The former Australian swimming champ Susie O’Neill has been a big part of the Ash, Kip and Luttsy show on Nova 106.9 in Brisbane for the past five years after she filled in as a sports presenter, along with two others, when regular sports guy Mitch Lewis was on his honeymoon.

After that went well, O’Neill started as a contributor one day a week.

Her presence on the program has steadily increased over the years where she is now on four days a week.

Mediaweek recorded a special podcast with O’Neill recently ahead of a fortnight of special Gold Coast broadcasts the breakfast show will do during the Commonwealth Games.

Susie O’Neill with Ash, Kip and Luttsy ahead of the Commonwealth Games

Do many people think of Susie O’Neill as an FM breakfast broadcaster?

I’d never had any other offer before to do FM radio. I did a bit of sports stuff for 4BC. Even now I don’t think of myself as an FM breakfast radio announcer. That makes me think of someone really, really loud and someone extroverted. I am the opposite of that.

I’m not a good judge if it is working, but the ratings have been relatively good and it has been good fun.

The boys have been really good to me and not many people get to start their career on a top-rating breakfast show.

Do you find it hard to judge how good you are on air?

[Laughs] Yes. Because I come from a swimming background, everything was clear-cut regarding whether I was going well or going badly. How well you are going on radio can be very subjective.

Did you turn your back on a media career?

I am a very private person. When I was swimming, media was a necessary evil. I was swimming full-time and I needed sponsors and endorsements and the way to do that is to get some sort of media profile. Although I continue to be very private, I do talk about my life a lot on air. I don’t think of myself as a media person even though I am in the media.

Did you make so much money from swimming you didn’t need a media career for financial reward?

That’s a hard question… what I’m earning now is not as much as I used to earn. The Sydney Olympics was fortunate for my career. As a current gold medallist after winning in 1996, those four years I was sponsored by some real blue-chip companies like Qantas, Telstra and Westfield. It was a great time to be an athlete. They all say it is not about making money, but the important thing about making money is that it allows you to stay in the sport longer.

Does Nova talk to you much about radio performance and what you need to offer on air?

They have just left me alone, which is good. The boys say to me, ‘You don’t know how lucky you are.’ Usually they have to spend time after the show doing air checks apparently, and they go through everything they have done wrong. If someone did that to me I would completely lose my confidence and not want to say anything. No one has given me any advice, although I do listen and hear what other broadcasters are doing. I am lucky to have good people around me. I think I would know if something hasn’t worked.

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Listen to the complete podcast with Nova 106.9’s Susie O’Neill here, or stay up to date with the latest Mediaweek podcasts by subscribing here.

Seven has released complete details of its Commonwealth Games coverage, including how much viewers will have to pay if they want to ensure complete access all areas.

Below is a summary of their media release this week.

Superstars of world sport will descend on the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) in April, including Australian stars Mack Horton, Cate and Bronte Campbell, Sally Pearson, Elaine Thompson, Kyle Chalmers, Mark Cavendish and more, as over 6,600 athletes and officials from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories share in a celebration of sport and entertainment.

Australia will field a formidable Commonwealth Games team across every sport, headlined by a 70-strong swimming team, 109 athletics representatives, a Diamonds netball outfit featuring five Commonwealth Games gold medallists, and team medal hopefuls in men’s and women’s basketball, hockey, beach volleyball, and more.

Australians can watch the GC2018 on Channel 7, 7TWO and 7mate, as well as online and on the go with the 7CommGames app – free to download in the Android and Apple app stores. [But not free to see all coverage.]

Seven will deliver over 320 hours of broadcast television coverage across the 11 days of competition.

Daily coverage begins at 0800 AEST and earlier on some days, and continues until after midnight AEST each day. Channel 7 and 7TWO will showcase the best of the Commonwealth Games with 7mate also covering the action as Channel 7 goes to 7News.

The Seven Network returns as Australia’s Commonwealth Games Network for the first time since Manchester 2002. This complements Seven’s role as Australia’s Olympic Network, a commitment that now spans six decades.

