By James Manning

However for those struggling to see why Nine wasn’t prepared to match the current share price, and why John Singleton and his partners will accept that, there are a number of challenges too.

Key among them is the future of the Sydney breakfast show. While Nine has secured Alan Jones for the short term – two more years – there remains a question mark over his future.

While Ray Hadley wants that slot, he will become a contracted employee at Nine with allegations levelled at him that have labelled his workplace conduct as “vile” with a claim he was involved in workplace bullying over a number of years.

While Nine may have left it to Macquarie Media management to deal with prior to 100% ownership, it is doubtful Nine won’t get involved in sorting out the mess.

One thing in Hadley’s favour is he has acknowledged his poor behaviour in the past:

“In recent months I’ve been the subject of intense public scrutiny over allegations regarding my behaviour earlier in my career. I’ve admitted to my previous shortcomings, which are on the public record,” Hadley said in a statement recently.

“I’ve also made no secret of the fact that in recent years I have done everything I can to do better, something which I am sure many of my current colleagues would attest to.”

But will that admission be enough to please Nine management?

Nine’s other big challenge is what to do with Macquarie Sports Radio. Having those three east coast AM licences is an asset, although with their current format and audiences they are virtually worthless. There is potential to make them a potent sports force as part of Nine’s Wide World Of Sports brand, but that will take investment and time.

There is not a lot of radio experience on the Nine Entertainment board. However within the management team there is experience and some of Nine’s key talent are tried and tested radio performers.

The two with a radio background on the management team are Nine’s director of commercial partnerships Lizzie Young and director of sport Tom Malone.

Lizzie Young

Young has worked in marketing, promotions and sales in radio with two stints at Southern Cross Austereo. She has also worked for five years in the UK radio market at Global Radio, filling several roles including running a big agency sales team.

Malone spent a few years at 2UE including time as a Canberra correspondent and a couple of years executive producing the breakfast show. He also spent six years running Today during its glory years, a time slot in TV most-often compared to radio.

Two long-time trusted Nine staffers also are key contributors at 2GB – drive show host Ben Fordham and early evening host Ross Greenwood. Both have a passion for radio and TV and if they haven’t been speaking with Nine CEO Hugh Marks about the ways Nine could be exploring opportunities in radio it would be surprising.

The other big benefit for Nine in taking over Macquarie Media is how radio can help strengthen the Nine News brand. That is something that Nine’s news boss Darren Wick alluded to in an interview with Mediaweek earlier this month.

Nine already delivers a 30-minute bulletin daily in Adelaide on Fiveaa, expect that idea to spread to other markets. There is no reason why ultimately the respected Macquarie National News radio brand couldn’t eventually become Nine National News.

There has been no mention of Melbourne’s 3AW yet in this report because it is such a different operation, but no less successful, than Sydney’s 2GB.

While 3AW has its challenges, any internal squabbles are kept largely off the radar. It is also a much less “angry” station than 2GB, at least before noon. While breakfast stars and ratings magnets Ross and John and later in the morning Neil Mitchell, do get riled about certain topics, they are less likely to ram their opinions down the throat of the audience, and some would say they are also more tolerant of opposing views.

What Nine might need to explore there is the ultimate succession plans for their two timeslots. Like at 2GB, the current drive show hosts would surely be earmarked for an earlier start to the day.

The Macquarie Media purchase is potentially the most fascinating of Nine’s recent media acquisitions and one where Nine could really get to flex is muscles.

The industry body, which represents commercial radio stations across Australia, is working with national brands such as ALDI, Koala and Liquorland to remind the industry that marketing delivers results.

“Advertising works and brands that invest in radio will be rewarded with a strong return on investment,” said CRA chief executive officer Joan Warner. “Radio offers broad reach and allows brands to maintain their share of voice.”

The radio industry’s national campaign consists of a series of ads featuring high-profile radio advertisers and business success stories such as supermarket group ALDI and fast-growing online furniture and mattress retailer Koala.

Koala co-founder Dany Milham said: “Koala has invested in marketing to build a distinctive brand and radio has been a valuable element of that.”

Radio is enjoying a resurgence in interest with audiences at an all-time high. More than 10.7 million people tuned in to commercial radio each week in the five major capital cities in 2018, reflecting a 12% increase over the past five years and a 22% rise over the past decade.

The new ads were developed by Eardrum and are part of the Radio Alive rebrand aimed at promoting radio as an effective advertising medium.

Click here to listen to the new ads on the Radio Alive website www.radioalive.com.au.

The appointment of Kendall follows ACM’s move into private ownership in July.

Interests associated with former Domain CEO Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group bought the former Fairfax Media regional publishing division from Nine Entertainment.

ACM managing director Allen Williams said the aim of Kendall’s review was to sharpen and build on existing strengths and capabilities in sales by examining operations, structure, skills and resourcing.

Kendall would make recommendations to improve ACM’s approach.

“To deliver outstanding results for our business we must first deliver outstanding results for our customers,” Williams said.

“To do that, we need integrated and high-performing sales teams.

“Tony’s wide connections and extensive knowledge of the advertising and marketing industry in Australia will be an invaluable addition to our business.”

Kendall has held senior positions at a number of leading media companies with portfolios that include print, digital, radio and outdoor assets.

At HT&E (formerly APN News & Media), he was responsible for leading integrated group revenue across all assets, along with driving the group’s data strategy.

Before joining HT&E he was CEO of Australian Radio Network, the operator of the networks KIIS and Pure Gold.

