After CBS took control of Network Ten last year, some expected big changes to the Australian TV business. While that didn’t happen, the business has been on the move this year with a raft of new content on air or about to appear. The business also revealed this week plans to take back control of its advertising sales which had been handled by MCN (see below).

By James Manning

“When we went into that agreement with MCN it was a different world and was the right thing at the time. Our revenues increased and we had a fruitful relationship with MCN.

“Things have changed now and we have different ownership. The ad world is changing too. CBS has a preference for us to run our own race and control our own destiny with revenue and the accountability that comes with that.”

The man charged with building the new sales team is Ten’s Rod Prosser, who assumes the new title of chief sales officer. His new team will start selling for the TV year 2019. “The handover date is January 21,” Prosser told Mediaweek.

“We have a robust disengagement plan that we have in place with MCN and we will continue working with them closely until the end of the year.”

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This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.

Prosser, currently Network Ten’s executive general manager, revenue and client partnerships, will report to Network Ten chief executive officer Paul Anderson.

Meanwhile MCN chief executive Mark Frain confirmed to staff shortly before Ten went public that Network Ten will no longer be represented by MCN alongside the Foxtel assets.

Anderson said: “Today is a significant day in Network Ten’s history, as we continue to build and invest in our business.

“Under new ownership, we are making a strategic shift in sales to more closely align with CBS across all platforms. Our priority is to monetise our premium video content to accommodate changing viewing habits and provide measurable and transparent value for our clients. Controlling the selling function in-house is the best way to achieve that.

“CBS has solutions, experience and systems in many key sales areas, including data, addressable advertising and dynamic trading. Ten’s new sales platform will fully leverage the expertise of CBS.

“MCN has been a valuable and important partner to Network Ten over the past three years. Together we have achieved some great results and introduced many industry-leading initiatives. I would like to thank everyone at MCN for their contribution to our business,” he said.

“As we’ve said since the announcement of the acquisition, we see many ways for CBS and TEN to work together to help grow their business,” said Armando Nuñez, president and chief executive officer, CBS Studios International. “We look forward to integrating infrastructure, technology and other CBS resources to enhance TEN’s new sales operation and bring value to Australian advertisers and brands.”

The Network Ten sales department will include a new digital unit, TEN Interactive, which will be underpinned by CBS Interactive’s global technology platform, as well as a new commercial, strategy and integration team focused on delivering premium ideas, sponsorships and integration opportunities across the company’s suite of brands.

Network Ten will also launch a new automated trading platform, TEN Exchange.

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

Founder Trevor Long said the move is part of a bigger drive for the brand that will see it significantly increase its content, broaden its reach and further grow the EFTM brand moving forward.

Originally established in 2011 by technology commentator Long with Damian Francis and Nick Broughall, EFTM’s vision was to create a fun, informative site for all things relating to the modern regular Australian man, free of pretension. Since then the site has been largely driven by Long.

For Bowen and Quattromani, the move comes after several years of work as voluntary contributors, with Long explaining the move into ownership is not just a reward for their dedication, but an important foundation for the next phase of growth in the men’s lifestyle space.

Chris Bowen will subsequently move into a full-time role from next month as the publication’s inaugural motoring editor in addition to contributing to other areas of the site. Quattromani will continue in his role as lifestyle editor.

“This is a very exciting time for EFTM, what we can do with the site and more broadly look at opportunities to grow the brand,” said Long.

“The response from corporate partners has been so fantastic that we have been able to bring in two key editors and deliver them ownership in the business. As life for contributors remains ever challenging in the broader media landscape, it’s certainly a good feeling to know that key members of the team who have been passionately working to grow the site for several years now are able to call it their own,” said editor-in-chief Long.

Chris Bowen has worked in the media for over 20 years, primarily in radio as a studio producer and executive producer, as well as a recent stint at News Corp working on audio projects there. His passion for motoring is lifelong, getting a taste for reviewing them when he and Long started video reviews of cars in 2008.

“Writing about cars has been a passion of mine for a decade now, so I’m delighted to be able to commit myself full-time to EFTM and take the site to the heights we know it can get to. The appetite for new motoring reviews and videos is voracious and I am confident that we can deliver this information to our readers better than anyone in the country,” said Bowen.

