Wednesday September 25, 2019

List of finalists increase for Boomtown’s $1 million competition

The Boomtown judging committee today announced that it has increased the number of finalists for its $1 million regional advertising competition from five to six due to the high calibre of entries.

The competition offers $1 million in regional advertising to a national brand to reach the 8.8 million regional Australians across Boomtown members Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), Prime Media Group, WIN Network, Australian Community Media, Imparja, Grant Broadcasters and News Corp Australia.

The finalists are San Remo submitted by Wavemaker Adelaide, SKYN submitted Cummins & Partners Melbourne, IAG/NRMA submitted by Che Proximity in conjunction with Mindshare Sydney, PilotThe a2 Milk Company submitted by Wavemaker Melbourne, and PepsiCo submitted by PHD Sydney. 

Boomtown Chair and SCA Chief Sales Officer, Brian Gallagher, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with the volume of entries received. Whittling this down to our final six has been very challenging. I don’t envy the task ahead for the judges trying to pick a winner from these extraordinary submissions. Pleasingly, every submission has managed to quantify the upside value of advertising investment in regional markets. It would seem that our Boomtown campaign is doing its job!”

“It’s great to observe such a wide range of brands seeing value in the opportunity to reach 8.8 million Boomtown residents.”

The six finalists will now go into the final round of judging on October 8 where each will pitch to judges Mark Ritson, Melbourne Business School Adjunct Professor of Marketing; Nigel Marsh, management consultant, communications specialist and author; and Nikki Clarkson, SCA Head of Marketing and Communication.

The winner will be announced on October 8 at Sydney’s Beta Bar.

Emma Nolan
Pacific’s Emma Nolan on New Idea’s monthly regal royal read

Britain’s royal family seems to be as popular as ever if weekly magazines like New Idea and Woman’s Day are any guide.

By Claudia Siron

New Idea is also home to the popular Royals podcast series and is now offering a new print magazine that focuses solely on Britain’s beloved royals to give Australia an extra monthly fix.

The Pacific brand released the first issue of new magazine Royals Monthly in July, edited by New Idea’s deputy editor Rebecca Hyde. The publication is perfect for an in-depth read on the “inside stories” and “shocking secrets” of the royal family, royal history, as well as recipes that are suitable for an elegant indulgence, paired with some royal-themed puzzles to test your knowledge on the popular niche.  

Mediaweek asked Pacific’s Head of Entertainment Emma Nolan about the new brand addition, and what readers can expect.

On the topic of why Pacific has split its New Idea royal family content into different brands, Nolan said: “Diversification in our industry is absolute key to success. New Idea is an incredibly strong brand, and I think it’s been one of the most successful magazine brands when it comes to diversification on all platforms.”

It’s a solid team effort she noted when it comes to the production of Royals Monthly. “The whole team really contributes, including our royal experts Phil Dampier and Angela Mollard, our Royal podcast host and entertainment editor Zoe Burrell, and also our London-based reporter Kietley Isrin,” explained Nolan.

Royals Monthly

Although the media loves to focus on the British royal family, Royals Monthly also shares some perspective on royals in Europe and the real-life behind the scenes of the not-so-fairytale marriages and relationships.

Nolan said: “We obviously focus a lot on the UK royal family, and Crown Princess Mary, but we do also cover royals from all over the world.”

Readers should be pleased with the amount of photography crammed into each edition. While it should be a great drawcard, it must be expensive to procure.

Nolan told Mediaweek that it uses smart techniques to stay within the budget and produce something of great quality and value. “We have a relatively conservative budget – I think it comes down to clever picture choice and design together with amazing content ideas.”

As New Idea magazine already features exclusive material on the royal family, Nolan explained how the two magazines would split royal stories.

“We have more than enough content to spread across both titles. With Royals Monthly we have the space to include longer, more in-depth reads, more royal fashion and picture round-ups.”

Nolan also revealed how Royals Monthly will differ to New Idea and if it will be less “gossipy” in the telling of royal stories. “Royals Monthly is glossy, it’s premium, and it’s at a higher price point. It includes the right mixture of news and evergreen content.”

As there are no readership figures available yet, Nolan said she hopes to eventually have that data soon. “It’s too early yet, but we look forward to sharing some news there.”

In the 12 months ending June 2019, New Idea’s average issue readership as measured by Emma was 1,404,000.

Issue #3 (October) of Royals Monthly is currently on sale, with the next issue released on October 10.

