.

The newspaper, known as the Bible of the Bush, has been there in good times and bad – covering drought and bushfires, bumper crops and the welcome relief of rain. It’s reported on the characters and personalities that makes the Australian bush and regions unique.

Over the decades Australia’s largest rural newspaper brand has gone from strength to strength, launching a new, 40-page magazine, AgJournal, in May this year to tap into the $60 billion agriculture and food fibre industry.

Editor Ed Gannon said The Weekly Times’ longevity was due to its ability to adapt and find new ways to put readers and their communities first.

“This is a 150-year old institution first published the same year as War and Peace with a life spanning three separate centuries.

“It’s now well positioned for new successes having successfully adapted to the digital era by becoming a dependable and trusted digital companion for those who work on the land and who live in regional and rural Australia.

“In recent years we’ve launched special awards in partnership with our corporate partners such as the Shine awards with Harvey Norman, celebrating rural women.

“And together with Coles we run the Farmer of the Year awards across all of our channels to celebrate the diversity and ingenuity of contemporary Australian farming.”

The Weekly Times in print and theweeklytimes.com.au combine award-winning magazines – AgJournal, Farm, Crop Gear and Education, as well as comprehensive footy and sport sections, the Country Living liftout, commodity and on-farm sections, weekly property, machine guides, bumper field-day features and other lifestyle pages.

Wednesday’s edition will include a 20-page wrap and a reproduction of the first 1869 edition including an explanation of the stories in those original pages.

The marketing and media campaign to mark the 150 years will also include a 30-minute documentary Memories & Milestones: 150 years of The Weekly Times, featuring interviews with former and current editors and reporters. It premieres on Foxtel’s History Channel on Sunday, September 15 at 7.30pm.

Gannon said:  “The 30-minute documentary celebrates and captures the milestone moments in Australia’s rural history, from Ned Kelly‘s last stand to Don Bradman’s standing ovation; from the highs of the Gold Rush to the lows of the Great Depression; from the devastation of drought, flood and fire to the rural renaissance that has seen agribusiness and farming flourish into the 21st Century. 

“It will showcase how the paper with the iconic orange cover became – and remains – a window to the world for those in rural and regional Australia, especially those in far flung and isolated communities.”

Herald & Weekly Times chairman Penny Fowler said the paper was an essential part of the fabric of regional and rural Australia.

“Every week for 150 years, generations of farmers and rural dwellers have looked forward to the delivery of their paper, poring over its pages, soaking up the latest general and agribusiness news, practical farm advice and entertaining stories of rural life,” Fowler said.

“The story of The Weekly Times is the story of our country community and as a company we are extremely proud to be celebrating its 150th year.”

Beginning with the 2019-20 NBA season, SBS will broadcast two live, regular-season NBA games per week in HD on its SBS Viceland channel and on its streaming platform SBS On Demand.  NBA games will also be available on-demand on SBS On Demand and additional NBA content will be featured on SBS’s sport website. SBS will also broadcast one live WNBA game per week beginning with the 2020 season on SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand throughout the WNBA regular season and a selection of games from the first three rounds of the WNBA Playoffs.

“Premium international sports continue to be a focus of SBS’s offering and we are thrilled to partner with the NBA and the WNBA to bring live coverage back to Australians for free,” said SBS managing director, James Taylor. 

“The NBA and the WNBA are among the world’s most diverse leagues and basketball is an increasingly popular sport. Building on our recently announced deal with the NBL, these partnerships with the NBA and the WNBA make SBS the exclusive free-to-air home of basketball in Australia and are a great opportunity to bring new audiences, particularly younger viewers, to SBS Viceland and SBS On Demand.”

“We are excited to partner with SBS to bring NBA and WNBA games and programming to a nationwide audience on free-to-air television,” said Ramez Sheikh, NBA Asia head of global content and media distribution. “These partnerships show that fans in Australia have a growing demand for basketball content and beginning next season they will enjoy outstanding NBA and WNBA coverage on SBS across broadcast and digital.”

Fourteen players from Australia were on NBA rosters during the 2018-19 season, including: Deng Adel, Aron Baynes, Andrew Bogut, Jonah Bolden, Ryan Broekhoff, Mitch Creek, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Isaac Humphries, Joe Ingles, Kyrie Irving, Thon Maker, Patty Mills and Ben Simmons.

The 2019 WNBA season featured eight players from Australia on opening-night rosters, including: Rebecca Allen (New York Liberty), Liz Cambage (Las Vegas Aces), Kelsey Griffin (Minnesota Lynx), Ezi Magbegor (Seattle Storm), Leilani Mitchell (Phoenix Mercury), Alanna Smith (Phoenix Mercury), Steph Talbot (Phoenix Mercury) and Sami Whitcomb (Seattle Storm).