In addition to EFTM, Long continues to grow his media profile and brand ambassador work. He contributes tech news and product reviews to over 50 radio stations across Australia each week including talkback segments in Brisbane and Perth.

Long will also continues his regular appearances as Nine’s Today show tech expert with his consumer technology roundups, news and viewer engagement as well as continuing to provide commentary to A Current Affair, something he’s been doing for over eight years.

Long also works as a corporate speaker, where he delivers a keynote around key technology trends that will affect both business and life more broadly.

The team’s long-term videographer Rob Locke has also taken an ownership stake in the business to recognise the valuable contribution video has made, while Broughall and Francis retain part ownership as co-founders.

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Top photo: The AFTM team on the road [L-R] – Chris Bowen, Trevor Long and Geoff Quattromani

By Kruti Joshi

“Something has to pay the bills and our wages,” Fiveaa breakfast EP Andy Ruzgar told Mediaweek. “There is a big agency part of it, but we also approach a lot of clients directly – more than a station like Nova would.

“Our competitor, ABC, gets its budget from the government, but we have to make our own money.”

Fiveaa is the only commercial talkback station in Adelaide. According to Ruzgar, the brand has a heritage value for the radio listeners in the South Australian capital.

Ruzgar started his career in the media industry as an intern at Fiveaa, working with Leon Byner, who now presents mornings on the station. Ruzgar’s career has seen him working with Ray Hadley and Kyle and Jackie O in Sydney. “That show is freer than other FM shows,” he remarked. “I like how they take calls on air and can be unpredictable.”

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This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here, or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.

Season 14 of The Block will again see five teams of renovators, aka The Blockheads, face off as they renovate St Kilda’s historic Gatwick Hotel.

“The Block is the foremost Australian case study in the power of well-executed, cross-platform content integration. It is a consistent performer and always delivers real and tangible results for our clients,” said Lizzie Young, Nine’s group content strategy director.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming Amazon, Suncorp, A2 Milk, Canstar and Clipsal as new partners and to see others such as Mitre 10, Domain, McCafé, Youfoodz, Volkswagen and Bluescope Steel returning because of what The Block achieves for them. The true power of The Block is that it delivers across a range of business metrics, from awareness and consideration through to sales conversion.”

SEE ALSO: How the new season of The Block shocked even the show’s creators

Scott Cam

Season 14 will include seven client partners returning, with highlights for this season:

• Mitre 10, The Block’s longest serving partner, is back for its 11th season. Along with its ambassador Scott Cam, Mitre 10 will be providing “Mighty Helpful” service and advice to contestants every step of the way.

• Domain returns as a major partner for the fourth time and will be showcased throughout the season as the experts in property. Alice Stolz will continue to make her weekly visits, imparting her invaluable guidance and professional considerations.

• McCafé, The Block’s official coffee partner, is back with an even larger pop-up café across the road from the construction site in St Kilda. The café will be serving contestants and crew delicious, barista-made coffee. Site foreman Dan Reilly will again be the McCafé ambassador, and along with in-show integration the partnership will be supported by TV commercials featuring him.

• Volkswagen returns as the official automotive partner, with a portfolio of vehicles that will be showcased across the series, as well as offering the chance to win the first Tiguan Allspace in Australia.

• Youfoodz will again be fuelling The Block contestants with its fresh, chef-prepared meals every week. It will also be running a consumer promotion to give away a lifetime supply of Youfoodz.

• Bluescope Steel, back with a partnership for this series, helps to shape the build of The Block with its products Colorbond and Truecore. It will also be engaging audiences at home with weekly viewer’s choice voting and promotion.

Shelley Craft

The Block also has six new major partners with highlights of these integrations, including:

• Amazon joins for its first Block series, showcasing Echo and Alexa – the brain behind Echo voice-controlled speakers realising the functionality of a voice-controlled home. The relationship between Echo, Alexa, and The Block will also be promoted in commercials featuring Block talent.

• Suncorp joins The Block family, helping bring The Block Shop to St Kilda, and supporting the contestants with the difficult task of budgeting. It is aligning with design expert and Block judge Shaynna Blaze to help viewers spend better and style better through dedicated 9Now content, and a Home Hacks series addressing Australia’s most searched styling tips.

• The a2 Milk Company will be providing The Blockheads with regular deliveries of natural, fresh a2 Milk™ and other fresh goodies, inspiring them to “Believe in better” along the competition journey.