Damon Johnston
Herald Sun wins News Brand of the Year at News Media Awards

NewsMediaWorks has announced the winners for the 2019 News Media Awards, that showcase and celebrate the best professionally generated news content, industry innovations and people that are driving the industry forward across news media publishing.

The major winners are:

Herald Sun awarded Daily News Brand of the Year, the AFR Weekend awarded Weekend News Brand of the Year, The Hobart Mercury awarded Regional News Brand of the Year and The City (Adelaide) awarded the Community News Brand of the Year.

The overall winner was chosen from the four News Brands of the Year and this year’s winner is the Herald Sun.

Commenting on the Herald Sun as recipient of News Brand of the Year, the judges said: “Every finalist in this category was at the top of their game but the Herald Sun had the edge with its news-breaking exclusives, its ability to service readers across all platforms and its attention to digital growth.”

Commenting on the winners, NewsMediaWorks CEO, Peter Miller, said: “I offer my sincere congratulations to all the winners in this year’s News Media Awards. Once again the calibre of entries and the significant commitment to innovation and editorial excellence demonstrated by our publishers has impressed the judging panel and made selecting winners a challenging process.

“The News Media Awards recognise excellence in the people, the products, the purpose and performance of news media brands today. Excellence that is a key driver of trust in our brands.”

Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston said the award recognised the paper’s dominance of local news, politics, sport and entertainment news.

“Victorians continue to turn to the Herald Sun in print and online for their fix of news,” he said.

The Herald Sun’s five-year fight to uncover the story of Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, which has prompted a royal commission, was recognised with reporters Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon awarded the Best News Story of the year.

The 2019 News Media Awards gala dinner was held at the conclusion of the annual INFORM 19 News Media Summit.  More than 350 people attended the awards ceremony at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney, again hosted by The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel and Andrew Hansen.

News media publishers from Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific submitted more than 500 entries for the seven categories in the 2019 awards. The awards recognise excellence in cross platform news publishing, reflected in categories covering Advertising, Marketing, Technical, Product Innovation, Executive Excellence, Photography and the overall News Brand awards.

Tim Kendal
Aussie abroad: NYC ad creative Tim Piper, accidental industry pioneer

Part 2: Launching Piro, Working with Kendall Jenner, Aussie success in US

In the new Mediaweek series, Aussies Abroad, Christian Murphy shines a light on some of our best media exports, kicking it on the global stage.

Today we publish Part 2 of his profile of Adelaide ad man Tim Piper who headed to New York via Canada where he runs his own agency.

Piro, the business you co-founded and co-run with Daniel is a unique, storytelling prod co in an age where stories can literally come from anywhere and be distributed across any number of platforms to engage consumers/viewers.  How did it come about?

Piro really came out of the idea to merge advertising with entertainment at a time when all of these new distribution platforms started appearing and the media landscape started evolving. After seeing my own work have huge success on these new platforms while I was at my last agency, one of the global agency groups, I set myself the goal of meeting a like-minded producer from the entertainment world. I got an introduction to Daniel Rosenberg, a producer and published author who had just come off huge success with the movie Inside Man (Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Spike Lee directed), which he had developed from a two-sentence idea into one of the highest grossing film of 2006.

Daniel was in development on a bunch of TV shows which required financing and brand money, so we came together to create Piro, born from the two worlds of entertainment and advertising as opposed to the branded entertainment companies at the time which were either coming directly out of Hollywood or directly out of advertising, but we were unique in that it was a true partnership born out of those two worlds.

The goal we set ourselves in launching the business was to make advertising more entertaining and make entertainment work as advertising. The really key thing that we were focused on from day one and something that still sets us apart from many others, is that we are very results focused. 

And results are really the best way you can judge our advertising storytelling. For Estee Lauder for instance, we produced a series of scripted film pieces with Kendall Jenner for their lipstick line, which took the brand from #5 in China to #2 in China.

Tim Piper at work on an Estee Lauder campaign with Kendall Jenner

Our work for e-trade, an online broking firm where we did educational video content, drove five times more engagement. The work we did for Ferrero Rocher was their most successful TV commercial ever. We like to harness the power of great storytelling and deliver it in unique, fresh, original ways that drives results.  And our story to date, the story of Piro has really been our results.

The other thing that also sets us apart, in addition to advertising storytelling, is our more traditional long form storytelling. We have a number of different projects in the unscripted and scripted spaces with high profile talent and recently produced three seasons of the scripted comedy series for Bravo, Odd Mom Out

Piro co-founder Tim Piper directing

How has being Australian – our general outlook and character – helped you in your career globally and how are we perceived professionally?

