Business of Media
TV chief executive Ian Johnson remembered by Nine and Seven
Much-loved industry executive Ian “Jonno” Johnson, who had management roles at both Nine and Seven, has died aged 70, reports TV Tonight.
Johnson ran GTV9 for many years, where he was instrumental in kicking off The Footy Show and bringing Eddie McGuire to Nine. He also ran Nine in Sydney for 12 months after David Leckie departed, before a new CEO was appointed.
He joined Seven as managing director of HSV7 in 2003, with five years in the role before being succeeded by Peter Lewis, becoming chairman of Channel 7 Melbourne and network consultant until retiring in 2016.
At Seven he worked closely with Kerry Stokes to secure the AFL and brought Daryl Somers across from Nine for Dancing with the Stars.
Highly-regarded by the Packer family, he also ran Crown in Melbourne for a few years.
Matt Scriven, managing director, Nine Melbourne, said, “Ian was one of the finest television executives that Australia has produced. He had a unique knack and rare quality of knowing what viewers wanted to see. Ian was extremely well liked and respected by all at Nine. He was a true man of the people. Ian’s contribution to Nine was invaluable to the network’s sustained success throughout the 1980s and 90s. We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our warmest sympathies to his family.”
Seven has also issued a statement:
Ian Johnson was unique and is well deserving of the accolade “legend”.
In business, Ian Johnson’s contribution to the television industry shaped the national culture.
His instinct put his judgments ahead of trends and built glittering careers in front of and behind the camera.
Behind the scenes, Ian’s compassion and splendid big heart reached out to people when they needed support and understanding most.
Starcom Melbourne hires new strategy & client services directors
Starcom Melbourne has appointed Nick Bauer to the role of Strategy Director and David Campbell as Client Services Director.
Nick Bauer
Campbell joins the agency after having held various general management, strategy and investment roles for agencies including Vizeum, Emitch and OMD. He most recently ran his own management consultancy firm, 37 Degrees South, providing advice to independent agencies and clients; and before that was the National General Manager at Posterscope. Campbell replaces Sam Harris.
David Campbell
Bauer, who commences as Strategy Director in July, steps into the newly-created role following a restructure of the agency’s strategy team. Bauer was most recently Strategy Director at OMD Melbourne. He has previously held several roles at Maxus, and also worked as a media consultant for Starcom’s sister agency, Spark Foundry.
Stuart Jaffray, Starcom Melbourne MD, said: “I’m excited to welcome Nick and David to our team. The diverse leadership roles David has held within the industry, along with Nick’s ability to develop communications strategy that connects human experiences to business outcomes will serve to strengthen the depth of firepower of our Melbourne office, further enhancing our ability to drive commercial value for our clients.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca Weatherall has been appointed to the position of People and Culture Business Partner for Starcom nationally. She returns from the UK where she was the Talent and HR Manager for Mindshare for almost six years.
Rebecca Weatherall
‘Individuals should be accountable’: Facebook with media over comments
A senior global Facebook executive has suggested that news organisations should not be held responsible for defamatory statements made in the comment sections of articles posted on the social platform, report The Sydney Morning Herald’s John McDuling and Fergus Hunter.
Richard Allan, Facebook’s London-based vice-president of policy solutions, also pushed back at the Australian competition regulator’s proposal for a new regulator that would scrutinise its algorithms, and dismissed suggestions it should pay publishers for their content. But he conceded Facebook would be willing to share user data with competing digital platforms.
“As a general matter we think individuals should be held responsible for the content they publish, so if an individual posts defamatory content they should be held accountable,” he said.
This week, some of Australia’s biggest media companies, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Nine Entertainment Co (publisher of this newspaper) were found liable by a NSW Supreme Court judge for allegedly defamatory comments made by third parties on their public Facebook pages.
Swift Media Appoints Pippa Leary as CEO
Content and advertising solutions provider Swift Media has announced the appointment of Pippa Leary (pictured) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). She will formally join Swift Media in August 2019. Current Director Darren Smorgon has also been appointed Non-Executive Chairman, effective immediately.
Leary brings a proven track record of commercial innovation and success in the digital media space, having spent more than 20 years with Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media, as well as several non-executive roles.
Prior to joining Swift, she was Commercial Director of Nine’s Digital Sales team, achieving the number one ranking in the Australian market during her tenure, and is the former CEO of APEX Advertising, a joint venture between Nine and Fairfax Media. Prior to APEX, Leary held the role of Managing Director of the Media division at Fairfax Digital where she was responsible for the launch of WA Today, Brisbane Times, The Vine and Business Day. During her tenure at Fairfax she was also involved in the acquisitions and integrations of RSVP, Stayz, Essential Baby and Weatherzone.
Commenting on her appointment, incoming Swift CEO Leary, said “I’m excited about the opportunity Swift Media represents. As a digital out-of-home marketing platform, the fundamentals of Swift are strongly positive. The team has built a profitable business servicing client with communication and entertainment solutions in the key verticals of mining, aged care, hospitality and health. The recent acquisition of Medical Media has allowed Swift to further diversify its revenue streams and move into adjacent markets.”
Leary added, “The key driver of Swift’s current success is its passionate team with a positive culture of continuous innovation. I am confident that adding Darren Smorgon as Chairman and myself as CEO sets the business up to take Swift’s products, revenue and profitability to the next level.”
