Thursday February 22, 2018
News Corp’s We’re For You: Securing Lennon & McCartney’s “A Day In The Life”
Securing The Beatles
The track used for the TVC is the final tune on the much-celebrated 1967 album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
“I have done a lot of marketing in the past with a variety of different artists. We were very lucky to be able to get this Beatles song.
Phillips engaged a well known composer, who has done a lot of music from working with John Farnham to composing for movies.
“We are absolutely delighted with what he achieved, keeping all the essence of the old track.
“Across the country people will be able to hear this on TV, radio and digital. The outdoor message will be ‘I Read The News Today’.
“I want people to just look at it and think Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier-Mail, whatever their local masthead is.”
“A Day In The Life” continues to resonate with audiences. Paul McCartney included the song in his set during his recent Australian tour and Phillips heard Billy Joel play the song at his Madison Square Garden residency, noting it was the song that helped decide what he wanted to do with his life.
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Images: Stills from the We’re For You TVC, which launches nationally on Sunday night.
Patrick Delany: New Foxtel CEO says new suite of products coming
By James Manning
“It’s a real honour to lead such a fabulous company,” said new Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany to Mediaweek on Sky News Business this week, as he spoke on TV for the first time about his new job and the challenges that come with it.
“I worked there for 10 years and I know the basics of the subscription TV business. I also know that the world has changed. We have a job ahead of us and we need to make sure we stay trim and efficient.”
Delany didn’t have much light to shed on the merger between Foxtel and Fox Sports, but he said he has told the owners, “I am here to run the business and we are all looking forward to some news soon, I hope.”
As to future strategy he reminded Sky News Business he was only in the job two weeks. However…
“I am getting to know the team and understanding the shape the business is in. We do have some pretty exciting streaming plans that the company is in a unique position to do, given we have a base of 2.6m household customers. We have some very strong cashflows and some unbelievable content.”
As to re-familiarising himself with Foxtel, Delany said the value equation in the eyes of the public has changed. “Those changes means there is a lot of opportunity for us.
“Foxtel still has penetration close to 30% and the digital age presents us with a great opportunity to attack the other 70%. A lot of people ask if we can hold the 30% we now have. I see it as the opposite – we can maintain that and then use digital technologies and content rights we have to grow.
“The public is more prepared to pay for content these days. For many years we were the only one in that market and now it is great to have competition and we intend to heat it up.”
Speaking to Mediaweek at the Fox League launch, Delany noted sports of course remains a key pillar for the business. “We have our major rights locked down for the next five years. We have clear dominant, exciting brands in Fox Footy and Fox League. Fox Sports sits over the top of that as clearly the sports leader.”
With Picnic At Hanging Rock already creating a lot of buzz ahead of its broadcast later in 2018, Delany noted there is a lot more to the Foxtel offer than just sport.
He pointed out he is very comfortable working across other content offerings including drama as he ran XYZ Entertainment for two years from 2000. He then joined Foxtel to help with the transition from the analog days to digital.
“I watch a lot of TV, including a lot of drama.
“I also watch movies. And in this era of bingeing on drama, movies have been a little bit forgotten. Movies are about to make a big comeback – they will be the new black.”
As readers of the OzTAM subscription TV ratings at mediaweek.com.au would know, movies are hot right now and often go close to topping the list of most popular programs.
Delany also had praise for Sky News and its management, adding news to the list of crucial content.
“Sky News CEO Angelos Frangopoulos is leading a great organisation and the way Sky News has moved into entertaining opinion is very exciting.”
Future forecast
When asked how Foxtel under Patrick Delany could look in 12 months, he replied: “My reputation is that I shake things up pretty hard. I am a change agent. I love change, but it has to reflect what the public wants.
“When the merger goes through, the suite of products that the merged entity will offer in 12 months’ time will be very different. In terms of what might change for Foxtel, give me a bit more time.”
Photo [L-R]: Foxtel’s Patrick Delany at the Fox League launch with News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller, Sony Music Australia CEO and chairman Denis Handlin, Fox Sports head of television Steve Crawley and Fox Sports COO Peter Campbell
Nine Entertainment Co reports revenue, profit up as better ratings turn into sales
The Company reported revenue of $720m (+9%), Group EBITDA of $181m (+51%) and net profit after tax of $116m (+55%).