Queensland’s Gold Coast (credit: Shutterstock)

7CommGames app

The 7CommGames app and website offer more Commonwealth Games coverage than ever before. Viewers can take their pick of the action from exclusive live event channels, long-form highlights, exclusive interviews and features. And it’s all available on the go, at work, or cast to the big screen in the lounge room.

The 7CommGames app gives you exclusive access to:

• Seven’s broadcast coverage from the Gold Coast on Channel 7, 7TWO and 7mate
• Watch every medal event live and in full
• Dedicated coverage of Aussie team events including basketball, netball and hockey
• Selected VOD content, including highlights and interviews
• Event HQ for interactive results, medal tables and event schedules
• Available across Android, iOS, Chromecast, web, Samsung TV, Fetch TV, Telstra TV, Apple TV and Android TV (compatible with Foxtel Now and Sony Bravia).

Go Premium for a one-off fee of $19.99 to access all coverage. Premium access includes:

• Seven’s broadcast coverage in stunning HD
• More sport and more choice with up to 20 live event channels across the day
• Full replays of the biggest and best events on each day of the Commonwealth Games
• Exclusive short-form interviews and features
• Less commercial content, meaning you get to the action faster
• Access Premium content across eight connected devices so the whole family can enjoy the action

*data charges apply except for eligible Optus mobile customers. Content such as adverts, authentication and app analytics are excluded from Optus’s free streaming and will incur data charges.

Hosts and commentators

Seven’s team of experts and commentators will be calling the action and bringing to life a vibrant sporting and cultural event that will be truly unique to the Gold Coast.

Hamish McLachlan, Johanna Griggs, Mel McLaughlin, Jim Wilson and Todd Woodbridge will anchor the coverage.

Bruce McAvaney will lead the calling for Channel 7 at the athletics and other events, while Basil Zempilas will call the swimming and two-time Commonwealth Games silver medallist Dave Culbert will also call from the athletics.

Bruce McAvaney will lead the calling for Channel 7 at the athletics and other events

Ian Thorpe, Lord Sebastian Coe, Steve Hooker, Giaan Rooney, Scott McGrory, Kate Bates, Aaron Royle and Tamsyn Lewis headline a crack team of expert commentators who between them share 19 Commonwealth Games gold medals and 10 Olympic gold medals.

In the mixed zones Nathan Templeton will be poolside, with Pat Welsh at the athletics track and Sam Lane at the cycling capturing all the emotions from our athletes fresh from competition.

Rachael Finch, Tom Williams, Matthew Mitcham, Annabelle Williams, Emma Davenport, Bill McDonald and Curtis McGrath will bring viewers the colour and characters throughout the two weeks on the Gold Coast.

In addition, there will be commentary from a string of the biggest names in Australian sport via the host broadcaster including Andrew Gaze, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Jane Flemming, Kerri Pottharst, Robbie McEwan, Matt Keenan, Nikki Hudson, Russell Mark and Nicole Livingstone.

For a fun look at Gold Coast 2018, Mick Molloy, Sam Pang and Andy Maher return to The Front Bar. Joined by a host of former champions from years past, the team take a nostalgic and humorous look at the Commonwealth Games.

Top photo credit: Shutterstock 

The platform will launch with content themes including “Real Life and Practical Parenting”, “Parenting How-Tos” and “Expert Advice”, and will further bolster its content offering with a lineup of soon-to-be-announced celebrity ambassadors and authors.

“This is an exciting year for Be. We knew parenting content really resonated and recognised a new commercial opportunity for our clients to reach this highly engaged, niche audience within a premium environment. The approach is part of our strategy to listen closely to our audience and use those insights to inform our content and commercial offering,” said Zoe Cocker, head of brand, Yahoo7.

For launch sponsor Yoplait Petit Miam, Yahoo7 has created an editorially led campaign through its end-to-end content marketing solution, Storytellers.

Sam Harris, client service director at media agency Starcom, said: “We’re very excited to be on board with the launch of Be Parenting and to bring this unique sponsorship opportunity to Yoplait. The new vertical provided our client with access to a large, engaged and highly targeted audience and Yahoo7’s Storytellers product delivered a solution that combined the most relevant consumer data and insights, with compelling content and powerful technology, to produce a truly impactful campaign.”