• Canstar joins the show with a partnership with host Shelley Craft, creating bespoke TVCs.

• Clipsal by Schneider Electric joins The Block with a showcase of smart-home solutions and electrical accessories to create connected, comfortable and stylish homes.

• Blueprint Homes has taken a local sponsorship in WA, providing it with a unique opportunity to build a close association with Australia’s most popular renovation show.

In addition, The Block will have a number of major suppliers involved in the new season including Reece, Kennard’s Hire, Freedom Furniture, Freedom Kitchens, Carpet Court, Beacon Lighting, Beaumont Tiles, Samsung, Forty Winks, Kinsman, Steel Blue Boots and Apple.

The Block returns to Channel Nine and 9Now this Sunday August 5 at 7pm.

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Top photo: The Block judges Neale Whitaker, Shaynna Blaze and Darren Palmer

Taking over the Sydney general manager role is Dee McTaggart who has been promoted from senior account manger.

Grant Broadcasters’ incoming CEO Alison Cameron thanked Wotherspoon for her leadership. “Leanne has done an incredible job for TRSN in Sydney over the past six years, not only delivering strong revenue growth but she has brought together a really strong and talented national sales team. Testimony to this is the easy decision to promote Dee to the general manger position as part of our succession plan.”

“I’m really excited about taking on the challenge of running the Sydney team and continuing on the good results that we have achieved over the last couple of years,” said McTaggart.

McTaggart has been with TRSN for the past 11 years having previously held a number of senior sales positions at various Sydney metropolitan radio stations.

While the appointment is effective immediately, Wotherspoon will continue to work with McTaggart and the Sydney team until the end of August to ensure a smooth changeover.

TRSN is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grant Broadcasters and represents 120 regional radio stations across 68 markets making it the largest regional radio network in Australia.

Ingham will oversee brand partnerships and lead advertising solutions for BuzzFeed’s entire portfolio, including BuzzFeed Originals, BuzzFeed News and media brands such as Tasty, As/Is, Bring Me!, Goodful and Nifty across Australia and New Zealand.

She will spearhead new brand partnerships and advertising products, and support BuzzFeed’s expansion into the licensing and consumer products space nationally. Ingham will report into Matt Drinkwater, SVP international brand strategy in the US.

Ingham comes to BuzzFeed from Spotify, where she was head of sales for Australia & New Zealand. Having previously held roles at Southern Cross Austereo, Nine Network Australia and Nova Entertainment, she brings more than 20 years of experience developing strategic partnerships on behalf of media companies with brands and agencies alike.

Ingham said: “I’m thrilled to join the BuzzFeed Australia team, particularly at such an exciting moment, as the company pushes beyond the digital advertising space into new lines of business. Brands want to connect with the “always on” consumer via content that resonates, and BuzzFeed delivers that in spades.”

“Andrea brings a wealth of sales and management experience and a breadth of knowledge from across the media landscape that will take BuzzFeed’s business to the next level in Australia. We have no doubt, with Andrea at the helm, BuzzFeed Australia will develop and grow new brand partnerships, and continue to shape the future of advertising in the local media landscape,” said Matt Drinkwater, SVP international brand strategy, BuzzFeed.

Ingham will join BuzzFeed’s Sydney-based team at the beginning of October.

By Kruti Joshi

With shows like McLeod’s Daughters, Home and Away, Underbelly, Puberty Blues, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Glitch and The Doctor Blake Mysteries to his credit, Corser has established himself among the leading actors in the local industry.

His latest starring role, in Nine’s Doctor Doctor, will be coming back for a third season on August 6. The show is filmed in Sydney as well as in the regional NSW towns Cobbitty and Mudgee. Doctor Doctor gives Corser a happy mix of comedy, drama and action in the form of medical emergencies. “It’s a good challenge,” he told Mediaweek.

When the first season of the Nine show hit the screens in 2016, Corser and the team behind the series weren’t sure if it would come back for more seasons.

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This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here, or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.

The inaugural TV Week Close Up issue goes on sale Thursday August 2, and features exclusive coverage of the latest happenings in Australian television, interviews with its stars and industry power brokers, and behind-the-scenes access to our most-watched shows.

