Business of Media
Television ratings overhaul took too long, OzTAM boss concedes
The boss of Australia’s television audience data company has conceded a major overhaul of how ratings are measured across the $4.2 billion free-to-air TV industry has taken too long to bring to market, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
OzTAM chief executive Doug Peiffer says the new Virtual Australia ratings system, known as VOZ and rolling out on May 1, will drive more money to broadcasters because they will be able to more accurately see how many viewers there are across traditional TV and free-to-air apps.
Five years after it was first announced, and after delays, half launches and missed deadlines, VOZ will share daily audience data and access to a new modelling system to major advertising firms within weeks.
“This has been one of the hardest things to do,” Peiffer said. “We’re one of the first markets to deliver something like this – daily data across 88 demographics with reach and frequency. It’s been tough. We did go out the market probably way too early, but I’m happy where we’re at now.”
Inside Kerry Stokes’ world of influence
Mark McGowan was just off the Telethon Ball stage when it happened. It was a cool evening last October, and the charity event was the biggest night on Perth’s social calendar. Basil Zempilas, the city’s garrulous Lord Mayor, rose to thank the West Australian premier for his attendance, report Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano and Max Mason.
“I also want to thank Kerry, the man who really runs the state,” Zempilas joked, according to two sources at the ball. It was a remark that did not go unnoted. After all, the WA premier and Anthony Albanese were in the room.
The jibe made behind closed doors spoke to the power that Stokes, 82, has built in the state with the support of a business empire that runs from property and mining to the media.
Inside the ballroom, the Prime Minister and his partner, Jodie Haydon, sat with Stokes and his wife, Christine and the McGowans – Mark and Sarah. Nearby sat Richard Goyder, the powerful chairman of the AFL Commission, Woodside and Qantas, with his wife, Janine. Zempilas, who rose to prominence in the west as a sport commentator, strode the ballroom greeting mining and property moguls as friends. “How are you going Chris?” Zempilas barked, thrusting a microphone under the chin of Chris Ellison, the billionaire managing director of Mineral Resources.
The dinner – where attendees are sworn not to repeat conversations outside the room – is not just a social occasion. Telethon may have started in 1968 as a no-frills event taking small donations from regular punters, but it has, under Stokes, become a major money-spinner and attendees at the Telethon Ball are encouraged to donate massive cheques throughout the evening.
Australian media to remain on TikTok despite government fears
Australia’s media companies will stay on controversial social media app TikTok to attract the younger audiences they need, despite federal and state governments holding such significant security fears about the app that they banned employees from using it at work, reports Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios.
Some of the country’s most well-known publications and broadcasters have spent the past two years cultivating millions of young followers who engage with news stories through videos on the Chinese-owned app.
Paul Whittaker, chief executive of News Corp’s cable TV broadcaster Sky News, last week announced plans to stop using TikTok amid national security fears, but other media organisations say they have no immediate intentions to restrict professional use of the application or use of the service on company devices. TikTok Australia’s general manager of operations, Lee Hunter, is urging media companies not to be influenced by “far-fetched hypotheticals”.
Nine Entertainment, which owns broadcasting, streaming and publishing assets including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, said there was currently no policy to limit TikTok’s use. These mastheads run professional accounts on the platform, such as @thesydneymorningherald, which has 96,200 followers and 5.5 million likes and @theageaustralia, with 63,200 followers and 2.4 million likes. An account for Nine’s popular television show Married at First Sight (@mafs) has 242,700 followers and 3.6 million likes.
“At Nine, we respect the various independent requirements of our business across all platforms in relation to the use of TikTok,” a Nine spokesperson said. “We are committed to supporting the safety and wellbeing of our people which means we work with individuals to advise them on the most appropriate approach to using all social media platforms, including TikTok.”
A Guardian Australia spokesperson implied it was too soon to decide on how to approach the app. “We are not proposing any major changes to the way we use TikTok as an organisation at this time, and we are continuing to monitor the situation,” the spokesperson said.
How Netflix, Amazon may be forced to make more Australian programs
The federal government is considering forcing streaming giants Netflix, Paramount and Amazon to spend up to 20 per cent of the money they make locally on new Australian programs, but investment in sports or buying local films or programs will not count towards any new quotas, reports Nine Publishing’s Zoe Samios.
Streamers will be heavily incentivised to create Australian children’s programs and documentaries under a newly formed national cultural policy, which is being used as a way to ensure local stories continue to be produced.
The government believes its scheme could deliver between $132 million and $528 million in annual local content investment by 2026, based on predictions from Ampere Analysis that are dependent on the regulatory model it ultimately chooses.
A confidential stakeholder consultation paper obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age shows the government is actively considering five ways to make global streaming giants create local programs, including a model that requires streaming services to dedicate 20 per cent of annual gross subscription revenue to Australian drama, documentaries and children’s programs.
It is also considering proposals with content obligations of between 5 per cent and 11 per cent, all of which include incentives to encourage production in “at-risk genres”: children’s content and documentaries. However, the models do not count investment in sports and mostly ignore the acquisition of existing local programs or films as ways to meet the requirements of the scheme.
Former Oz deputy editor lands gig at PR consultancy
The Australian’s former deputy editor Sid Maher has landed a new gig: as a “senior journalist” for Cole Lawson Group, a Queensland-based public relations consultancy, report Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones and Mark Di Stefano.
Maher resigned from News Corp Australia following an incident at a late night Christmas party in Sydney’s Surry Hills. His exit left many in the industry wondering where the experienced journalist – a former national affairs editor and political correspondent for the publication – would re-emerge. (Maher has consistently denied any wrongdoing.)