In North America I have had two unique experiences, one working in Canada for my first four years and then the remainder in the US. For many Australians, there’s often a misperception that we’re more culturally aligned with the Canadians – part of the Commonwealth, the Canadians are such nice people, more-so than Americans perhaps – but in my experience, we are quite different. Aussies are typically very honest, straight forward, we have no problem being quite abrupt to each other which is perhaps a part of the larrikin thing. It’s far more important in Canada to be polite, so they avoid any kind of awkwardness, and as a result you never know where you stand and the relationships can be unauthentic. That said, I ended up marrying a Canadian but she agrees, now that she’d befriended many Australians. So there you go. It’s weird. 

In the US, that Aussie “can do” attitude, larrikin style, work hard and play hard is actually very refreshing and offers huge advantages. People in America are very entrepreneurial, ambitious and hard-working and really appreciate the honesty and ethical values that comes with being Australian. There’s a mentality in America that you can cheat and do whatever you want to get ahead here, it’s all about “get ahead, get ahead” and Australians tend to draw the line at that, we have more of a sense of a fair go for all and that fair go DNA is something that gives us an advantage here because our instincts to be honest lead to trust and with that trust comes relationships and business and you tend to do well that way.

Tim Piper lives in New York on the Upper West Side and is married with two children. 

See also:
Aussie abroad: NYC ad creative Tim Piper, accidental industry pioneer
• From Adelaide to Madison Avenue and television series on Hulu and Bravo

Mediaweek series: Christian Murphy’s Aussie Abroad
• Marketer Melissa Madden, born to be a global brand builder

Top Photo: Tim and Kendall Jenner

Pinterest shopping
Pinterest announces new ways to reach their shoppers 

Today Pinterest is introducing new ways to make the platform a place for advertisers to get their products in front of customers while making the platform more shoppable.

Pinterest is announcing the roll out of Catalogs and Shoppings Ads in France, Germany, Italy and Spain to select partners.

With Catalogs, businesses can upload their full catalog to Pinterest and turn their products into Product Pins, which can now become useful Pinterest ads. 

Tatiana Okutina, Head of Comms/ Home Improvement Projects stated that “Pinterest has already enabled us to inspire consumers across Europe to consider Leroy Merlin for home ideas. Because of the open mindset of the audience on Pinterest who are looking for ideas of what to try and buy next, we were eager to explore more shopping features to help customers take their home projects from inspiration to action.

“So far, Pinterest’s shopping features have increased traffic to our site, leading to more engagement and potential purchases.”

Pinterest is partnering with retailers who have implemented these new shopping features to drive traffic to their website and increase their sales from Pinterest. Some of these retailers are Leroy Merlin, ManoMano and Maisons du Monde.

chrissy sam and browny
Nova 100 and Underworks support Browny’s New York run

Nova 100 and Underworks have partnered to support Jonathan Brown’s mission, to raise funds and awareness for EB Research foundation, when he undertakes the ultimate test of endurance – the 2019 New York City Marathon on 3 November.

Nova 100’s Chrissie, Sam & Browny will broadcast their show live from the USA to support Browny, as he competes in one of the most famous marathons in the world, on behalf of the EB Research Foundation. Epidermolysis Bullosa is a debilitating skin disorder and life sentence for children and families who live with the pain day in, day out. Browny is an Ambassador and has a strong connection to the foundation, with a close family friend living with EB.

Browny said, “I am an Ambassador and it’s very close to my heart as a family friend has EB. It’s something people don’t know a lot about it. I was asked at the end of last year by EB, a horrible skin disease, if I’d like be their representative to run the NY marathon and it was opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

browny new york marathon-

Sam Todaro, Underworks managing director said, “We’re proud to support Browny in his quest to raise much needed funds for the EB Research Foundation, and to fulfil his dream to run the New York Marathon. We’re passionate about supporting our community and doing our bit to drive conversations and change for those who are most vulnerable, so we see this as a perfect fit. No child or adult should have to live in such pain, my hope is that Browny’s efforts go a long way to helping find the treatments and the cure they so desperately need”.

In a continuation of Underwork’s partnership with Nova Entertainment, Underworks sport socks have partnered with Nova 100 to support Jonathan Brown’s fundraising efforts and to make Chrissie, Sam & Browny’s first overseas broadcast a reality.

