In November and December, we ran a poll with 16 different categories across a number of media platforms to decide the winners of the 2018 Mediaweek Industry Awards. Over the last few weeks, we have announced the winners and runner-ups for each category, and on Monday that will be complete with announcement of the Mediaweek Industry Award for CEO of the Year 2018.
Below is a complete list of the winners for every category that has been announced:
Best Television Drama Series 2018: Wentworth
The Foxtel drama that was recently renewed for another 20 episodes was a clear winner in the first category of the Mediaweek Industry Awards.
The prison drama is made by Fremantle for Foxtel and has also had amazing success around the world in both program sales and also as a format.
Fremantle’s head of scripted Jo Porter recently explained to Mediaweek that the Turkish version of the format is the #1 drama in that country.
See also:
Listen: Mediaweek’s Wentworth podcast with the hit drama’s executive producers
• The new order of episodes will take the show to 100 episodes.
Read: Wentworth set to return: Foxtel commissions a further 20 episodes
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Drama
Best Television Comedy 2018: Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell
The Melbourne-based comedian has a long list of comedy shows on his CV with five of them using his name. None of them, or any of his other projects, have been quite as successful or enjoyed as long a run as this series.
Made for the ABC by ITV Studios, Shaun’s Micallef’s Mad As Hell this year wrapped up its ninth season during which the 100th episode went to air.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Television Comedy
Best Television Reality 2018: Gogglebox
The Australian version of the UK format has been a big hit in Australia ever since Endemol Shine Australia launched the series on both Foxtel and Network 10.
As the commissioner of the format, Foxtel’s Lifestyle channel gets first play every week on a Wednesday night for the 20 episodes of two seasons that are produced every year. Network 10 gets its crack at it the following night on the Thursday.
The show is going through a refresh at the moment with the producers confirming at the end of the recent season that popular Gogglebox home critics Angie and Yvie plus Wayneand Tom wouldn’t be returning in 2019 for season nine.
Given that Network 10 now has a new owner, it remains to be seen whether Foxtel and CBS will continue to share the series as they do now when time comes to review their contract.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Television Reality
Best Television Production Company 2018: Working Dog
The Melbourne-based production company is never far from a hit series and there are a couple on the books at the moment.
The company’s biggest success and biggest commission is the Network 10 Monday night comedy quiz format Have You Been Paying Attention?
The show is hosted by Working Dog co-founder Tom Gleisner and all his colleagues are involved behind the scenes – sometimes taking a place as a contestant too.
His Working Dog colleagues are executive producers Santo Cilauro, Rob Sitch and Michael Hirsh. Jane Kennedy is a regular contributor although her radio commitments in 2018 perhaps kept her away from the series for more weeks than usual.
The biggest hits amongst a diverse Working Dog catalogue are Frontline, The Panel, Thank God You’re Here and the already mentioned Have You Been Paying Attention?
The prolific producers are also behind the football podcast Santo, Sam & Ed’s Total Football, which delivered 33 episodes this year before signing off for its summer break. The trio who host the show are Santo Cilauro, Sam Pang and Ed Kavalee.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Television Production Company
Best Breakfast Radio Show – FM 2018
This Mediaweek Industry Award is a little different to the other categories in that we have separate winners from each mainland metro capital.
The results here are how Mediaweek readers voted and are not representative of ratings – although most of the shows on our winners list have been leading the ratings in their respective markets across 2018.
To read more on the winners:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Breakfast Radio Show – FM
Sydney: Jonesy & Amanda (WSFM)
The breakfast show at ARN Sydney station WSFM has had another good year. The partnership of Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones is entering its 14th year and is one of the most successful partnerships ever on Sydney radio. In 2018 the show was #1 FM as recently as survey five and after a slip in the following survey it has finished the year strongly.
See also:
• Summary of the radio ratings year 2018 for Sydney
• How Amanda Keller saved Brendan Jones’s radio career
Melbourne: Fifi, Fev & Byron (101.9 Fox FM)
The breakfast show from the SCA Hit Network station slimmed down from three to four when Dave Thornton left the line-up a year ago. The program didn’t miss a beat and has been the FM breakfast ratings champ in every survey of 2018. Fifi Box and Byron Cookehave a long history of working together and former footballer Brendan Fevola is as entertaining on the radio as he was on the football field.
See also:
• Summary of the radio ratings year 2018 for Melbourne
Brisbane: Marto, Robin and the Moonman (104.5 Triple M)
The Brisbane show has had an incredible end to the year with a massive 14.1% share in breakfast, close to 4.0 ahead of its nearest rival which is an unheard of lead in a market that has been marked by its competiveness in recent years. The magic that Triple M Brisbane breakfast veteran Greg Martin brings to the team will be called on again next year as he and colleague Robin Bailey lose Lawrence Mooney to Triple M Sydney. His replacement is comedian Nick Cody.
