Business of Media
News Corp to review strategic options for News America Marketing
News Corp has announced that to optimise its portfolio and simplify the structure of the company, it is actively evaluating strategic options for its News America Marketing business (NAM).
The review of NAM includes exploring a potential sale. This process is being undertaken in order to allow greater focus on News Corp’s primary pillars, including the creation and distribution of premium content and global digital real estate services.
“We believe this strategic review will result in enhanced shareholder value, as we seek to streamline our company, with the aim of greater transparency and profitability,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp. “Candidly, the NAM business has been transformed from one based on newspaper inserts to one of the leading in-store marketing companies in the US, with a growing digital component and an expanding array of tech partners.
“With its extensive access to first-party shopper data, close relationships with consumer goods companies and placements in thousands of retail stores, NAM can track the shopper journey between customers and some of the biggest brands and largest retailers,” said Thomson.
“NAM is a crucial player in the digital evolution of retail media and an innovator in in-store marketing.”
NAM has a proprietary database of millions of shoppers and extensive purchase data, which allows retailers and brand partners to target the right people in the right place at the right time. The business has comprehensive in store marketing media options in over 60,000 stores in the US and Canada, and reaches households across the country with circulation of more than 60 million through nearly 2,000 publications.
Nine launches executive search for CEO of merged Car Advice & Drive
Andrew Beecher (pictured) is stepping down as CEO of online automotive property CarAdvice after more than five years in the role.
Car Sdvice owner Nine said Beecher has led CarAdvice to become Australia’s largest independent automotive content publisher and overseen the sale and transition from independent ownership to a subsidiary of Nine.
“I congratulate Andrew for a very successful five years and half years at CarAdvice and wish him all the very best for the future,” said Greg Barnes, Nine CFO and chairman of CarAdvice. “Andrew has led the team through a period of significant and profitable growth and firmly established CarAdvice as the leading publisher in the new car space.
“He has also worked to strengthen the CarAdvice brand while bringing it into the Nine family.”
“Plus in recent months Andrew has overseen the merger with the Drive Network, which will further strengthen our combined offering to auto manufacturers through increased audience scale and greater cross-platform capabilities and service offerings.”
Andrew Beecher said: “It has been a privilege to lead CarAdvice for over five years and serve the millions of Australian consumers who read, watch, listen and engage with CarAdvice content. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished as a team on behalf of our automotive customers.
“It has been my great honour to work with an exceptionally dedicated and passionate team of executives who lead the most talented group of employees I have ever experienced. I am exceedingly grateful for all of the long hours and hard work the CarAdvice team have put in to elevate the company to a strong and proud publisher that supports independent automotive journalism.
“I am convinced that CarAdvice and Drive will continue to be an increasingly strong force in the automotive landscape, bringing innovative ideas to our customers and creating world-class content for our consumers.”
A search for a new CEO has commenced said Nine.
News Brands
Attorney-General: reporters not the targets of the police investigations
Attorney-General Christian Porter has declared he would be “seriously disinclined” to authorise the prosecution of journalists for publishing secret information and said reporters raided by police earlier this month were not the targets of the investigations, reports Fergus Hunter in The SMH and The Age.
Amid ongoing probes into the leaking of classified documents, the Australian Federal Police alarmed media outlets by opening the door to prosecuting journalists for publication of the material, with acting commissioner Neil Gaughan saying the police had “not made a decision” on the dramatic step.
Asked what his position was on the possibility of journalists facing charges, Porter said the DPP had not made a recommendation to prosecute on the ABC and News Corp matters and “there is absolutely no suggestion that any journalist is the subject of the present investigations”.
Television
ABC’s forthcoming Les Norton looks to recapture Sydney’s hazy ’80s
In an abandoned building halfway down Glebe Point Road, organised criminals in slick suits wander among baccarat tables, peanut shells and bottles of peach liqueur, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Robert Moran.
What could pass for another intensely-themed inner-city small bar is actually an illegal casino for Les Norton, the upcoming ABC series based on the local crime classics of butcher-turned-hardboiled bestseller Robert G. Barrett, Glebe’s one-time children’s court filling in for the seedier side of Kings Cross circa 1985.
The series stars Alexander Bertrand as Barrett’s laconic, flame-haired hard man, alongside David Wenham, Rebel Wilson and Hunter Page-Lochard as his various underground cronies. While the casting’s proven pitch-perfect, replicating the more bohemian aspects of ’80s Sydney has been its own challenge, says series creator and director Morgan O’Neill.