Darren Smorgon has been a Non-Executive Director on Swift’s board since February 2019 after having previously served on the board of Medical Media for three years prior to its acquisition by Swift. He is Managing Director of Sandbar Investments, a Sydney-based family office, and prior to that, spent 16 years at CHAMP Private Equity where he led several deals including the privatisation and subsequent re-listing of oOh!Media. He is also currently a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of oOh!media, the Chairman of coworking facility provider Hub Australia, and a Non-Executive Director of Total Drain Cleaning.
News Brands
Daily Telegraph editorial: Freedom of press means free people
Media is a hypercompetitive business. Outlets across the media landscape battle every day to provide Australians with the most rapid and accurate news and information, says an editorial in The Daily Telegraph.
This is how it should be. Without competition, incentive to generate news would be substantially reduced.
But on certain issues, even rival media operators can find a commonality of viewpoint.
This is particularly so on matters of media freedom — a topic of simmering concern for some years, now highlighted by Federal Police raids on the Canberra home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and the ABC’s Sydney headquarters.
News Corp chairman Michael Miller joined forces at the National Press Club on Wednesday with the ABC’s David Andersen and Nine’s Hugh Marks to demand significant legal changes. Those changes would provide greater media freedoms, but more importantly would remove barriers between Australians and their governments.
Natasha Exelby returning to 10 News as Melbourne reporter
Journalist Natasha Exelby is joining 10 News First in Melbourne as a senior reporter.
Exelby worked at 10 from 2008 – 2013 on both TEN News Canberra and Sydney and the short-lived Wake Up experiment.
Mark Gillies, executive editor 10 News First Melbourne, in a note to staff said, “Now it’s time for Natasha to get back to journalism…. the career she began in her home state of Queensland. I understand she will be missed there, she’s had to convince her loving grandmother that he move to Melbourne is the right one.”
Radio
2GB host Chris Smith’s future under a cloud as he stays on air
Sydney radio host Chris Smith has confirmed his future with 2GB remains up in the air amid reports of a tense relationship with his employer of more than 15 years, but for now “it’s business as usual”, reports The Age’s Broede Carmody.
On Wednesday, the broadcaster took to the airwaves to say that he hadn’t been axed from his afternoon slot as was suggested in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. He told listeners that while he has met with Macquarie Media bosses to discuss his future, he won’t be leaving his regular timeslot anytime soon – except for some annual leave.
“I am in discussions with management at the moment about my future,” he said. “But in the meantime, it’s business as usual. Thank you so much for your support and messages. It has been very humbling.”
Macquarie Media’s chief executive Adam Lang declined to comment.
2GB talkback host Chris Smith calls in lawyers to fight shift move
Popular talkback host Chris Smith has called in lawyers to fight management plans at 2GB radio to boot him onto the night shift, reports News Corp’s Matthew Benns and Clarissa Bye.
Smith broke down in tears on air on Wednesday after regular guest and Liberal senator Jim Molan wished him well.
The 2GB switchboard was flooded with angry callers after The Daily Telegraph revealed plans to move night-time host Steve Price into Smith’s top-rating afternoon slot.
“What I can tell you though is that I am in discussions with management about my future,” he told his listeners on Wednesday.
“And I really do hope to have some good news too. In the meantime it is business as usual.”
The Daily Telegraph understands that following meetings with management last week, Smith cleared his office over the weekend and appointed lawyers on Wednesday to act on his behalf.
Bosses at Macquarie Media launched a witch-hunt to find who had leaked the story.
The shift swap is understood to be part of a cost-cutting measure that would also beam Price into Victoria and would allow bosses to axe Melbourne afternoon show host Dennis Walter.
Television
Why NBCUniversal Is Paying $500M to Pull Hit From Netflix
NBCUniversal’s June 25 announcement that it is pulling The Office from Netflix when that deal ends at the start of 2021 is the latest shot across the bow in the streaming wars, a signal that one-time TV hits are the new battlefield as the media giants fight to lure viewers to their direct-to-consumer offerings, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Disney was the first to pull the trigger, revealing in 2017 that it would remove its movie library from Netflix as it began to put the pieces in place for Disney+. Others are expected to follow, including WarnerMedia, which after re-upping its deal with Netflix to keep Friends on the service for all of 2019, is likely to want the sitcom exclusively for its own soon-to-launch service.
Sports Media
Canberra-born sports industry executive named president of Eurosport
Andrew Georgiou
Discovery has appointed Andrew Georgiou as President, Eurosport and Global Sports Rights & Sports Marketing Solutions. Georgiou joins Discovery from Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, where he has served as CEO and Chief Operating Officer since 2014.
Georgiou was born in Canberra in 1974 and had a passion for a career in the sports industry after seeing a doco on IMG founder Mark McCormack at an early age.
After graduating from law school, he joined the Australasian PGA Tour, becoming CEO.
After leaving the PGA Tour, he had a distinguished 13-year career at Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, which he joined in 2006 as Chief Operating Officer and later as CEO for its Asia business, before being elevated to the global CEO role in 2014. He has led a turnaround at the agency, integrating more than 10 sports and marketing agencies into an integrated global leader in sports and marketing.
In his newly created role, Georgiou will drive the continued growth of Eurosport, the leading sports platform across Europe and home of the Olympic Games in Europe.
He will also coordinate sports rights acquisitions for the Discovery group and represent all of Discovery with rights holders, federations and agencies. In addition, Georgiou will develop and help execute a strategy that leverages Discovery’s premium sports portfolio to create unique solutions for marketers around the world.
Georgiou commented: “I admire how Discovery is using its leadership position with Eurosport to revolutionise the company’s approach to delivering sports content across all media channels. The company’s ambitious plans to change the way fans consume sport ‘they can’t live without’ is an exciting journey to be part of.”