See also:
• Summary of the radio ratings year 2018 for Brisbane
Adelaide: Jodie & Soda (Mix 102.3)
Mix 102.3’s Jodie and Soda share a trait similar to many successful breakfast radio shows. They aren’t big fans of air checks and they try to get away from work as soon as possible each day after their Adelaide Mix program.
“Quite often we find it is actually nice to live your life so you have things to talk about on air,” Jodie Oddy told Mediaweek earlier this year.
Mark “Soda” Soderstrom told Mediaweek there is not much incentive to stay close to the studio. “It has no windows that look outside. We feel a little like bats in there. To get out and see some sunlight is important to keep us alive.”
The Jodie and Soda partnership has just finished its fifth year, although Jodie Oddy has been with the broadcaster for 11 years.
See also:
• Summary of the radio ratings year 2018 for Adelaide
Perth: Nathan, Nat & Shaun (Nova 93.7)
Nova breakfast with Nathan, Nat and Shaun had a fantastic year with a #1 ranking for the last five consecutive surveys. The most popular Perth breakfast show finished the year on 14.9%, just short of their best of 15.1%.
The breakfast show began with the launch of Nova 93.7 in 2002. At first it was the Nathan and Nat show hosted by Natalie Locke and Nathan Morris. The duo became a trio when co-host and sports news presenter Shaun McManus joined the team in 2009.
See also:
• Summary of the radio ratings year 2018 for Perth
Best Breakfast Radio Show – AM 2018: Ross and John (3AW)
Ross Stevenson and John Burns with Luc Longley.
Now under the control of Nine Entertainment Co, the new proprietor will be happy that the co-host of Australia’s highest-rating metro breakfast show, has signed on for five more years. Stevenson explained recently to journalist Fiona Byrne that his new contract has triggers in it that could even extend the deal beyond five years. Contract negotiations with his co-host John Burns are believed to have concluded more recently, as the two have separate deals with the broadcaster. Stevenson is 3AW’s ratings dynamo and has been with the station since 1990. The program is a model on consistency and in the past three years the station’s lowest breakfast share was 17.8%.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Breakfast Radio Show – AM
Best Drive Radio Show 2018: Kate, Tim & Marty (Nova)
Kate, Tim & Marty (Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell & Marty Sheargold) – NOVA Entertainment at ACRA’s 2018
Nova Entertainment won 14 ACRAs at the Commercial Radio Awards earlier in 2018 with the national drive show Kate, Tim & Marty winning three of them.
The best drive radio show as voted for by Mediaweek readers won its ACRAs for Best Networked Program, Best Syndicated Australian Program and Kate Ritchie was awarded Best Entertainment Presenter.
Marty Sheargold is the comedic bomb thrower who lobs comedy gold that is often edgy, unpredictable and nearly always hilarious, Tim Blackwell is the glue that holds the trio together, and Kate Ritchie is the TV star-turned-radio sensation who helps draws a huge audience.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Drive Radio Show
Best Streaming Platform 2018: Netflix
Forget how much it costs to subscribe – Netflix would have been hard to beat at any price from the sheer quantity alone of the material on offer. In fact there is so much content it is challenging for writers and critics covering the sector to keep up.
Earlier this year Netflix CFO David Wells indicated there could be about 700 originals shows available on the platform by now.
In terms of specific content for 2018, chief content officer Ted Sarandos has noted there were plans to have close to 80 original films released this year.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Streaming Platform
Best Australian Sports Commentator 2018: Bruce McAvaney (Seven)
The sports broadcasting veteran has long been associated with Seven’s AFL coverage every winter. Yet Bruce McAvaney is also linked with Seven’s Olympic coverage and until 2017 its coverage of the Australian Open Tennis. He is also a leader of Seven’s coverage of thoroughbred racing, although Seven no longer has the rights to the Melbourne Cup.
Most recently McAvaney has been given a spot on Seven’s Test Cricket team, hosting interviews during the lunch break.
His first interviews took place during the Melbourne Boxing Day test where his guests included Ricky Ponting and Dennis Lillee. Not all viewers greeted McAvaney as warmly as Mediaweek readers have, with some commenting it was strange to see him covering cricket.
McAvaney faced a health challenge for several years after revealing he had leukaemia. After a short break he continued working and his current target it to be with Seven for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Australian Sports Commentator
Best Sports Show 2018: The Matty Johns Show (Fox Sports)
Until now Matty Johns has been spreading his talents across Fox Sports and Triple M plus a newspaper column for News Corp.
However Johns split with Triple M at the end of 2018, quitting The Grill Team as it undergoes a makeover with new host Lawrence Mooney.
Fox Sports likes to have exclusivity on its stars and it will be happy to have Johns on tap for 2019 and beyond without having to share the former rugby league star.
In 2018 on Fox Sports he hosted Sunday Night with Matty Johns, which featured Gorden Tallis, Nathan Hindmarsh, Bryan Fletcher, Lara Pitt and the Professor plus The Late Show with Matty Johns, following the Thursday night league game.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Sports Show
Best Sports Event Coverage 2018: AFL Grand Final (Seven)
For 2018 Seven announced it would make history by live-streaming the AFL Grand Final on select connected TVs for the first time.