Statutory results included $58m after tax, primarily the profit on the sale of Nine’s Willoughby site. Net profit after tax, inclusive of specific items, was $174m.
Highlights for the period include:
• Improved ratings performance – 25-54s network share of 39.5%
• #1 revenue share for the half of 40.0%, up 5 points
• #1 revenue share for the calendar year of 38.3%, up 3 points
• 80% growth in long-form streams resulting in 86% growth in revenue at 9Now
• 6% growth in revenues at refocused digital publishing business
• Around 930,000 active subscribers at Stan, growth of 33%
Hugh Marks, chief executive officer of Nine Entertainment Co., said:
“This was a strong half for Nine, across our entire business. Positive FTA TV ratings momentum combined with our focus on the 25-54 demographic is translating to improving revenue share.
“In digital, 9Now is experiencing strong revenue growth and our digital publishing business has strong growth in premium revenues in line with our future strategy. Finally, Stan is now approaching break-even and looking to further consolidate on its leading local position in this market.
“We are the only Australian media business with this unique set of video-based assets, combining the enduring strength of FTA TV with high-growth businesses in each of BVOD, SVOD and digital publishing. Nine’s strong cash flow and relatively ungeared balance sheet gives us the confidence to continue to prudently invest in our future across these four businesses.
“Nine’s strengths lie in premium content and therein is the opportunity – to harness the growth in viewing across different platforms and distribution models, and optimise the total return on our content spend. We will continue to invest in our future – there is much work still to do but as can be seen from these results, the benefit to our shareholders is becoming increasingly clear.”
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During the period, Nine’s ratings continued to improve.
For the six months to December, Nine attracted a commercial network share of 39.5% of the 25-54 demographic (up 3.6 points) and a #1 share in all the key buying demographics as well as all people.
For the primary channel, Nine’s share of the 25-54s was 40.7%, almost seven points ahead of its nearest competitor and a clear #1 share across all key demographics.
For ratings season 2017, Nine Network won all the key buying demographics, and recorded growth of around 2-3 points on season 2016.
Highlights in the second half included the breakout performance of Australian Ninja Warrior and the enduring dominance of The Block.
This improved ratings performance has begun to translate to revenue share.
For the six months to December, Nine’s metro FTA revenue share was a 13-year high of 40.0%, which brought the CY17 total to 38.3%, up three points on CY16. Nine was the number one metro FTA network in terms of calendar year revenue share for the first time since 2005.
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For the 6 months to December 2017, Nine digital recorded a revenue increase of 7%, underpinned by long-form video, particularly from 9Now and an increasing contribution from Pedestrian TV and CarAdvice. This growth more than offset declining revenue in the traditional display category and the absence of contribution from Bing.
nextmedia celebrates 100 issues of Muscle Car magazine
“Nought to 100 in a whisker over 16 years! We’re mightily proud of those performance figures,” AMC editor Luke West declared.
“When the magazine first appeared in late 2001 it was an instant hit. It tapped into a niche that wasn’t being catered for and quickly established a strong following. Those readers have stuck with us as we’ve told the back stories to the many iconic cars released by Australian manufacturers over the years and their famous moments on the racetrack.
“It’s a magazine that flies under the radar to some extent, but has a core group of enthusiasts wanting more.”
The milestone issue celebrates reaching triple figures with a cover design mimicking the very first issue, albeit with a twist.
AMC issues #1 and #100
Instead of six older Aussie classics in its grid formation, issue #100 names and features the top six most desirable and significant modern muscle cars – cars released since AMC first appeared on newsstands. This includes the last Australian muscle car, the HSV GTSR W1 of 2017, and the Blue Oval’s last GT Falcon model, the GT-F.
AMC issue #1 was a sellout with its cover naming six Bathurst-inspired Aussie classics people could then own for less than $20k.
The machinery this modest budget bought you back then has appreciated considerably. For example the Holden HK Monaro GTS 327 was valued at about $18,000 in 2001, whereas good, original examples of that model now sell for over $200,000.