See also:
NBL reveals new media deal with every game available for free

The podcast, which revolves around the unsolved case of missing Sydney mother Lynette Dawson, has been a global phenomenon, achieving more than 50 million downloads across the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Thomas will talk about the power of story-telling through the podcast format and share a behind-the-scenes account in conversation with 2GB radio presenter Ben Fordham.

Thomas is an investigative journalist and national chief correspondent at The Australian. He has won seven Walkley Awards and is the only reporter to have won the Gold Walkley twice, including last year’s win for The Teacher’s Pet.

Industry leaders will also take to the stage, with the CEO of Southern Cross Austereo, Grant Blackley, HT&E CEO Ciaran Davis, Nova Entertainment CEO Cathy O’Connor and Macquarie Media CEO Adam Lang discussing the current state of radio and audio in Australia and opportunities for stimulating further growth in the sector into the future.

More than 600 radio and media executives from around Australia will gather in Brisbane for the annual radio conference on Friday, 18 October, followed by the 31st Australian Commercial Radio Awards on Saturday, 19 October with more than 1000 on-air radio personalities, radio and media executives in attendance.

Joan Warner, the chief executive officer of peak body Commercial Radio Australia, said the industry was looking forward to hearing from a range of leading speakers during a time of rapid change for Australian media.

“The conference will be an important opportunity for the radio industry to explore trends in audio, the growth of podcasting, and how technology is changing the way consumers access entertainment and information,” she said.

Radio Alive 2019 will be held at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane. Tickets for the conference and the Australian Commercial Radio Awards are on sale now through Commercial Radio Australia here.

BBC Studios has brought its Asia and Australia & New Zealand regions together to create the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regional business comprising its international sales and distribution business, under the leadership of Penn, formerly managing director, Australia & New Zealand, BBC Studios.

The move follows the departure of Myleeta Aga, acting EVP, Asia, and comes after all BBC Studios’ international sales and distribution business, encompassing content sales, branded services and ancillaries, came together as a single global distribution group from 1 September under Paul Dempsey. In his expanded role, Penn will continue to report to Dempsey.

Paul Dempsey, president, global distribution, said: “Jon’s ability and experience makes him ideally suited to extend his remit across our successful Asia business. He has overseen an impressive growth story in Australia and New Zealand and this is a great opportunity to bring our fast growing Asia business into a formidable APAC region.

Jon Penn said: “Having spent many years working throughout the region, I’m thrilled to be offered the opportunity to bring the ANZ and Asia teams together for the first time. We will continue to bring the very best of the BBC’s world-class content to customers throughout Asia Pacific.”

Prior to his successful tenure as managing director, Australia and New Zealand, Penn was, for four years, CEO Asia-Pacific for Fremantle’s International distribution division.

Foxtel has announced that its new channel BBC Earth will launch for the first time in Australia on Foxtel on Thursday October 10.

BBC Earth is home to world-class factual programming and documentaries showcasing the best of Sir David Attenborough from BBC Studio’s acclaimed Natural History Unit, alongside science programming, adventure series and human stories from inspiring and passionate experts including Louis Theroux, Michael Mosley, Kate Humble and Professor Brian Cox.

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany said: “The October debut of BBC Earth on Foxtel will form part of a larger announcement at the launch event of Foxtel Media, the media sales company formerly known as Multi Channel Network (MCN), in Sydney, where we will unveil a wholesale repositioning and renewal of Foxtel’s entertainment and Lifestyle channels.

“With BBC Earth, Foxtel viewers will have access to the best of the BBC’s world-class documentaries made using the latest technology to record and share the extraordinary world around us. The dedicated BBC Earth channel and the dramatically expanded on demand catalogue of BBC natural history shows are a great proof point that Foxtel provides the best of TV and on demand all in one place.

“BBC Earth is one element of Foxtel’s long-term relationship with BBC Studios, which cements our position as the go to destination for premium British drama, entertainment, documentaries, natural history, children’s programming and news.”

Tim Christlieb, director of branded services BBC Studios ANZ, said:  “BBC Earth is for everyone who is interested in the world they live in and will offer best-in-class premium factual programming fronted by the BBC’s renowned presenters. Many of the best-shows and much-loved faces from BBC Knowledge will find a new home on BBC Earth.  If you want to view nature in all its magnificence, be amazed by animals that you never knew existed and marvel at their behaviours, connect with your fellow humans through touching stories, explore other cultures, experience hair-raising adventures from the comfort of your arm chair or ponder on the big scientific questions of the universe, then BBC Earth is for you. BBC Earth is a well-established global brand, with channels in over 160 countries and we’re looking forward to bringing this channel to Australian audiences.”

