Business of Media
Netflix’s co-CEO says its ‘impossible’ to run the $500b giant alone
By his own admission, Greg Peters, one-half of the executive office running Netflix, is impatient, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
He realised something about himself. “I should probably go do something where I have a more immediate feedback loop between what I do and what happens.”
Immediate – and often blunt – feedback is a core feature of working at Netflix, which likes to think of itself as a start-up.
This is objectively not true. The business was founded in 1997, has 13,000 employees and is worth $US322 billion ($487 billion), which is $US100 billion more than media rivals Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and News Corp – combined. It has 282.7 million subscribers worldwide, is profitable and is the big winner (so far) in the fierce and ongoing streaming wars.
Shows like House of Cards, Stranger Things, Bridgerton and local hit Heartbreak High have pushed its customer base to an estimated 6.2 million paying subscribers in Australia, from which it pockets $1.1 billion.
Peters, who visited Australia to open Netflix’s new local office, joined as co-chief executive in January last year.
Who isn’t a member of the Chairman’s Lounge? ABC chief Kim Williams
Bleary eyes at Sydney Airport on Wednesday morning were a little startled to see ABC chairman Kim Williams sitting among the throng waiting for a flight, reports The AFR’s Mark Di Stefano.
His presence is surprising merely because he’s precisely the type to be sitting snug with a macchiato and scone in the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge.
Well, his absence is due to the fact he is not even a member! A slab of his much lower-profile media colleagues get de-facto membership of the hallowed club, including CEOs and newspaper editors.
Many heads of government departments get the privilege. So here’s the head of the public broadcaster sitting with the plebs?
None of this is to suggest Williams is about to race to the bookshop for a copy of the tome everyone in media, politics and business is talking about.
In 2014, Williams settled a defamation action against the old Fairfax and Rear Window columnist Joe Aston, who falsely claimed he’d stormed out of a meeting of the Sydney Opera House Trust, which he chaired. It had been splashed across the pages of this masthead, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He received a $95,000 payout plus legal costs, the proceeds donated to charity.
Who’s who of media people at Joe Aston’s book launch
[The crowd included] fast food billionaire Jack Cowin. Towards the middle, investment banker John Knox. Along with Qantas Chairman’s Lounge member Michael Stutchbury, Gold Walkley-winning journalist Pamela Williams and a few less distinguished scribes such as yours truly, praying for swift entrance into Joe Aston’s invitation-only book launch, reports The AFR’s Mark Di Stefano.
On stage with this masthead’s James Chessell, Joe Aston revealed his initial reluctance to write the book at all, and why he did.
Warner Music Australasia chief Dan Rosen stayed late, as did Ownership Matters’ Dean Paatsch, who chatted away to Gadens’ Marina Olsen, who represented the author in the aforementioned defo suit. Apart from current colleagues, the esteemed journalists in attendance included Geraldine Doogue, Kate McClymont and outgoing Media Watch host Paul Barry.
Nine chair Catherine West headed up a contingent that included publishing boss Tory Maguire, who hung out not far from ex-Fairfax reformer (turned indie media proprietor) Chris Janz. News Corp had Michael Miller in the room. He was thanked on stage for his pivotal leadership in decrying Qantas’ decision to ban The Australian Financial Review from its lounges (even though it left News Corp as the only masthead still standing). Who says high-minded ideals don’t occasionally trump competition?
REA’s forever chairman Hamish McLennan caught up with old friends, including ex-Nine boss turned Byron Bay investor David Gyngell and FreeTV’s Greg Hywood, both of whom once put their reputations on the line for our dear former colleague.
ABC latest: New board member revealed as Annual Report drops
The government has just appointed well-regarded arts supremo Katrina Sedgwick to the ABC board for a five-year term, replacing Abbott government-appointed efficiency reviewer Peter Lewis, notes Nine Publishing’s CBD column.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Sedgwick would provide a “strong creative boost” and noted her appointment would increase the ABC’s diversity (meaning they have appointed someone from outside Sydney!)
[The column also noted the arrival of the ABC Annual Report and details of staff salaries.]
Managing director David Anderson is heading for the exit, but collected $1.16 million, including super and benefits, while head of content Chris Oliver-Taylor trousered $672,744, and head of news Justin Stevens $556,626.
The national broadcaster employs 151 staff whom it is paying more than $250,000. And the highest staff member who is not key management personnel nor an executive took home $562,570. A nice little earner.
News Brands
Washington Post cancellations hit 250,000 – 10% of subscribers
Deterioration of the Washington Post’s subscriber base continued on Tuesday, hours after its proprietor, Jeff Bezos, defended the decision to forgo formally endorsing a presidential candidate as part of an effort to restore trust in the media, reports The Guardian.
The publication has now shed 250,000 subscribers, or 10% of the 2.5 million customers it had before the decision was made public on Friday, according to the NPR reporter David Folkenflik.
A day earlier, 200,000 had left according to the same outlet.