Issue #100 also features exclusive interviews with reclusive racing great Norm Beechey and the father of the Ford Falcon GT-HO, ex-Ford executive Al Turner. The magazine tracked down the latter, now aged 85, to his home and boat in Florida.
MORE: Nextmedia reveals ‘significant investment’ to acquire The Women’s Game website
TV ad research finds sales impact of TV outperforms Facebook and YouTube
The “mobile edition” of Professor Nelson-Field’s ongoing Benchmark Series, commissioned by ThinkTV, reveals a number of significant findings that are designed to help advertisers and their agencies get the best out of video advertising.
Karen Nelson-Field
Professor Nelson-Field unveiled the results from the mobile edition of The Benchmark Series at Future TV Advertising Forum in Sydney.
The latest tranche of the Benchmark Series seeks to compare the sales impact and attention generated by video advertising viewed on mobile devices on Facebook, YouTube, and TV (over Broadcaster Video-On-Demand services).
The research found:
• Advertisements viewed on mobile devices by consumers of Facebook, YouTube and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) all generated a positive sales impact for brands.
• On mobile devices the sales impact of BVOD is 33% higher than on Facebook and 17.5% higher than on YouTube.
• The sales impact of TV outperforms Facebook and YouTube irrespective of screen.
Sales Impact
Using the well-established metric of short-term advertising strength (STAS) to measure the impact an advertisement has on sales, the research found that BVOD on mobile devices performed 17.5% stronger than YouTube and 33% stronger than Facebook.
Attention
The same pattern carried for attention, which Professor Nelson-Field scored out of 100 based on the results of eyetracking measurements. On an aggregate of these measures, BVOD scored 63 points out of 100. That was 9 points higher than Facebook, which scored 54, and 19 points higher than YouTube, which scored 44.
TV wins on every measure
Professor Nelson-Field found that the sales impact of TV outperformed YouTube and Facebook irrespective of screen. So TV, whether viewed on a TV screen, computer or mobile device, delivered a significantly stronger result than both Facebook and YouTube on those platforms’ best-performing screen, mobile.
TV Ratings Analysis: Wednesday February 21
By James Manning
Seven has maintained its leads for primary and combined channel share.
The primary channel lead has shrunk to just 0.5 though with Seven on 25.0%, its smallest share since survey started, all of 11 days ago. It has a more commanding combined network share lead of 4.0 with 35.1%.
Seven
The daily soapie Home and Away continues to hover around 700,000, with the Wednesday number on 645,000, a little lower.
On My Kitchen Rules mother and daughter Pat and Louisa opened their gypsy-inspired instant restaurant with little success. Their total score of 49 sees them way below anyone else on the leader board, guaranteeing them a spot in the cook-off at the elimination house. Their highest score from the judges was 5 out of 10 for dessert, while their entrées scored just 2 out of 10 from both Pete and Manu. The Wednesday episode did 946,000 after 930,000 last week.
Night 12 of the Winter Olympics followed with 799,000 after 750,000 on Wednesday last week.
Nine
An Aussie dad behind bars and then a look at Married At First Sight’s most controversial contestants featured on A Current Affair with 839,000 watching.
Plenty of drama surrounded the Married At First Sight dinner party as coverage of this season explodes across the media, with Nine able to channel much of the interest to its own online products and its multichannels. The midweek episode did 1.34m after 1.12m watched a week ago.
A new episode of 20 To One followed, hosted by Erin Molan and Dave Thornton, which did 482,000.
TEN
The Project 7pm did 488,000 with Vance Joy on the show as his new album is released.
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! did 496,000 after 515,000 a week ago. Pete Rowsthorn was elected camp leader and Danny Green looked happier than he has for a while.
Another key episode of This Is Us followed with 225,000 after an equally disappointing 250,000 last week.
ABC
Hard Quiz returned to the 8pm slot with the debut episode of series three on 550,000.
Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell then did 575,000 after 489,000 a week ago.
Squinters was then on 319,000 followed by The Last Leg on 201,000.
The midweek episode of Tonightly on the primary channel attracted 99,000.
SBS
With Michael Portillo in the country, Great Continental Railway Journeys has returned to the schedule with 261,000 for the journey from Sofia to Istanbul.