Kendall has also been director of sales at Bauer Media Group and spent 23 years at News Limited, where he held a number of senior positions including group advertising sales director, chief executive officer at News Magazines and senior vice-president, sales, for the New York Post.

In a note to ACM staff, Williams said Kendall would report to him and be based at the company’s North Sydney office.

With more than 160 news brands publishing online and in print, the ACM network includes 14 daily titles, such as The Canberra Times, Newcastle Herald, The Courier in Ballarat and The Examiner in Launceston, and the country’s largest agricultural media business, including The Land in NSW, Queensland Country Life, Farm Weekly in Western Australia and Stock Journal in South Australia.

By Trent Thomas

• Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far From Home is sixth this week after making $415,111, bringing its total to $37.78m.
• Pixar’s Toy Story is eighth this week after making $376,307. It has made $40.90m over eight weeks of release and is the fourth highest-grossing film of the year.
• The musical rom-com Yesterday is ninth this week making $247,298 bringing its total to $13.18m.

While there is a lot of young blood in the top of the box office this week, at the very precipice an old favorite regains its spot at the top of the mountain as The Lion King retakes top spot of the Australian box office after slipping to the second spot last week behind Fast & Furious: Shaw and Hobbs. After only suffering a 34% decline on last week the film was able to once again produce a hefty total as it now sits at number seven on the all-time Australian box office list with $55.14m, the film has a clear path to possibly be the fourth highest-grossing film in Australian history with the following films ahead of it:

#6 Titanic $57.66m
#5 Star Wars: The Last Jedi $58.09m
#4 Avengers: Infinity War $62.01m
#3 Avengers: Endgame $84.30m
#2 Star Wars: Force Awakens $94.03m
#1 Avatar $115.76m

However, despite all this movement, total box office was down week-on-week with a 21% decline producing a total of $13.29m.

#1 The Lion King $4.16m

The record-breaking remake of the 1994 classic continues to roll on as it follows the trend of the most recent Disney remake Aladdin and is producing small declines week-on-week deep into its release. This week’s 34% decline follows 45% in week one and 44% in week two as it was also the most shown film on the country appearing on 530 screens for an average of $7,860 (also the highest amount this weekend).

#2 Fast & Furious: Shaw and Hobbs

Sliding down to second spot after two weeks in theatres the ninth instalment in the Fast & Furious franchise came very close to retaining top spot with under 300k separating it from The Lion King. It also came very close to being number one in screens (520) and average aswell making $7,460 per screen.

#3 Palm Beach $1.14m

The first new film in the top five this week is also the first Australian film as the flick set in Palm Beach, Sydney and reunites a group of lifelong friends to celebrate a special birthday, but tensions mount as secrets are slowly unearthed. The drama is directed by Rachel Ward, and stars Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi and Richard E. Grant. In its first week it was screened on 250 screens for a healthy average of $4,569.

#4 Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan $775,281

Another Australian film has made it in the top five, the first time this year that two Australian films are concurrently in the five highest-grossing films. The war film about the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam war is directed by Kriv Stenders and stars Travis Fimmel. In its first weekend in theatres, it made an average of $3,446 on 225 screens.

#5 Late Night $761,030

The comedy-drama starring Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson has made it into the top five in its first week of release, making an average of $2,528 on 301 screens.

Monday Week 33 2019

By James Manning

• Seven News 1,063,000
• Nine News 1,024,000
• A Current Affair 819,000
• ABC News 666,000
• 7.30 618,000
• The Project 293,000/472,000
• 10 News First 391,000,000
• The Drum 173,000
• SBS World News 153,000

Breakfast TV

• Sunrise 268,000
• Today 190,000

Seven

Home And Away averaged 619,000 last week and it has started week 33 on 686,000.

After 823,000 on Sunday, Australia’s Got Talent was down to 679,000. This is close to the Monday audience of 688,000 a week ago.

Seven’s US drama The Rookie then did 428,000.

Nine

After averaging 727,000 last week, A Current Affair has begun its week on 819,000. The Monday episode revealed a major JB Hi-Fi pricing error the day it revealed a significant profit.

The Block started a new week of renovation and construction in luxury living week. The Monday episode did 842,000 after 855,000 a week ago. The show was way ahead in the timeslot.

The return of This Time Next Year featured stunning makeovers of not only the participants, but the host too! Karl Stefanovic looked well-rested and in control of the show that started with a fascinating story of a young woman vowing to overcome the symptoms of Tourette syndrome. The first night ratings indicate the audience still has plenty of time for Stefanovic with 686,000 watching making the program a timeslot winner.

AFL markets then saw Footy Classified with 116,000 in Melbourne.

10

The Project started its weeknight run on 472,000 which is down a little on the 500,000+ audiences after 7pm for much of last week.

There was more drama at tribal council again on Australia Survivor with a tied vote after the controversial contestant David played his immunity idol. Hannah was eventually voted after what she called “next level deception”. Although she also revealed her game plan was “crap”. The audience was on 711,000, close to last week’s 713,000.

After 653,000 a week ago, Have You Been Paying Attention? lifted to 735,000.

ABC

The first episode of a two-part Australian Story investigation into unsuspecting drug mules did 604,000.

The second part of two weeks examining Brexit ended with Philip Williams on Boris and his Brexit plan. The audience was on 593,000.

Media Watch started with a look at media being targeted by police during the Hong Kong protests with 521,000 watching.

Q&A was in Melbourne with 344,000 on board.

SBS

Secrets Of The Queen’s Children was the most-watched show on the channel with 170,000. 24 Hours In Emergency later did 151,000.