Design guru says Kmart/Ikea ranges have improved Australian homes
He’s one of Australia’s most prominent interior design gurus, but Neale Whitaker is a proud owner of Kmart homewares, reports News Corp’s Amy Price.
Whitaker, who was in Brisbane at the weekend filming an episode of Foxtel’s Love It or List It, said the growing popularity of affordable homeware ranges by retailers like Kmart and Ikea was having a positive impact on the interiors of Aussie homes.
“Anything that brings good style within reach of everybody is a good thing,” said Whitaker, who spent years editing high-end magazines including Vogue Living.
“That was wonderful and it gave me access to a privileged world of high end design, but at this stage in my life I’m far more interested in bringing design to people in all walks of life.
“I’m the biggest fan of Kmart and Ikea because I think everyone should have that choice.”
Having recently renovated his own home on NSW’s South Coast, Whitaker said he would often browse the Kmart at Nowra shopping centre with his partner David.
“I’m very proud to say I’ve got bits and pieces from Kmart in my home. You spend big on pieces that will last a lifetime and then you have those cost effective items,” he said.
Cult comedy series Rostered On came from nowhere to 7mate, Netflix
In 2014 Ryan Chamley was a guy making TV ads to pay the rent with a yearning to make TV comedy, reports TV Tonight.
He turned to his seven years working in an electrical store to come up with a script for Rostered On and posted an audition notice onto the Star Now casting bulletin board, gathering a troupe of unpaid performers and mates to shoot scenes in Geelong.
“I almost didn’t show the script to anyone because I was terrified,” he tells TV Tonight.
“I don’t consider myself a writer. I’d never studied writing. But I had a real love of comedy.
“Everyone was a volunteer from myself, cameras. We filmed for two days in an electrical store.”
Cleverly, he began posting short clips and memes onto social media, with comedic workplace scenes and encouraging people to re-post with lines such as “Tag a Mate who is Late for Work.” The strategy worked and with Rostered On gathering a following, he then posted the full pilot on YouTube.
A friend introduced him to Ruby Entertainment’s Stephen Luby and Mark Ruse, producers of Kath & Kim, The Secret River, The Games, while he got a UK agent after Comedy Central posted a clip that generated a whopping 60 million views. Season one would eventually rack up more than 250 million views online across Australia, USA, UK and Canada.
The agent got him into a room with Netflix execs, ironically for a meeting over another script.
Then Seven came knocking, the idea of a second season for 7mate.
The Seven program celebrating 12 years as a ratings champ
Seven’s The Morning Show turned 12 this week, reports TV Tonight.
Long-running hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies hit the front of the ratings battle on day one under executive producer Adam Boland in a three month trial. Back in 2007 the show had in-house working title “Kill the Kerri-Anne-Show” and was also up against 9am with David & Kim.
It did just that, and then some, winning from the very first day and is yet to lose against all-comers: The Circle, Mornings, Studio 10 and Today Extra. Since 2010 it has been steered by executive producer Sarah Stinson.
On Instagram Larry Emdur wrote, “Number 1 for 12 years !! That’s a very very rare and very very cool achievement in TV land. I’m super proud of our awesome team who ‘bring it’ each and every day, thank you guys for giving Kylie all the big words in the scripts.”
Reality TV host refuses to appear before MPs’ reality TV inquiry
UK TV host Jeremy Kyle has refused to give evidence to a government inquiry into reality TV, reports The Guardian.
The presenter had been due to speak to MPs next week, following the cancellation of his daytime talkshow by ITV last month over the death of a recent guest, Steve Dymond.
The chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, Damian Collins, said: “The Jeremy Kyle show is an important programme as part of our inquiry into reality TV.
“We believe that Jeremy Kyle himself is an important witness. We sent an invitation through his representatives, and we have now heard that he has declined to appear.
“We will be pursuing this matter with his representatives to fully understand the reasons why he has declined and we will make a further statement in due course.”
Though Kyle could now be found in contempt of parliament, other recent high-profile snubbings reflect the limited powers politicians have to force witnesses to give evidence.
Call for diversity: Posh white men are the default on TV, says host
The British presenter Anita Rani has accused TV executives of giving “posh white men” a free pass to make documentaries about trains in India while requiring her to justify why she should present anything not obviously Asian, reports The Guardian.