New programs launching on BBC Earth from the first week include Sir David Attenborough’s much-loved series Blue Planet II, Frozen Planet, Planet Earth II, The Hunt, and Attenborough: The Sea Dragon, in addition to Tribes, Animals and Me, Rituals, Expedition Volcano, and Wild Mexico.

Many popular series from BBC Knowledge will be migrating across to the new BBC Earth channel including Africa with Ade Adepitan, Building Giants, Dangerous Earth, Tribal Bootcamp, Where the Wild Men Are, Weird Wonders of the World, World’s Busiest Cities, as well as documentaries from Ben Fogle, Brian Cox, Levison Wood, Louis Theroux, Michael Mosley, Simon Reeve, and Steve Backshall.

BBC Earth will replace the existing channel BBC Knowledge (CH 614).

By Andrew Mercado

You might think that after the success of ABC’s Old People’s Home for 4-Year Olds, My 80 Year Old Flatmate (Friday on 10) might be another example of doing some good and bringing joy into the lives of older Australians. You would be wrong. Here inappropriate millennials are interviewed by lonely oldies. The match-ups are so ill-suited, one can only assume those “relationship experts” from Married At First Sight are working on the sly for another network.

80-year-old socialite Christa Billich, who insists her young flatmate (a cross dressing fashionista who insists he’s straight, yeah right) shares his bedroom with three noisy, smelly dogs (yeah right), is clearly desperate to be a TV star. You can spot her in the background of the pointless dog fashion parade in Sydney’s Crazy Rich Asians (no surprise as she is a client of Karim’s) and she was also lurking around in the The Real Housewives of Sydney. What is it with rich beautiful narcissists who crave fame despite not having any personality? Which brings us to Roxy Jacenko.

I Am Roxy (Wednesday on 10) is about Roxy renovating her mansion and going through a storage facility with hubby Oliver Curtis. They appear to be channelling Dorrie (Pat McDonald) and Herb Evans (Ron Shand), the old pensioners from Number 96. Like Dorrie, Roxy is a shrill show-off who thinks she is a cut above everybody else while Ollie is more henpecked than poor old Herbie-Berb ever was. Roxy never stops talking, but there is no comedy, wit or catchphrases, unlike the fictional Dorrie who still gets quoted 40 years later. Honestly, it’s enough to drive a body be-resk and I am quite ar-damant about that!

However Nine managed to win the week with a combo of The Block and Steve Smith’s batting at Old Trafford during the fourth Ashes Test. Three episodes of The Block were the most-watched non-news programs of the week.

Seven News dominated the week with its Sunday, weekday and Saturday bulletins all leading the 6-7pm timeslot. Seven’s AFL finals football on Friday and Saturday drew metro audiences close to 800,000 while the match on Thursday did just under 700,000.

10’s Survivor was the broadcaster’s star performer with two episodes on 800,000 and another close to 750,000. Have You Been Paying Attention? was also close to 750,000 while two episodes of The Bachelor were just over and just under 650,000.

10 is able to claim six of the top 10 shows under 50 and in all key demos (18-49, 16-39 and 25-54), including the top five shows 16-39 with Australian Survivor, Have You Been Paying Attention? and The Bachelor Australia.

The ABC’s best was its new Tuesday hit Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, which had an audience of 630,000. The channel’s Wednesday night comedy champions were all down week-on-week as they went head-to-head with Steve Smith in Manchester.

British history was again the biggest winner on SBS with the start of a new series of Britain’s Most Historic Towns pulling the channel’s best audience. Tony Robinson’s Coast To Coast was not far behind.

Singles

With a sixth week at #1, Tones and I is just one week away from a significant ARIA milestone. Her single Dance Monkey is now equal second for most weeks a #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart by an Australian female solo artist, joining Kylie Minogue’s I Should Be So Lucky (#1 March 1988) and Merril Bainbridge’s Mouth (#1 May 1995). If Dance Monkey can hold at #1 for another week it will equal Kylie’s Locomotion (#1 August 1987) record of seven weeks on top. A month-long Tones and I national tour starts next Friday in Adelaide and ends with a special homecoming night in Byron Bay.

Just one song debuted on the chart inside the top 50 this week – Circles, a track from Post Malone’s new album Bleeding, which was released on Friday. The song is Malone’s ninth top 10 entry and the fourth track to chart from the new album this year.

A handful of songs slipped into the top 50 from lower down the chart:

#86 to #32: Lizzo with Good As Hell. Lizzo is #1 in the US this week with Truth Hurts, a track that peaked here at #18 and currently sits at #23.
#63 to #49: Jonas Brothers with Only Human

Albums

Taylor Swift has proven hard to nudge from the top of the album chart on previous releases, but this week Tool managed to dislodge her new album Lover from #1 with its first album in 13 years, Fear Inoculum.

The album is only the band’s fifth in a long career. Tool took over the album chart just last month when their previous releases flooded the chart after being released to streaming platforms for the first time.