The numbers are based on the number of cancellation emails that have been sent out, according to a source at the paper, though the subscriber dashboard is no longer viewable to employees.
Radio
FM radio host Caroline Hutchinson announces retirement on air
One of Australia’s longest-running radio partnerships, spanning an estimated 5000 breakfast shows, is coming to an end with a beloved co-host announcing she’s quitting radio to start a second life, reports Sunshine Coast Daily’s Madeline Grace and Mark Furler.
Sunshine Coast Mix FM radio host Caroline Hutchinson, who first came to the Coast in 1998, told listeners she would finish up at the end of the year to pursue a ‘second life’ at age 56.
She used her signature ‘Is it Just Me’ segment to announce the tightly held secret.
“Is it just me or did everyone think this day might never actually come?” Hutchinson said.
She said that yesterday she told her co host Mark Darin she had resigned as they were leaving the studio. “I think I surprised him,” Hutchinson said.
“It’s a sad decision. I love everyone here,’’ she said, described the Maroochydore-based station as like family.
Real reason Kyle and Jackie O’s executive producer quit
The Kyle and Jackie O Show’s former executive producer has revealed for the first time why he quit the breakfast radio show, saying the role often reduced him to tears and turned him into a person he didn’t like, reports News Corp’s Andrew Bucklow.
Pedro Cuccovillo Vitola worked on the KIIS FM radio program for years before being promoted to EP in early 2023.
Two months ago he shocked listeners, and the radio industry, when he announced on air that he had resigned.
He still had months left on his contract when he walked away from the program for good.
Pedro, as he’s known to regular listeners of the breakfast show, this week opened up about his decision to leave in a podcast called I Wear The Pants which he co-hosts with his wife, Patty.
The relentless work schedule strained Pedro’s relationship with his wife, who was pregnant with their first child during his tenure as EP.
“For two years, I would hardly talk to you at home,” he said to Patty on the podcast. “We would sit on the couch together and I would literally just be on my phone.
“It was one of those roles where you can’t just switch off,” he continued. “If you switched off for two hours, you missed a breaking news story that you need to cover tomorrow or a last-minute change that happened overnight.”
Television
Celebrity singer Guy Sebastian announces he is leaving The Voice
Guy Sebastian is leaving The Voice, reports News Corp’s Duncan Evans.
The popular singer made the huge announcement on Instagram on Wednesday, saying he would not return to the Channel 7 show next year to focus instead on the release of his next album.
“I have made the decision to take a break from the best red chair on the planet,” he said in a long post to Insta.
“It’s been six amazing years as a coach and it’s honestly been the best gig ever!
“I have nothing but good things to say about the show itself, and sharing the panel with such amazing coaches has been a pleasure.
“It’s been a privilege to guide the next wave of Aussie talent alongside the wonderful teams and crew at Network 7 and ITV Studios!
“The best thing about the show is how positive it is and how much care and passion goes into making it a safe place for artists.
“For me right now, it’s time to focus more on my core, which is writing and performing new music.”
‘Erratic, dangerous, stupid’: The Planet America hosts have picked their winner
Settling in to their lavish Oval Office set, a far cry from the standard news desk draped with the American flag, from which they covered the 2012 Barack Obama re-election, Planet America’s odd couple of US political commentary, ABC journalist John Barron and Chaser prankster Chas Licciardello, are primed for their fourth US election live special. They’ve had their robust debates over the years, many spilling off-air. But this time, they are in furious agreement about one thing: the most likely result, reports Nine Publishing’s Bridget McManus.
“Any sensible prognosticator would say, ‘The data tells you there’s no way we can tell [who will win], it is too close’,” says Licciardello, a self-described “massive data nerd”. “But if I was putting money on it, I would say that [Donald] Trump is probably going to just pull it out. But we will see.”
Barron “wouldn’t put money on anyone”, but expects the same.
“Thrown together” by mutual friend and fellow Chaser Julian Morrow, who Licciardello says was “sick to death of having both of us in his ear talking about American politics and wanted us to talk to each other instead”, the pair clicked immediately.
The program attracts up to 200,000 Americans to YouTube replays of some of the most-watched episodes on ABC iview.
“We have a lot of comments from Americans along the lines of, ‘Why can’t American news do what you guys do?’,” says Licciardello.
Do yourself a favour: check out this Countdown 50th anniversary top 10
November marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of the ABC’s legendary Australian music show Countdown. The show wrapped up in 1987, yet this classic Countdown Top 10 marks the vibrant legacy that still echoes down the corridors of the local music scene, reports Nine Publishing’s Craig Miathieson.
Countdown was Sunday night appointment viewing for a nation. Debuting on November 8, 1974, the ABC music show was initially commissioned for just six half-hour episodes, but swiftly became a weekly hour comprising studio performances, music clips and the national top 10 singles chart, all presented by the idiosyncratic music journalist and record producer Ian “Molly” Meldrum. By the time the show concluded in July 1987, Meldrum was a distinctly Australian icon and Countdown had become a crucial platform for popular music in this country.
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