Part one of CJZ’s Muslims Like Us Australia then did 206,000.
Photo: Married At First Sight
Week 8 TV: Wednesday
| WEDNESDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | Ten | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 10.0% | 7 | 25.0 | 9 | 24.5% | TEN | 9.1% | SBS One | 4.8% |
| ABC 2 | 2.1% | 7TWO | 3.4% | GO! | 2.6% | ONE | 2.1% | VICELAND | 0.9% |
| ABC ME | 0.6% | 7mate | 5.0% | GEM | 1.8% | ELEVEN | 2.1% | Food Net | 0.6% |
| ABC News | 1.3% | 7flix | 1.7% | 9Life | 2.2% | NITV | 0.2% | ||
| TOTAL | 14.0% | 35.1% | 31.1% | 13.3% | 6.4% | ||||
| WEDNESDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | Ten Affiliates | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 9.2% | 7 | 24.8% | 9 | 20.5% | WIN | 9.6% | SBS One | 3.9% |
| ABC 2 | 3.3% | 7TWO | 6.3% | GO! | 3.5% | ONE | 2.3% | VICELAND | 1.2% |
| ABC ME | 0.7% | 7mate | 3.1% | GEM | 3.0% | ELEVEN | 2.1% | Food Net | 0.9% |
| NEWS 24 | 1.2% | 7flix | 1.9% | 9Life | 2.3% | NITV | 0.3% | ||
| TOTAL | 14.4% | 36.1% | 29.3% | 14.0% | 6.3% | ||||
| WEDNESDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTA | STV | ||||||||
| 87.1% | 12.9% | ||||||||
Wednesday fta
- Married At First Sight Nine 1,341,000
- My Kitchen Rules Seven 946,000
- Seven News Seven 934,000
- Nine News Nine 897,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 886,000
- Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 879,000
- A Current Affair Nine 839,000
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Night 12 Seven 799,000
- ABC News ABC 675,000
- Home And Away Seven 645,000
- Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell ABC 575,000
- Hard Quiz ABC 550,000
- 7.30 ABC 509,000
- The Chase Australia Seven 509,000
- I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Wed Ten 496,000
- The Project 7pm Ten 488,000
- 20 To One Nine 482,000
- Hot Seat Nine 462,000
- Ten Eyewitness News First At Five Ten 401,000
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Late 12 Seven 364,000
Demo top fives
16-39 Top 5
- Married At First Sight Nine 469,000
- My Kitchen Rules Seven 224,000
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Night 12 Seven 215,000
- A Current Affair Nine 164,000
- 20 To One Nine 158,000
18-49 Top 5
- Married At First Sight Nine 689,000
- My Kitchen Rules Seven 349,000
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Night 12 Seven 347,000
- A Current Affair Nine 269,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 249,000
25-54 Top 5
- Married At First Sight Nine 710,000
- My Kitchen Rules Seven 398,000
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Night 12 Seven 375,000
- A Current Affair Nine 301,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 294,000
Wednesday multichannel
- Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Night 12 Feed 2 7mate 2 184,000
- Talking Married 9Life 183,000
- Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom-AM ABC2 180,000
- Peppa Pig-AM ABC2 175,000
- PJ Masks-AM ABC2 175,000
- Hey Duggee-AM ABC2 164,000
- Peppa Pig-PM ABC2 158,000
- Neighbours ELEVEN 158,000
- A Touch Of Frost-PM 7TWO 149,000
- Peter Rabbit ABC2 145,000
- Octonauts ABC2 145,000
- Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom ABC2 143,000
- The Simpsons Movie-PM 7mate 143,000
- The Hive-PM ABC2 141,000
- Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures ABC2 141,000
- Kazoops!-PM ABC2 140,000
- Floogals-PM ABC2 140,000
- Shaun The Sheep ABC2 139,000
- Go Jetters ABC2 137,000
- Noddy Toyland Detective-AM ABC2 136,000
Wednesday subscription tv
- Live: Cricket: Trans-Tasman Twenty20 FOX SPORTS MORE 178,000
- Gogglebox Australia LifeStyle Channel 132,000
- Melbourne: Real Housewives Of… ARENA 73,000
- Paul Murray Live SKY NEWS LIVE 52,000
- PML Overtime SKY NEWS LIVE 50,000
- Location, Location, Location LifeStyle Channel 42,000
- The Bolt Report SKY NEWS LIVE 40,000
- Blaze And The Monster Machines Nick Jr. 37,000
- Rusty Rivets Nick Jr. 37,000
- Sunny Day Nick Jr. 36,000
- Ugly House To Lovely House LifeStyle Channel 36,000
- Hi-5 House Nick Jr. 35,000
- Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 34,000