Rani, born in Bradford to Indian parents, said the BBC would not allow her to follow up her successful BBC Two documentary about Bollywood with another about Hollywood, asking her: “Why you, Anita?”
Opening Channel 4’s diversity festival in Bradford on Monday, Rani said: “I feel I have to justify why I should present things more than anyone else because I’m an Asian woman, and on top of that I’m blimmin’ northern.
“I’m expected to explain why I should be presenting something much more than others. You would never think to ask the number of posh white men on TV: ‘Why did you get to present shows about train travel in India?’ or whatever it might be because, you know what, they are the default. They don’t need to worry about authenticity or what space they are taking up. I do, all the time.”
Life after GoT: Euphoria, Big Little Lies draw audiences for HBO/Foxtel
HBO’s heavily marketed series Euphoria didn’t bring big returns Sunday for its US on-air premiere, but its digital numbers were fairly solid, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Big Little Lies, meanwhile, grew in its second week on HBO in the US.
In Australia, the second episode of Big Little Lies was the second-most watched show on the Foxtel platform on Monday. The HBO drama is also working well for audiences watching on their own terms.
Big Little Lies is the only Foxtel program in the top 10 BVOD programs on Tuesday, ranking higher than The Handmaid’s Tale, Have You Been Paying Attention? and Home And Away.
The controversial Euphoria, which stars Zendaya and features teenage characters (played by young-adult actors) heavily engaged in drugs and sex, drew a modest US 577,000 viewers for its on-air premiere. Streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now helped significantly, pushing the show’s first-night US total to a little under 1 million viewers (a gain of 70%).
The series is the first HBO original to focus primarily on high school-age characters, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that a large chunk of Euphoria’s audience is watching on digital platforms that tend to have younger users. HBO says the audience on HBO Now was the largest for a series premiere since Westworld in 2016.
Publishing
Melissa Doyle on chipping away at her own glass ceiling while at Sunrise
One of Mel Doyle’s biggest takeaways from more than a decade hosting Sunrise was her ability to help chip away at that pesky glass ceiling, reports News Corp’s Sally Coates.
The host and journalist is a judge for the Marie Claire Glass Ceiling Awards, being held today, and as part of her role reflected on a time when she recognised and chipped away at her own glass ceiling.
Doyle had two small children while she was hosting the Channel 7 breakfast show, but instead of hiding them away for fear of losing her job, she integrated them into her work life.
Marie Claire editor Nicky Briger said those scenarios are exactly the reason her magazine held the awards — to raise awareness of issues that are often overlooked.
Other judges alongside Doyle and Briger include Layne Beachley, Tanya Plibersek, Bumble founder Michelle Battersby and Business Chicks founder Olivia Ruello.
Sports Media
Football chief arrested as part of 2022 World Cup investigation
Former UEFA president and one-time contender to run world football Michel Platini has been arrested in relation to the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, reports The New York Times.
Confirming a report published by online news publication Mediapart, a French official says Platini was taken into custody on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the awarding of the tournament to the gulf nation. It was Qatar’s bid which foiled Australia’s chances of hosting the 2022 World Cup.
Platini, a former France football great, was being detained at the Anti-Corruption Office of the Judicial Police outside Paris.
French financial prosecutors have been investigating the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and previously questioned former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Platini was embroiled in the bribery scandal which led to Blatter’s resignation in 2015 and he was handed a four-year ban from the sport until October. His arrest also comes during the Women’s World Cup.
Australian rebels swarm to swimming’s ground-breaking new league
Australia’s new long distance swim king Jack McLoughlin is heading to the Big Apple after being signed up by the New York Breakers in the rebel International Swimming League, reports News Corp’s Julian Linden.
Fresh from sweeping the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle treble at the world championship trials, the long-haired Queenslander has landed himself a lucrative gig in one of the most sought after franchises in the breakaway league.
McLoughlin will be joined in Gotham City by two of his teammates, Rio gold medallist Madi Wilson and Commonwealth Games champion Clyde Lewis, as Australia’s top swimmers jump on board the new professional league that is transforming the sport forever.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that dual Rio medallist Maddie Groves has been snapped up by Team Iron, which is based in Budapest and owned by Hungarian superstar Katinka Hosszu.
There are now a total of 24 Australian swimmers contracted to the ISL, and the London Roar — which has snared a dozen Dolphins including Olympic gold medallists Kyle Chalmers, Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell and Emma McKeon – has also enlisted two top Australian coaches, Peter Bishop and David Lush.