Fans were able to watch the stream via Telstra TV, Apple TV, Fetch TV, PlayStation 4 and compatible Android TV devices, which together account for over 70% of Seven’s connected TV live streaming.
Those streaming numbers weren’t counted in the OzTAM audiences for what became the most-watched TV event of the year. The actual post-game presentation attracted the single biggest metro audience of the year – 2.616m (3.334m national). The Grand Final game between West Coast and Collingwood was not far behind though on 2.615m metro (3.392m national).
Along with commentator Bruce McAvaney, Seven’s team on duty during the MCG Grand Final were Hamish McLachlan (host), Brian Taylor (commentator), Wayne Carey (expert commentator), Cameron Ling (expert commentator), Daisy Pearce (boundary rider) and Matthew Richardson (boundary rider).
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Sports Event Coverage
Best Australian Podcast 2018: The Teachers Pet (The Australian)
Five-times Walkley Award-winning journalist and The Australian’s national chief correspondent, Hedley Thomas, has spent many months investigating the 1982 disappearance of Lyn Dawson.
This is the News Corp journalist’s longest investigative work in 30 years. He first reported on the case 17 years ago, when the first coronial proceedings into the disappearance had been finalised. He originally planned to tell the story behind Dawson’s disappearance through a minimum of an eight-episode podcast series called The Teacher’s Pet.
The unprecedented success of the series has pushed it out to 16 episodes (so far) and recent developments means there could be quite a few more as the mystery gets closer to being solved.
The first episode of The Teacher’s Pet was released on May 17, 2018, with others to be published on a weekly basis. “There was an extraordinary reaction to the first episode. It led to all these disclosures about a group of male teachers at this school in Northern Beaches prying on schoolgirls,” Thomas told Mediaweek last year.
Listen to The Teacher’s Pet here.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Australian Podcast
Best Print Magazine 2018: TV Week (Bauer)
TV Week covers
The weekly TV listings magazine is most valued by Mediaweek readers. The brand is also home to the TV Week Logie Awards.
TV Week editor Thomas Woodgate spoke to Mediaweek after we relayed the good news:
“It’s a great honour to be voted Best Print Magazine by Mediaweek readers.
“There are so many great print magazines out there, so to be voted Best by the Mediaweekreaders is wonderful. The TV Week team and I really appreciate the recognition. We’ve spent the past year really trying to deliver the best possible TV and entertainment magazine each and every week that offers all the exclusive access to the stars and behind the scenes secrets that you won’t find anywhere else.
“Our readers are fiercely loyal and passionate about their TV shows and we work extremely hard to service them each and every week. This Mediaweek award is recognition of that and I’m thrilled.”
To read more of the Thomas Woodgate interview, and the placements for the award:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Print Magazine
Best Australian News Brand 2018: ABC News
ABC’s Gaven Morris (left) with hosts Michael Rowland and Barrie Cassidy
Perhaps a surprising win given the largely commercial focus Mediaweek has when it comes to covering news broadcasters and publishers.
However it is clear our readers value one of the biggest news gathering operations in Australia and one they pay for.
To learn a little more about ABC News in 2018 and to look ahead, we spoke with Gaven Morris, the ABC’s director news, analysis & investigations since October 2015.
What were the highlights and biggest challenges of 2018?
I’m very proud of how some of the new teams set up at the end of 2017 came to the fore: ABC Investigations led the way with the crowd-sourced investigation into aged care in Australia that led to the special two-part Four Corners and extensive broadcast and digital news coverage prompting a Royal Commission. The specialist reporting team produced a number of exclusives across platforms proving beat reporting is still fundamental to great journalism. It was an outstanding year for ABC News coverage around breaking events like the Liberal leadership change, the Thai caves rescue, the Trump presidency and many local stories in the states and territories.
To read more on Gavin Morris’s interview and the placements for the award:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Australian News Brand
Best Australian Journalist/Columnist 2018: Leigh Sales
People who value the ABC News offering also value the contribution from Leigh Sales and have voted accordingly.
Sales has a day job on the ABC primary channel and a number of other roles that helped to move our readers to choose her as the best.
That day job is the host of the daily current affairs show 7.30. After the 7pm edition of ABC News each day, 7.30 is usually the next most-watched program on the channel each weekday. Although the show is a collaborative effort from a big team, much of the attraction for audiences are the feature interviews that host Sales conducts.
A dual Walkley Award winner, Sales has interviewed dozens of world leaders and celebrities, from Australian prime ministers, Hillary Clinton, the Dalai Lama to Patti Smith, Harrison Ford and Julie Andrews. One of her most memorable in the past 12 months was with Paul McCartney.
To read more on this award and the placement of the runner-ups:
• Mediaweek Industry Awards 2018: Best Australian Journalist/Columnist