- Little Charmers Nick Jr. 33,000
- Beverly Hills: Real Housewives Of… ARENA 33,000
- Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 33,000
- NCIS TVH!TS 33,000
- Paw Patrol Nick Jr. 32,000
- American Dad! FOX8 32,000
- Live: WWE Smackdown FOX8 32,000
Media News Roundup
Business Of Media
Fairfax and Domain investor Alex Waislitz wants return of Antony Catalano
The Financial Review Rich List member owns stock in both Domain Holdings Australia and Fairfax Media, and says he is disappointed Catalano, who resigned unexpectedly last month, is not CEO, and that his confidence in the overall leadership of Fairfax and Domain has been “dented”.
“Many of the investors I have spoken to, in light of the limited amount of information that has been made available publicly about [Catalano’s] behaviour, would say they would be happy to have him back,” Waislitz told The Australian Financial Review.
Waislitz said he did not believe Nick Falloon should be chairman of both Fairfax and Domain and that he had offered to mediate some sort of rapprochement between Catalano and Domain and Fairfax management.
Nine gets an award for innovative work on the automation platform 9Galaxy
Launched in November 2017, 9Galaxy automates the buying and selling of Nine’s television inventory and uses proprietary predictive modelling technology to help better predict television audiences.
Nine was one of three shortlisted entries in the telco/media category. The ITnews Benchmark Awards seek to set a new benchmark for recognising technology leadership in the Australian business community and within government.
“To be recognised with this award is an immense honour,” said Michael Stephenson, Nine’s chief sales officer.
“9Galaxy launched just three months ago and we have already seen significant take-up by our agency partners.
“The award is a recognition of the work done to create a simpler way for marketers and agencies to buy our inventory, and also the innovative work done for better prediction of TV audiences through our proprietary technology, 9Predict.”
Stephenson added: “We are continuing to innovate and evolve the 9Galaxy platform, and later this year it will be integrated into Nine’s data lake, which consists of more than five million IDs, in order to offer addressable advertising at scale.”
From McDonald’s to Hungry Jack’s: Wavemaker boosts management team with OMD hire
Jessica Torstensson
Torstensson joins the agency from OMD Australia where she was client lead on the McDonald’s Australia account. Prior to that, she worked on both agency and client side in her native Sweden, including PHD Sweden, Mindshare Sweden, Disney Channel Scandinavia and telco 3 Sverige.
At Wavemaker she oversees a team of eight servicing the agency’s important Hungry Jack’s account and joins the management team, taking on a key role in unlocking growth opportunities for all Wavemaker clients.
Wavemaker Australia CEO Peter Vogel said: “With 15 years’ experience across agencies and advertisers, Jessica brings great insight and understanding of clients’ business needs, as well as an enthusiastic and pro-active approach to business. I am excited to welcome her to the team in this important role.”
Torstensson added: “The opportunity to work on a bold and dynamic brand such as Hungry Jack’s was a huge part of the attraction of Wavemaker for me, as was the fact that it’s an exciting time in the life of the agency with the merging of two businesses and the creation of a brand new energised entity. The team here is passionate and focused on accelerating growth for our clients’ business and I’m delighted to be part of that.”
News Brands
As ten daily’s launch date nears, Mel Cornford appointed managing editor
Mel Cornford
Ten daily is Network Ten’s soon-to-launch stand-alone, mobile-optimised website that will be carry short-form video content and offer premium and exclusive entertainment, lifestyle, opinion, news and sport content.
Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey told Mediaweek last week ten daily is on track to launch in the next few months.