After a few months lying low, he broke cover to circulate a press release for the Flight Safety Foundation’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard program. BARS, energy, electric vehicles and financial services will be his beat.
Maher followed The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Dore and Sky News host Chris Smith out of News Corp after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women at work events. Since then, Smith has taken to hosting a weekly show on fringe online radio network TNT Radio.
Radio
Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello joins radio station Mix 102.3’s Ali Clarke Breakfast Show
There may be less of Andrew “Cosi” Costello to see these days – but there will be more of him to hear when the popular media personality joins radio station Mix 102.3’s Ali Clarke Breakfast Show from Monday morning, reports News Corp’s Patrick McDonald.
Cosi will be partnering with Clarke’s team on special projects throughout the year, to lend a helping hand to fellow South Australians in need.
He said he was thrilled and “excited to be chatting” to listeners again, after being axed from his last radio job at SAFM in October.
“I’ve known Ali for over two decades and there’s no one on radio that cares more about community, SA and the people of Adelaide,” Cosi said.
“I cannot wait to join forces with Ali and the team for some very special projects this year and do what Mix does best … serve the community.”
Television
Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo: ‘Chemistry is either there or it’s not’
Journalist Sarah Abo is, in her own words, “a real Melbourne girl”. She moved there from Syria with her family when she was four, barracks hard for Collingwood, only begrudgingly admits Sydney’s restaurants pass muster – and, yes, she’s wearing black. “My blood runs black, it’s so Melbourne,” she says, reports Nine Publishing’s Michael Koziol.
But when breakfast television comes knocking, you don’t refuse, so this year, at age 37, Abo and her husband Cyrus upped and moved to Sydney, so she could take her dream job as co-host of Channel Nine’s Today show.
It is one of the biggest gigs in Australian media, and comes with antisocial hours, huge pressure and extreme scrutiny. And Abo gets to share that stage with arguably the biggest personality in television, Karl Stefanovic. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have woken up with Stefanovic for most of the past 20 years. His co-hosts have included Jessica Rowe, Lisa Wilkinson and, most recently, Allison Langdon. It is a juggernaut into which one does not step lightly.
For executives, a new breakfast TV pairing is a huge punt – less so this time because Abo had filled in on the show before. So far, the experiment seems to be a success. After a patchy 2022, Today is holding close to Seven’s Sunrise in 2023, and winning on the east coast (Seven is dominant in Perth).
Is Pedestrian TV heading to the FAST screen?
Nine-owned youth publisher Pedestrian Group, formerly Pedestrian.TV, is exploring the launch of its own television channel, which will be called … Pedestrian TV, report Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones and Mark Di Stefano.
The group runs Vice, Pedestrian, Refinery29 and Gizmodo, among other digital brands. PTV will be what the advertising industry calls a FAST channel – a free, ad-supported television running 24-hour Pedestrian-produced content – housed within the 9Now app.
See Also: Why Australia has a “much better handle” on FAST channels than other markets
It’s early days, but after a video-podcast collaboration between Pedestrian and satirical news publication The Betoota Advocate, as well as a weekly Married At First Sight video-podcast discussion series, the group is already generating content. A 24-hour channel doesn’t need 24 hours of new, original content, given most viewers don’t watch for more than a couple of hours.
Annette Sharp: Daryl Somers to return as Dancing With The Stars co-host
She’s smart, funny, capable and beautiful — so why on earth would you pair a woman as dynamic and relevant as Sonia Kruger with a TV relic like Daryl Somers, asks News Corp’s Annette Sharp?
From the corridors of power at Channel Seven comes word Somers is set to return this year — in his platform shoes and with Rudy Giuliani-esque hair dye — to hosting duties on Dancing With The Stars.
Seven bosses, this column is reliably informed, felt compelled to extend the invitation to Somers after miscalculating TV vet Chris Brown’s start date at the network.
Brown starts at Seven on July 1 — too late for production house BBC Studios to get cracking on the 20th season of Dancing for Seven.
Were they to wait for Brown, the series producers would not have the series finished in time to make its slated 2023 air date.
Neighbours secures Ramsay St location, Lucinda Cowden returns.
Neighbours begins production today in Melbourne for Network 10 and Amazon Freevee / Prime Video with confirmation it has secured the location of its ‘Ramsay Street’ home, Pin Oak Court in Vermont South, reports TV Tonight.
The news was revealed at last night’s Neighbours: The Celebration stage show in Melbourne.
But it isn’t clear if there are any exclusions and some homes have undergone changes by their owners.
April Rose Pengilly explained, “People had been under contract for years so if they wanted to get a new fence it had to get approved. But when contracts lapsed they all went ‘Great, renovation time!’”
Actor Lucinda Cowden also confirmed the return of Melanie Pearson, who married Toadie in the season finale.
Southern Cross Austereo’s axe for Spencer Gulf news service labelled ‘disgraceful’
The abrupt closure by Southern Cross Austereo of South Australia’s last remaining regional news service has been labelled as “disgraceful” after the community was left blindsided, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
The final bulletin for the nightly weekday news service, Nightly News on 7 Spencer Gulf, aired on Wednesday and no mention was made about its imminent closure and it is understood staff were told of the decision on Thursday.
Port Pirie Regional Council mayor Leon Stephens, who regularly appeared on the news bulletin, said the first he knew the news service had been scrapped was by reading a social media post on Friday.
“I looked on Facebook and the first thing I see is the local TV news has been shut down – where’s the common courtesy to let us know and prepare our community,” Stephens said.
“We are often subject to media reports that are inaccurate and the local news stations gives us an opportunity to put across out point of view.”
SCA would not reveal how many jobs were impacted but it is understood employees would be given help to find new roles.