Browny said, “Thanks to wonderful people at Underworks for getting on board to make this happen and for supporting this worthy cause. I’ve already started to test out the performance of Underworks socks during my training and I can’t wait to put them to the ultimate test when I take part in the New York marathon.”

Browny has been working hard both mentally and physically to return to the peak physical and mental condition he maintained during his 14-year AFL career and put him in the best possible position to complete the marathon and raise vital funds for EB.

Listeners can also throw their support behind Browny’s fundraising efforts for the EB Research Foundation at novafm.com.au.

Nova 100’s Chrissie, Sam & Browny will broadcast their first show live, an hour after Browny is expected to cross the finish line. The team will also explore the sights and sounds of New York all week and share their experiences with listeners on air all week from 4 November from 6am to 9am, and on the Chrissie, Sam & Browny podcast.

Walking Dead
TV Demand: Walking Dead begins its march up the charts

Stranger Things has made it 14 weeks on top of the Australian TV Demand charts and 13 out of 14 for New Zealand as well.

By Trent Thomas

It continues to hold off  Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys both of whom have come the closest the last few weeks along with 13 Reason Why (which briefly topped the charts in NZ) to knocking off the perennial champion in Stranger Things.

This week a legacy show in TV Demand terms has rejoined the charts in Australia and New Zealand with the 2018 Global TV Demand Award’s Most In-Demand TV Show in the World The Walking Dead gaining steam ahead of its season 10 release on October 10. 

The series first aired in 2010 and centered on an ensemble cast of survivors of a zombie apocalypse who are trying to stay alive amidst zombies known as “walkers” and conflicts from other living survivors and communities. Andrew Lincoln originally played the lead character of Rick Grimes until the ninth season with other notable actors including Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, and Danai Gurira.

This will be the series’ first premiere without Lincoln in the lead and it will be interesting how that affects its audience. Another factor to consider will be the impact of it being on a network (AMC) which releases weekly instead of doing a binge release which is the opposite to most of shows on the top of the TV Demand charts including Stranger Things, The Dark Crystal, The Boys, 13 Reasons Why and Good Omens.

The Masked Singer
TV Ratings Analysis: September 24

• The Masked Singer a keeper: consecutive 1m+ crowds
• The Block again sitting in second place, but Nine #1
• Series finals of ABC’s Old People’s Home & Nine’s SeaChange
• Who let the dogs out? Seven’s canine obsession continues

Tuesday Week 39 2019

By James Manning

• Seven News 955,000/933,000
• Nine News 819,000/867,000
• A Current Affair 759,000
• ABC News 647,000
• 7.30 546,000
• The Project 275,000/526,000
• 10 News First 361,000
• The Drum 176,000
• SBS World News 155,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 272,000
• Today 184,000

Seven

Home and Away got a national run at 7pm with 617,000 watching.

Seven must have research that indicates viewers want to see dogs on TV. So far though the audiences haven’t engaged big time with what’s been on offer. And last night as the channel delivered Counting Down Australia’s Top Dog, the audience watching was 420,000, which ranked it fourth in the timeslot.

A tribute to one of the biggest movie stars at the end of the twentieth century – I Am Patrick Swayze – then did 300,000. The special comes ahead of the launch of The Real Dirty Dancing.

Nine

After a third place finish Monday night, Nine bounced back with share climbing from 16.8% to 19.0% night-on-night, enough to claim a victory. Nine also took top spot with combined channel share.

A Current Affair was on the road with over enthusiastic car enthusiasts with 759,000 watching after 804,000 on Monday.

The Block promised much to stop viewers from taking a peak at The Masked Singer. It worked to a degree. An episode dubbed The Block: Real Crime Stories promised to lift the lid on a number of scandals. The joke bar was set pretty low with a fart gag early on in the episode. Scotty Cam could have been talking about the humour when he said last night: “We hit the halfway mark last week and it has been all downhill from there.” The host then had the news 100 potential buyers would be visiting the property for a sneak peak. That was a surprising update for some of the teams with some rooms full of rubbish. The episode was on 816,000 after 857,000 a week ago.

The final episode of SeaChange then did 426,000 after 495,000 a week prior. There was no voiceover for viewers at the end telling them the series would return with new episodes next year.

Nine then split its primary channel signal with Sydney and Brisbane getting 20 To One (100,000) while other metro markets got the final episode of the year of Footy Classified (143,000 with 96,000 in Melbourne).

