Business of Media
Seven West Media joins News Corp, Tripp for WA TAB play
Kerry Stokes-backed Seven West Media is making a surprise bid for a piece of Australia’s $5.2 billion-a-year wagering market, starting with Western Australia’s up-for-sale WA TAB, report Nine Publishing’s Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson, and Kanika Sood.
It is understood Seven West Media is involved a bid that will be lobbed for WA TAB on Monday, taking on big industry players including Tabcorp and Ladbrokes owner Entain for the right to run Western Australia’s retail betting outlets and take bets on racetracks and online.
Seven West Media is bidding as part of a consortium that includes rival publisher News Corporation and Melbourne Storm chairman Matthew Tripp, a renowned bookmaker that has linked with News Corp and Tekkorp Capital to set up a new wagering business in Australia.
Seven West Media has a strong history as a sports and racing broadcaster, but little experience taking bets. The company is expected to pitch its strong media and WA credentials – it owns the state’s biggest publishing business, West Australian Newspapers, and is chaired and by prominent WA businessman Kerry Stokes.
Andrew Myer appointed chair of Documentary Australia
Andrew Myer is the new chair of not-for-profit organisation Documentary Australia, reports Variety Australia’s Vivienne Kelly.
Myer is replacing Kevin Farmer, who has chaired the group for almost three years.
As a film producer, Myer was the driving force behind nine Australian feature films including Look Both Ways, Romulus My Father, Paper Planes, and The Dry.
He was the chair and deputy chair of the Melbourne International Film Festival across 17 years until 2017, and is also the former deputy chair of the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).
He has already been a director of Documentary Australia for three years, and will now be charged with helping to foster social impact through storytelling.
News videos more popular than influencers on social media, report finds
News content is the third most popular type of social media video in the UK, a new Ofcom report has found, putting it higher than the likes of music and videos by social media influencers, reports Press Gazette’s Andrew Kersley.
Some 59% of 3,252 adults polled reported watching news videos on sites like Tiktok and Youtube at least once a month between January and March, beaten only by how-to videos (64%) and videos from the general public (60%), according to the 2022 Ofcom Media Nations report.
However, the figure marks a small decline from last year when Ofcom said the pandemic had propelled news content into becoming the most popular genre of social video.
Why Warner Bros. Discovery’s issues are beyond ‘Batgirl’
Months before the Justice Department blessed the $43 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger, 30 members of Congress warned the agency in a letter that the resulting competition vacuum could allow the newly formed giant to ignore what consumers want, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Winston Cho.
Among the antitrust concerns they pressed was that it could dampen diverse and inclusive programming — which has become a common criticism after WBD canned its $90 million HBO Max film Batgirl, the first DC movie led by a Latina, Leslie Grace.
“There’s been no indication with Batgirl that they’ll shop it around,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “So this incredibly gifted Latina actress and wonderful story get thrown down the drain for a tax write-off.”
In the four months since the deal closed, CEO David Zaslav has overhauled the entertainment powerhouse. During an Aug. 4 earnings call, he trumpeted a 10-year plan for DC and a “reset” that involved shelving Batgirl — part of a cost-savings push and pivot back to creating projects for theaters. “It’s not about how much,” said Zaslav, speaking of their content offerings. “It’s about how good.”
Spotify tests out selling concert tickets directly
Though Spotify has focused its energy on podcasts in its quest to become the king of all things audio, the company hasn’t entirely abandoned its roots as a music streaming service, as seen with the launch of its latest test: selling tickets directly to fans, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s J. Clara Chan.
While Spotify, run by Daniel Ek, hasn’t signalled it’s ready to take on Live Nation’s ticket-selling business, a direct-to-consumer ticketing platform would be a natural progression for the audio giant. Already, the Stockholm-based company provides listings from sellers like Ticketmaster and Eventbrite on its app and leverages users’ listenership data to inform its Fans First program, an email marketing initiative that allows artists to give their top listeners offers and has generated $300 million in revenue since launching in 2017, according to Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s vp and global head of music product.
Agencies
CrashHot Creative launches in Melbourne
CrashHot Creative has announced its launch in Melbourne, based at The Alex Theatre in St Kilda.
The agency offers a mix of disciplines, executions and a fresh approach to delivering fully-integrated communications campaigns.
CrashHot Creative brings together a highly-experienced team of industry experts across all communications disciplines. It also operates as a collective dedicated to achieving the right mix of skills and creative solutions for each client brief.
Pounce Marketing welcomes Jeremy Southern as its new head of content
Pounce Marketing has announced the appointment of Jeremy Southern as its new head of content.
Southern brings more than 25 years of experience to the full-service creative agency.
The newly appointed head of content has created award-winning work across brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mercedes, Emirates, Visa, Samsung, Diageo, Bloomingdale’s, Ikea, Toyota, Heineken and Smiths.
Southern brings high levels of creativity and a flair for storytelling to the Pounce portfolio.
Prior to joining the Sydney-based creative agency, he was executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi Philippines and Leo Burnett Vietnam.
Television
Younger viewers in UK shun traditional TV channels as 90% opt for streaming services
Watching traditional TV channels has almost stopped among younger viewers, with 90% of 18- to 24-year-olds heading straight to their favourite streaming service, according to a report by the media regulator Ofcom, reports The Guardian’s Mark Sweney.
The report, which found that Netflix is the most common destination for younger viewers to seek out content, highlights a rapidly widening generation gap in viewing habits.
Viewers aged between 16 and 24 spend just 53 minutes a day on average watching traditional broadcast TV – a fall of two-thirds over the last decade – seven times less than those aged 65 and over. Those aged 65+ still spend about a third of their waking day, almost six hours, watching broadcast TV – slightly higher than a decade ago.
Why didn’t 10 make a Neighbours special?
A number of the Neighbours fans have contemplated why 10 didn’t produce a special for the show after its 37 year run, when another broadcaster, ABC, managed to do just that, reports TV Tonight.
It’s a question I posed to 10 boss Beverley McGarvey.
“We feel like we devoted the whole week on air to it,” she said recently.
“Studio 10 effectively devoted their content to it, and they’re on four hours a day. So we had a lot of wonderful content and we wanted to make sure that we could utilise it all. So we really devoted the whole week to supporting that final episode. At some point in the future would we look at specials? Absolutely.”
Sports Media
Foxtel backs down on streaming in attempt to clinch AFL rights
Pay TV giant Foxtel has agreed to let Channel Seven stream key AFL matches online in a late concession that could knock rival bidders out of negotiations for the national code’s next media rights deal, reports Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios.
Senior media industry sources on Wednesday told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald the pay TV giant was close to renewing its longstanding agreement with the AFL after reluctantly making the streaming concession in the past 24 hours.
Seven, which is controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes, currently lacks the rights to show the games it broadcasts on free-to-air on its streaming app 7Plus. These games are instead available on Foxtel’s online streaming service, Kayo Sports. Seven has insisted it gains full access to its games, including the ability to stream them, to renew its six decade long relationship with the league.
Senior executives at Foxtel have been left frustrated by the AFL’s decision to grant Seven its wish. But the pay TV giant, which is now expected to pay more than its existing outlay to renew its deal, is increasingly hopeful of securing a “Super Saturday”, whereby it will broadcast the home-and-away rounds exclusively with no games shown on free-to-air.