At ten daily, Cornford joins Lisa Wilkinson, who was appointed executive editor earlier this year. More editorial appointments will be announced soon.
Wilkinson’s ten daily role is in addition to her hosting Network Ten’s award-winning news and current affairs program, The Project, with co-hosts Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar, as well as hosting The Sunday Project.
Cornford joined Network Ten in 2016 as project lead on ten daily and has played a key role in developing the new website.
Before she joined Network Ten, Cornford spent more than 10 years working in digital editorial production, content, commercial, strategy and staff management for industry-leading organisations.
Most recently Cornford was head of Yahoo7’s lifestyle, entertainment and travel division, leading the launch team for Yahoo7’s lifestyle and entertainment platform, Be. She has also held senior editorial roles at News Corp Australia, including online editor of body+soul and senior digital producer at Vogue Australia.
Network Ten general manager digital, Liz Baldwin, said: “Mel has been integral to the creation of ten daily and I’m delighted to welcome her as the website’s managing editor.
“Mel’s impressive background leading digital editorial teams across many top online brands made her perfect for the role and her editorial vision has been key to the development to ten daily.
“Together with Lisa as executive editor of ten daily, we have an impressive editorial team dedicated to bringing a fresh entertainment and news brand to Australians everywhere.”
Publishing
News media audiences grow 2% in 2017 – publishers link growth to trust
In December 2017, 16.9 million people, or 90% of the population (aged 14+), read news media across all platforms.
Almost three quarters of the population (74%, or 13.8 million people) consumed news media on digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Newspapers alone were read by 12.8 million people, or 68% of the population in December.
National news media was read by 2.5 million, or 13%, of the population. Metro newspapers were read by 10.6 million people, or 56% of consumers, over the same period.
Regional and community news media brands were read by 6.5 million people, or 35% of the population during December. A total of 3.1 million people (or 17% aged 14+), read regional newspapers, while community newspapers were read by 3.5 million (or 19% aged 14+).
“Since 2015 we have seen more than half a million additional Australians turning to news media, consuming premium content they know they can trust. The great majority of major news brands have seen readership growth in print and digital audiences in 2017. In contrast, Australian’s social media usage is now in year-on-year decline, consistent with negative audience growth in Canada and the US,” NewsMediaWorks CEO Peter Miller said.
The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s highest-reaching title across all platforms with 5.18 million readers. The Daily Telegraph followed, reaching 4.18 million readers and the Herald Sun on 4.1 million (see table below).
Radio
ABC has announced new ABC KIDS listen: dedicated digital radio station
ABC KIDS listen is aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia, the national early childhood curriculum for childhood educators, that encourages children to learn through play.
ABC KIDS listen aims to enhance learning, imagination, cognitive and physical activity, creativity and family experiences, which will assist parents and caregivers to bridge the gap between home and child-care.
Available through DAB+ radios and a live radio stream online, families can enjoy 14 regular weekly audio programs from 6am every day. The programs are themed and designed to suit a child’s daily routine, encouraging children to explore, learn, play, and later wind down, rest, and sleep.
Listeners can select programs on demand to suit their child’s changing needs. Listeners can also download a full program within the ABC KIDS listen app allowing families seven days to listen to their selected program any time and anywhere without an internet connection.
ABC KIDS listen is available on DAB+ radios (scan for the station named ABC KIDS listen), to stream at abc.net.au/kidslisten, or by downloading the app free on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Television
International distributor all3media signs first-look deal with growing Aussie indie
Rosemary Blight and Kylie du Fresne
Goalpost Pictures is known for the original drama Cleverman, produced with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures for ABC TV, SundanceTV and BBC Three and 11 AACTA Award-winning film The Sapphires.
“With a growing international appetite for quality television, Goalpost is thrilled to partner with one of the world’s best content producers and distributors, all3media international, to develop a slate of distinctive and original stories that will resonate with audiences around the world,” said Goalpost Pictures’ partners and producers Rosemary Blight and Kylie du Fresne.
Maartje Horchner, EVP of Content at all3media international, added; “We are so pleased and proud to be working with the talented team at Goalpost Pictures on their forthcoming slate. Rosemary and Kylie are absolute trailblazers for their craft – creating high-end Australian drama with international appeal – and we are looking forward to collaborating on their next exciting project.”