10

No surprise that The Project was all in on The Masked Singer again. The star of the Monday night entertainment premiere, Gretel Killeen, was a guest on the desk for the whole show. At the end of the hour she had some insights into what happens to a contestant during the production. She also managed to give away the news all performers return for a reunion on the final episode. The Tuesday night episode did 526,000 after 527,000 on Monday.

After an astonishing 1.162m viewers on Monday night, episode two of The Masked Singer did an equally impressive 1,054,000. Brett Lee was the celebrity reveal at the end of the episode. Hughesy continues to deliver the wildest guesses while Jackie and Dannii were closest with thinking the celebrity might be Shane Warne.

The short season of BH90210 launched with the original cast having some great fun with their characters in an episode dedicated to Luke Perry. The episode did 468,000 as it outperformed the SeaChange final and ranking #1 in the timeslot under 50 and key demos.

ABC

Foreign Correspondent was on 441,000 after 390,000 the previous week.

One of the channel’s biggest hits this year, Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, came to an end with a top 10 finish with 664,000 watching which saw it rank #1 all people in the timeslot.

SBS

Britain’s Most Historic Towns was the channel’s #1 with 219,000 a week ago. It might hold that ranking this week too with 200,000 watching an episode visiting Bristol.

Insight was not far behind though on 194,000 with an episode about the cost and worth of private health care.

Week 39 TV: Tuesday
TUESDAY METRO
ABCSevenNine10SBS
ABC12.7%717.4%919.0%10 16.4%SBS One4.6%
ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY2.7%7TWO3.2%GO!3.6%10 Bold3.8%VICELAND1.3%
ABC ME0.5%7mate2.7%GEM2.9%10 Peach2.2%Food Net1.0%
ABC NEWS1.5%7flix1.6%9Life1.9%  NITV0.1%
  7Food0.6%    SBS World Movies0.4%
TOTAL17.4% 25.4% 27.3% 22.4% 7.4%

 

TUESDAY REGIONAL
ABCSeven AffiliatesNine Affiliates10 AffiliatesSBS
ABC10.8%718.9%916.1%WIN11.7%SBS One4.1%
ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY2.8%7TWO6.1%GO!4.2%WIN Bold3.7%VICELAND1.3%
ABC ME0.8%7mate4.9%GEM4.2%WIN Peach1.8%Food Net0.8%
ABC NEWS1.1%7flix (Excl. Tas/WA)1.7%9Life2.1%Sky News  on WIN1.9%NITV0.4%
  7food (QLD only)0.4%      
TOTAL15.5% 32.1% 26.7% 19.1% 6.6%

 

TUESDAY METRO ALL TV
FTASTV
87.1%12.9%
TUESDAY FTA
  1. The Masked Singer Australia 10 1,054,000
  2. Seven News Seven 955,000
  3. Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 933,000
  4. Nine News 6:30 Nine 867,000
  5. Nine News Nine 819,000
  6. The Block Nine 816,000
  7. A Current Affair Nine 759,000
  8. Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds ABC 664,000
  9. ABC News ABC 647,000
  10. Home And Away Seven 617,000
  11. The Chase Australia Seven 568,000
  12. 7.30 ABC 546,000
  13. The Project 7 PM 10 526,000
  14. BH90210 10 468,000
  15. Foreign Correspondent ABC 441,000
  16. Hot Seat Nine 436,000
  17. SeaChange Nine 426,000
  18. Counting Down To Australia’s Top Dog Seven 420,000
  19. 10 News First 10 361,000
  20. The Chase Australia-5 PM Seven 351,000
Demo Top 5

16-39 Top Five

  1. The Masked Singer Australia 10 295,000
  2. The Block Nine 191,000
  3. BH90210 10 144,000
  4. The Project 7 PM 10 123,000
  5. Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds ABC 114,000

 

18-49 Top Five

  1. The Masked Singer Australia 10 482,000
  2. The Block Nine 341,000
  3. BH90210 10 264,000
  4. The Project 7 PM 10 238,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 225,000

 