Box office revenues for the top 20 movies climbed off their lows for the year last week as takings lifted 21% to $11.80m across the four-day weekend.

With the Easter break just days away, Peter Rabbit took top spot, knocking off the weekend’s other big release, Pacific Rim: Uprising.

Both new releases will be hoping to swell their coffers across the Easter long weekend.

Tomb Raider dropped from #1 to #3 thanks to the new arrivals.

Both Black Panther and Red Sparrow continue to hover in the top five.

#1 Peter Rabbit $3.64m

The live action and animated family comedy has been held back in Australia waiting for the Easter break. The movie was produced by Sydney-based Animal Logic Entertainment and director Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment. After previews last week the film opened properly on 373 screens with a weekend screen average of $9,766, which is the best average for a movie at #1 since the opening weekend of Black Panther at the end of February. That gives Peter Rabbit a gross to-date of $4.24m. The live-action scenes were partly shot in Sydney’s Centennial Park and Central Railway station with the latter doubling for Paddington station in London. The movie was also filmed in London and the Lake District in northern England.

#2 Pacific Rim: Uprising $2.69m

The weekend’s major release was this science fiction action movie starring John Boyega, who recently visited Australia on a promo tour. The film opened on 425 screens, but had a lower screen average than the #1 movie with $6,343.

#3 Tomb Raider $1.30m

Last week’s #1 movie has dropped two spots and shed 201 screens this week to 359 with a screen average of $3,630 giving it a total gross to-date of $4.86m. Takings on its second weekend dropped 53%, which is the sharpest decline for any movie in the top five this year.

#4 Black Panther $1.21m

Week six on the chart and the movie still holds a top five spot with 300 screens still showing one of the biggest hits of the year so far. Box office total after those six weekends is $37.50m.

#5 Red Sparrow $712,000

Four weeks in the top five is a good result for Red Sparrow, which remains on 267 screens and has a box office total of $8.74m.

By James Manning

Seven

Home and Away started its new week with an audience of 673,000 after a week 12 average of 688,000.

Viewers continue to be reluctant to sample Australian Spartan in big numbers with 401,000 keeping it out of the OzTAM top 20 Monday FTA shows. This follows Spartan’s return to the schedule on Sunday with 473,000.

That was a poor lead-in for The Resident, which then did 295,000.

Nine

Despite a two-part segment raking over Married At First Sight dramas, the start of a new week of A Current Affair saw the Monday episode on 787,000. This comes after a week 11 average of 818,000. The show has been a rock solid performer this year with all but the first week of survey seeing a weekly average close to or better than 800,000.

The new US sitcom Young Sheldon launched strongly for the channel with an audience of 1.05m, which might give TEN some confidence about the return of Roseanne.

Nine followed Young Sheldon with new Big Bang Theory, which did 890,000.

Nine didn’t rest Travel Guides this week with the teams heading to Western Australia for an audience of 662,000, down on last week’s 810,000, which had the benefit of MAFS ahead of it.

The Monday night football shows followed with 100% Footy on 50,000 in Sydney and 39,000 in Brisbane.

Footy Classified did 109,000 in Melbourne and 32,000 in each of Adelaide and Perth.

TEN

The Project audience pushed above half a million at 7pm after a week 12 average of 438,000. The big drawcard last night was the CBS 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels but it didn’t offer many new headlines.

The second episode of Bachelor In Paradise was down 100,000 on its debut, but it had some tougher competition in the form of Young Sheldon and new BBT on Nine.

Two episodes of Law & Order: SVU then did 260,000 and 183,000.

ABC

The first week of Easter is always good for the channel and it again has delivered the best Monday share of the year so far.

7.30 spent half the program on the cricket crisis with 666,000 watching after a week 12 average audience of 558,000.

Australian Story did 720,000 after 650,000 last week.

Four Corners was up too – from 587,000 a week ago to 735,000 last night.

Also up, but with smaller rises, were Media Watch on 626,000 and then Q&A on 455,000.

SBS

Great British Royal Ships performed strongest with 279,000 – well up on 228,000 last week where it was the channel’s second best program for the week.