Swift spent a second week on the album with Love at #2.

While there was little new release action on the Singles Chart, the Album Chart rarely disappoints, and there were nine new releases debuting top 50, four of them in the top 10.

The rest of the new arrivals are:

#3 Tones and I with The Kids Are Coming EP. The six-track release features Dance Monkey, two other previous releases and three new tunes.
#4 Lana Del Ray with Norman Fucking Rockwell! The US singer-songwriter’s previous four albums have all peaked at #1. Bit of work ahead for NFR if it is to keep that record intact.
#6 G Flip with About Us. The debut album from the Melbourne singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Georgia Flipo features all the singles she released during the past two years.
#13 Lil Tecca with We Love You Tecca. The US rapper’s first mixtape and his first Australian chart action.
#19 Montaigne with Complex. The second album from the Australian singer-songwriter-musician after her first peaked at #4 in 2016.
#21 DZ Deathrays with Positive Rising: Part 1. The fourth album from the dance-punk trio from Brisbane who are touring Europe this month. They are playing shows in Australia during October.
#40 Ash Grunwald with Mojo. The 12th album or EP since 2002 from the prolific Melbourne blues musician.
#43 Paul Kelly & James Ledger with Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds – a mix of folk-rock and poetry reading inspired by birds, with sing-songwriter Paul Kelly and composer James Ledger leading the way.

By Cam Shea, editor0-in-chief, IGN Australia

The second place game Control, for instance, is far higher profile, coming from Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Max Payne, Alan Wake and Quantum Break. It’s also well worth playing; an oddball shooter set in a strange paranormal world.

There’s plenty more of quality in the charts. Astral Chain, which comes in at number three, is a superb action game in which the player is literally chained to an otherworldly demon in combat, and can use this tether in all sorts of interesting ways. It’s fast and slick: exactly what you’d expect from PlatinumGames – the studio behind the likes of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, with a side of futuristic/apocalyptic police procedural.

The last new entry this week is The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan, a psychological horror game in which you shape the fate of its characters through the decisions you make. It’s a good lateral step for developer Supermassive Games, offering up a very different tone to its last game, the campy, 80s horror-inspired Until Dawn.

Sunday Week 37 2019

By James Manning

• Nine News 1,058,000
• Seven News 977,000
• ABC News 657,000
• The Project 265,000/359,000
• Insiders 333,000
• 10 News First 267,000
• Seven News at 5 266,000
• Offsiders 193,000
• SBS World News 179,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 266,000
• Today 217,000

Seven

Against the biggest Sunday episode of The Block and what was the deciding day of The Ashes, Seven should be happy with 700,000 watching another semi-final of Australia’s Got Talent. That was the fourth semi with, can you believe it, one to follow next week.

Sunday Night then did 390,000.

Nine

On a night where The Ashes was going to be the big star, The Block stood up taller than ever with a huge 1.145m watching the rooms being delivered. It was the biggest Block audience this season. When it came time to reveal the judging, tensions rose as Mitch and Mark challenged  Scotty Cam as he read out the judges’ commentary. That blow-up looks like continuing tonight.

60 Minutes then did well against the cricket too with 694,000, thanks in part to media reacting to Karl Stefanovic’s story on British royalty.

The final day of the fourth test and the day that decided the fate of The Ashes saw 9Gem on a share of 17.8%. When you factor in all of Nine’s contributors it recorded a network Sunday share of 45.9%. Melbourne viewers really got behind the mix of content with share on 49.9%.

The cricket had a first session audience of 810,000 while the lunch break drew 571,000 and then the second session did 477,000. The cricket coverage is the most-watched multichannel program this year and it was 9Gem’s third-highest rating show ever.

10

The primary channel went into battle last night without a loaded gun – no episode of Survivor, instead it was replaced by Ambulance Australia. The combo of that and the launch of Pilot Week delivered one of Network 10’s lowest ever Sunday shares – 6.5%.

A long episode of Ambulance Australia was on 249,000 after 7pm.

That wasn’t a great lead-in for the launch of Pilot Week, which was also head-to-head with Ashes cricket. 10 managed some good weekend coverage for Crazy Rich Asians, yet the audience watching was 175,000 after 9pm.

Earlier in the night The Sunday Project was on 359,000 after 7pm.

ABC

Another animal doco took the 7.40pm Sunday slot last night, with 451,000 watching Hippos, narrated by David Attenborough of course.

The Aussie dramas did their best against some heavy hitters – Les Norton was on 320,000 and then Glitch did 105,000.

SBS

A lot of the footage in 9/11: 102 Minutes That Changed America looked very familiar. It was still as powerful when it was first shown and they are images that will never be forgotten. The two-hour plus doco did 261,000 after 7.30pm.