25-54 Top Five

  1. The Masked Singer Australia 10 534,000
  2. The Block Nine 394,000
  3. BH90210 10 293,000
  4. The Project 7 PM 10 276,000
  5. Nine News 6:30 Nine 275,000
Tuesday Multichannel
  1. Bluey AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 186,000
  2. Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 147,000
  3. CSI: Miami 10 Bold 147,000
  4. Rambo III 9GO! 145,000
  5. Peppa Pig AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 138,000
  6. Charlie And Lola ABCKIDS/COMEDY 131,000
  7. NCIS (R) 10 Bold 131,000
  8. Little Princess AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 129,000
  9. Bananas In Pyjamas AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 128,000
  10. Andy’s Wild Adventures ABCKIDS/COMEDY 128,000
  11. School Of Roars AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 125,000
  12. Hey Duggee ABCKIDS/COMEDY 123,000
  13. Dinosaur Train ABCKIDS/COMEDY 121,000
  14. Rusty Rivets ABCKIDS/COMEDY 119,000
  15. CSI: Miami Ep 2 10 Bold 117,000
  16. Kiddets AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 115,000
  17. Peppa Pig PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 113,000
  18. Play School AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 113,000
  19. Floogals ABCKIDS/COMEDY 113,000
  20. Kiri And Lou PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 112,000
TUESDAY  STV
  1. Live: AFL 360 FOX FOOTY 76,000
  2. The Bolt Report Sky News Live 67,000
  3. Live: RWC: Rus V Sam FOX SPORTS 503 59,000
  4. Live: On The Couch FOX FOOTY 59,000
  5. Jones & Credlin Sky News Live 58,000
  6. Paul Murray Live Sky News Live 51,000
  7. Credlin Sky News Live 49,000
  8. Live: The Back Page FOX SPORTS 505 37,000
  9. Selling Houses Australia Lifestyle Channel 37,000
  10. Friends 111 36,000
  11. Family Guy FOX8 36,000
  12. Rusty Rivets Nick Jr. 35,000
  13. Open Mike FOX FOOTY 34,000
  14. Rusty Rivets Nick Jr. 33,000
  15. Bargain Hunt Lifestyle Channel 33,000
  16. Blue Bloods TVH!TS 32,000
  17.  PML Later Sky News Live 32,000
  18. Live: NRL 360 FOX LEAGUE 32,000
  19. Live: RWC Post Game: Rus V Sam FOX SPORTS 503 30,000
  20. Family Guy FOX8 30,000

Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV national
Source: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM

Media News Roundup

Business of Media

Job losses loom as James Warburton remakes Seven West Media

Seven West Media boss James Warburton is set to outline the restructure of his business as early as this week as the new chief executive makes his mark on the free-to-air broadcaster and publisher, reports The Australian’s Zoe Samios.

Expected in the shake-up to be outlined by Warburton is a flatter management structure as well as a push for greater savings across the media company.

The move comes two weeks after The Australian revealed Warburton was looking to streamline Seven’s 17 divisions. The Australian reports there will be redundancies and while an exact figure is not known, all divisions are expected to be affected.

[Read the original]

Singleton sells Macquarie stake to Nine, Carnegie expected to follow

Advertising veteran John Singleton has signed over his stake in Macquarie Media with his friend and venture capitalist Mark Carnegie expected to follow suit, delivering Nine Entertainment the shareholding it needs to seal the takeover of the radio broadcaster, reports The AFR’s Max Mason.

Nine lifted its stake to 87.05 per cent on Tuesday morning, up from 54.4 per cent, after Singleton accepted Nine’s $1.46-per-share offer. Sources have indicated Carnegie is likely to back the offer following an independent expert’s report by PwC that declared Nine’s offer fair and reasonable.

That will take Nine’s stake in Macquarie to more than 90 per cent at which point the media company, the owner of The Australian Financial Review, can compulsorily sweep up the remaining shares.

[Read the original]

Murdochs' compensation falls at Fox Corp after Disney transaction

Both Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch will take home quite a bit less in compensation than they did last year, reflecting the completion of the spinoff to Disney and the skinnier Fox Corp portfolio of companies, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

According to a Monday proxy filing with the SEC, Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch will see total compensation of US$42.1 million in fiscal 2019, down from $49.2 million in 2018.

Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch, meanwhile, will also take home $42.1 million in total compensation, down from $50.7 million last year. The compensation covers the part of the year in which they were paid by 21st Century Fox, as well as the time since the spinoff in March, both pro-rated.

However, due to the extraordinarily unusual year, which saw Disney close its acquisition of much of 21st Century Fox, the filing added a chart showing the compensation Fox “would expect to pay its named executive officers on a go-forward basis” – in other words, the compensation shareholders should expect the executive officers to earn assuming there are no other extraordinary transactions.