Doctor Blake producer December Media working with BBC on new drama
Filming for The Cry has begun with Jenna Coleman (Victoria, Doctor Who) and Ewen Leslie (Safe Harbour, Top of the Lake) being joined by Stella Gonet (The Crown, House of Elliott), Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena, The Danish Girl) and Australian actors Asher Keddie (X Men: Origins, Offspring), Alex Dimitriades (Seven Types of Ambiguity), Markella Kavenagh (Romper Stomper) and Shareena Clanton (Wentworth) in the four-part thrilling, psychological BBC One drama written by Jacquelin Perske, adapted from the novel by Helen FitzGerald.
Filming in Scotland and Australia and directed by Glendyn Ivin (Safe Harbour, Gallipoli, The Beautiful Lie), The Cry is the first scripted television commission for Scottish-based production company Synchronicity Films.
The plot sees Joanna (Coleman) and her husband Alistair (Leslie), travel with their baby from Scotland to Australia to see Alistair’s mother, Elizabeth (Gonet) and to fight for custody of Alistair’s daughter Chloe (Kavenagh) against his Australian ex-wife Alexandra (Keddie).
The Cry is a 4×60’ drama written by Jacquelin Perske. Perske was the creator of Love My Way and Spirited, and wrote four episodes of Seven Types Of Ambiguity.
The Cry is currently being filmed in and around Melbourne and Glasgow with the support of Film Victoria and Creative Scotland. DRG holds the distribution rights.
Stuart Menzies and December Media are the local Australian producers and ABC is the Australian broadcaster.
Seven finds room for another dating show: FMA to make Take Me Out
Seven told Mediaweek recently it was looking for more shiny floor entertainment shows, and this is one of them.
Forget swiping left or right and fighting over roses (references to dating shows on Nine and TEN), Take Me Out promises to deliver on laughs and love.
The format has been a hit across the globe from China, Denmark and Indonesia to Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Korea. In the UK, it has been the number one show for young adults (16-34).
Every week, 30 ladies with attitude are introduced to several bachelors one by one. Each woman has a switch that controls her fate for a date. If she thinks it’s a match, she keeps her light on. However, if her attraction has been short-circuited, then it’s lights out and she waits for the next potential Mr. Right.
Take Me Out is a FremantleMedia Australia production for Seven. Seven’s director of network programming Angus Ross said: “Those first wonderful moments – when girl meets boy – are filled with laughter and awkwardness. We take that fantastic first chat, give it the big shiny floor treatment and settle back for the fun.”
FremantleMedia Australia’s director of programming Jonathon Summerhayes added: “Take Me Out is like holding a mirror up to the modern dating scene. It is certainly the most relatable of the shows in its genre. We are thrilled to be partnering with Seven on this daring, hilarious program. It’s set to have everyone talking and laughing.”
The series is currently casting at takemeoutaustralia.com.au
Sports Media
Sports score: Nine’s summer of cricket reaches 16,096,415 unique viewers
The broadcaster reports a total of 16,096,415 unique viewers across Australia (i.e. the total number of individuals who watched any part of any day’s play) tuned in to Nine’s Summer of Cricket during the 2017-2018 season.
Across the five metropolitan capital cities, the cumulative reach across the summer was 11.340 million unique viewers, representing 66.4% of the metropolitan population.
With regional viewers, the cumulative reach was 4.756 million unique viewers, representing 61.3% of the regional population.
This included The Magellan Ashes Series, which saw Australia stay undefeated with a 4-0 victory over England, before England got a measure of revenge in The Gillette One Day International series, winning 4-1.
This all culminated in The Gillette International Twenty 20 Series, which also saw New Zealand join Australia and England to do battle, with Australia victorious.
The highest-rating session by average viewers across the summer of cricket was session three, day two of the second Test between Australia and England in Adelaide, which achieved a national average audience of 2.102 million people (1.531 million metro, 573,000 regional).
The highest-rating session by peak viewers across the summer of cricket was the very same session, which achieved 2.458 million people (1.717 million metro, 740,000 regional).
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