In the launch issue, TV Week Close Up features an in-depth interview with TV golden girl Jessica Marais, with the Logie-winning actress opening up about the challenges of always being in the spotlight, her fears for the future and the joy of being a mum.

There is also a special report on the future of Australian TV drama, a farewell to the acclaimed period drama A Place To Call Home, and exclusive interviews with Hamish and Andy, Jonathan LaPaglia, Julia Morris and Sam Frost.

Editor Thomas Woodgate said TV Week Close Up aims to leverage TV Week’s special relationship with the television industry, “TV Week has earned the trust of our best talent over many years, and we have unrivalled access to Australian stars and shows. It’s this access that we want to be able to share every month. We want to provide more of what we know readers love, which is in-depth chats, photo shoots with the stars, exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at favourite shows, and nostalgic trips down TV memory lane.”

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

The announcement comes in a week where the new radio brand also introduced a new Sydney and Brisbane breakfast show with Mark Levy and Mark “Piggy” Riddell replacing John Stanley and Beau Ryan.

For the cricket coverage, Lehmann will join an established team featuring well-respected cricket commentators as part of Macquarie Media’s new six-year agreement with Cricket Australia.

Macquarie Media will feature coverage of every ball bowled of all the Domain Test Series, Gillette One Day and T20 Internationals, the KFC Big Bash League and the Commonwealth Bank Women’s International Series on the new Macquarie Sports Radio network.

Launched in April 2018, Macquarie Sports Radio airs across Sydney 954 AM, Melbourne 1278 AM, Brisbane 882 AM, Perth on DAB+, online at sportsradio.com.au and via mobile app.

The network is promising the most extensive coverage on radio with cricket set to play an important role in the evolution of Macquarie Sports Radio as a place for sports fans right across the country.

Darren Lehmann said: “I’m excited to be joining Macquarie Radio’s Summer of Cricket and can’t wait to get started. It’s a great team and we’re going to have a lot of fun. It’s an opportunity for me to share an insight into how the Australian team runs and the intricacies of each player. I love the game I played and coached and want to see it continue to grow. I love the players – always have and always will. Go Aussies!”

Macquarie Media CEO Adam Lang said: “I am pleased to welcome Darren Lehmann to our team. Not only is he a true Australian character, he has a unique perspective as both a former player and coach, and will now be able to share his expertise with listeners on our new network, Macquarie Sports Radio. Our commentary team has become established as one of the favourite destinations for cricket fans across all formats of the game. Our audiences love the passion, enthusiasm, insight and professionalism that Macquarie Radio’s Summer of Cricket team brings and we look forward to growing that further across the next six years.”

By James Manning

Seven

The channel has bounced from a year low and third place to be a midweek winner.

Home and Away, after starting the week above and then below 700,000, had a Wednesday audience of 665,000.

Two episodes of Highway Patrol then did 582,000 and 657,000.

The launch of 9-1-1 then did 557,000.

Nine

A Current Affair dropped just below 800,000 for the first time this week.

Nine then went with three hours of BGT – Britain’s Got Talent at 7.30pm, which did 497,000 followed by Britain’s Got More Talent at 9.30pm with 316,000.

TEN

At 6pm Pointless did 311,000 followed by The Project with 309,000 and then 506,000 after 7pm.

The launch episode of Survivor introduced all the teams to what always won’t feel like a tropical paradise. It was game on during the first challenge with both teams winning different legs as the contestants got a good workout. For an agitated Matt, his first night in Savusavu would prove to be his last when the Contender tribe made its vote at tribal council after Matt just couldn’t help himself, shooting off at the mouth. The launch episode did 716,000, which was a timeslot and demo winner, the #1 non-news show of the night, and was also up 12% on the launch episode last year.

ABC

Football star Adam Goodes was the subject on Anh’s Brush With Fame with an audience of 671,000.

Adam Goodes on Anh’s Brush With Fame

The Weekly with Charlie Pickering then did 573,000 with Virginia Trioli the guest on Hard Chat.

You Can’t Ask That did 406,000, Adam Hills: The Last Leg did 295,000 and Tonightly on the primary channel did 141,000.

SBS

The second episode of the Dead Lucky drama did 173,000 after launching with 232,000 a week ago.

The launch episode of Food Safari Water did 172,000.

Elsewhere, Great British Railway Journeys did 241,000 and Simon Reeve In Burma was on 211,000.