The pro forma chart had Rupert Murdoch’s compensation at $29.3 million for the year, and Lachlan Murdoch’s compensation at $23.6 million.

[Read the original]

News Brands

‘Local is lucrative’ for media companies says News Corp exec

Local journalism is undergoing a resurgence and is “lucrative” because of the scarcity of content available and the value it adds to communities, according to News Corp chief operating officer of publishing Damian Eales, reports The Australian’s Zoe Samios.

Eales, who was speaking on Tuesday at the NewsMediaWorks INFORM Summit in Sydney, described established media companies as the “white knights” for regional journalism and argued that the relatively small advertising spend in regional areas fell short of the number of people who lived outside major cities.

“One thing data is telling newsrooms around the world is that local is the hero,” he said.

Eales said regional mastheads were the fastest-growing digital products for News Corp, and that local journalism could underpin “new growth” and a “firm financial future” through subscriptions.

[Read the original]

Fox News apologises to Greta Thunberg for 'mentally ill' comment

Fox News apologised to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg Monday night for a guest’s comments during a segment earlier that evening, reports CNN.

Conservative pundit Michael Knowles brought up Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist who addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday, during a conversation on The Story with Martha MacCallum about a Bloomberg editorial piece on giving up meat.

“None of that matters because the climate hysteria movement is not about science. If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left,” Knowles said.

The segment’s other guest, progressive pundit Christopher Hahn, interrupted Knowles’ remarks and told him, “Shame on you.” Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, who was subbing for MacCallum, let Hahn respond further, “You’re a grown man and you’re attacking a child. Shame on you.”

Thunberg has spoken openly about living with Asperger’s, referring to the diagnosis as a “superpower” in an Instagram post in August.

Fox News, however, apologised to Thunberg in a statement issued Monday evening.

“The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful – we apologise to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers,” a Fox News spokesperson told CNN Business.

[Read the original]

Google, Facebook back plan to stop violent terrorism spreading online

Social media companies have backed a new plan to stop violent terrorism spreading online, putting their names to the scheme with support from 48 countries at the United Nations, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s David Crowe.

Google and Facebook are among the companies that will overhaul a counter-terrorism centre to prevent a repeat of the Christchurch terrorist attack in March, which killed 51 people and wounded 49.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the agreement at the United Nations as they and other leaders prepared for the UN general assembly this week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison joined the two leaders and others at a meeting in New York on Monday on strategic responses to violent extremism.

Ardern announced that 48 companies now backed the Christchurch Call to stop violent extremism online, up from 31 companies a few months ago.

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Radio

Radio host receives death threats after Virgin Mary comments

Radio host Kyle Sandilands has received death threats in the wake of his offensive comments about the Virgin Mary, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.

Angry listeners called for the KIIS FM breakfast host to be sacked after a provocative video was shared on his KIIS FM Instagram site where the 48-year-old shock jock joked that the Virgin Mary wasn’t actually a “virgin” at all. In the video he described Mary as a “liar” who got knocked up “behind a camel shed”.

Confidential understands Sandilands has been in contact with NSW Police after receiving a number of death threats via social media, email and mobile phone.

“Absolutely Kyle has been getting death threats,” a source close to the radio host told Confidential.

“That is nothing new however. To be honest, if Kyle got a dollar for every death threat he received, he would be able to buy Tasmania. It has been something that has been going on forever. To be fair, this past week has been very busy though.”

Sandilands and co-host Jackie O Henderson are on a pre planned radio survey break holiday this week but will be back on air from Monday when they are expected to further address the scandal.

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Television

ABC Commercial signs new distribution agreement with Acorn TV

ABC Commercial has announced it has reached a new distribution agreement with North America’s largest streaming service Acorn TV for a raft of ABC television content for their Australian and New Zealand offering.

The agreement lists some of the best of Australia’s locally produced titles including global sensation Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries– starring Essie Davis (The Babadook, Game of Thrones), the highly acclaimed ABC drama Jack Irish starring A-list actor, Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential) and Australian comedy hit series, A Moody Christmas and The Moodys.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

The deal also includes acclaimed British comedy drama Kingdom starring English actor/comedian and writer Stephen Fry (Gosford park, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and black comedy Shameless and made for television film, Churchill’s Secret.

“ABC Commercial has been a partner of Acorn TV from their launch in 2018,” said Jessica Ellis, Head of Content Sales and Distribution, ABC Commercial. “ABC content resonates with Acorn’s core audience, so we are extremely happy to build on our partnership and see more of the ABC’s world-class list of content already successfully streaming on the Acorn TV platform.”

“After our success in introducing several major Australian series to our audiences in North America, Acorn TV is thrilled to work with ABC Commercial to add more first-rate Australian and British content to our subscribers in Australia and New Zealand,” said Don Klees, Senior Vice President of Acorn Programming for RLJ Entertainment.

Adding to the list is a diverse slate of essential British viewing including Being Human, Black Books, Criminal Justice, Doc Martin, Father Ted, Detectorists, Land Girls, The Level and Peep Show. All ABC content in this agreement will be available to stream in September and October.

Foxtel host Andrew Winter explains why he doesn’t want Gold Logie

Andrew Winter is Australia’s most unassuming TV star.

The real estate expert Andrew Winter, who returns to our screens this week as host of the uber popular Foxtel show Love It or List It Australia, admits he fell into showbiz “purely by accident”, reports news.com.au’s Lexie Cartwright.

Some accident it turned out to be.

Winter, who also hosts Selling Houses Australia, has an impressive army of fans who adore his quirky nature and blunt hilarity; his two shows garnering a cult following over the years.

In fact, Winter is so popular he became the first ever Foxtel talent to be nominated for the coveted Gold Logie at the 2018 awards.

But despite the fuss over Aussie TV’s top honour, with comedian Tom Gleeson famously launching a national campaign to take out the award this year, Winter says he’s not keen on ever receiving the honour.

“I find the individual award … I’m just not interested, I’m not interested in a personal anything,” he tells news.com.au.

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David Attenborough slams Australian PM on climate record

Sir David Attenborough has slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison‘s support for new coal mines and lack of action on climate change, in his most damning assessment yet of Australia’s environmental record.

In an interview with Triple J’s Hack, the world’s most renowned natural historian said previous governments had been “saying all the right things” but this had suddenly changed, reports the ABC.

“You are the keepers of an extraordinary section of the surface of this planet, including the Barrier Reef, and what you say, what you do, really, really matters.”

“And then you suddenly say, ‘No it doesn’t matter … it doesn’t matter how much coal we burn … we don’t give a damn what it does to the rest of the world.’ ”

At 93, Sir David is working on a new BBC documentary for 2020. Extinction: The Facts looks at what mass animal and plant extinctions mean for humanity.

He says he feels blessed to be able to keep working, and to have lasted long enough to see a rising environmental consciousness.

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Emmy-winning Fleabag creator seals exclusive Amazon Prime deal

On Monday, she secured a mantelpiece full of Emmys; on Tuesday, Phoebe Waller-Bridge got a brand new TV deal, reports The Guardian.

The Fleabag creator will create and produce TV content exclusively for Amazon Prime Video, after signing a deal with Amazon Studios. The streaming service already screens Fleabag in more than 200 countries and territories including the US.

“I’m insanely excited to be continuing my relationship with Amazon. Working with the team on Fleabag was the creative partnership dreams are made of. It really feels like home. I can’t wait to get going,” Waller-Bridge said as the announcement was made on Tuesday.

While she emphasised the creative benefits, the news echoed growing warnings from senior UK television industry figures that homegrown British on-screen talent is increasingly being bought up by international rivals which “increasingly want to decide what we read, watch and listen to”.

Fleabag and those associated with it won six awards at the Emmys, including honours for writing, directing and acting, as well as casting and editing. The program was also named the overall outstanding comedy series.

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Sports Media

Lucy Zelic sparks furore after calling Adelaide a shithole

SBS broadcaster Lucy Zelic has become the latest eastern states identity to spark a holy war in the City of Churches aftr labelling Adelaide a “shit hole” and “incredibly dull” in a football podcast, reports The Australian’s David Penberthy.

South Australians from the Premier down lined up to denounce Zelic after she launched what Adelaideans described as an “unprovoked” and “outrageous” attack on their famously touchy home town.

Zelic made the comments during a podcast of the SBS football program The World Game on Monday while interviewing Central Coast Mariners recruit Ziggy Gordon.

“You won’t see much in Adelaide,” Zelic told the Scotsman when asking if he planned to visit much of Australia.

“Adelaide’s a shithole. No disrespect, no disrespect. I can say that because I’ve travelled there multiple times and I didn’t enjoy it.

“I found it to be incredibly dull and boring.”

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Feature photo
Source: South China Morning Post

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