By Kruti Joshi
Jamila Rizvi is a well-known name in the Australian women’s media landscape, having editorially led Mamamia in its early days – first as managing editor and then editor-in-chief. She was with the company for about four years so she has seen it flourish first-hand.
“I remember when I joined the company, you could fit the entire editorial team in my car. [Laughs] By the time I finished up, there were about 45 people working in editorial and the company had over 100 people working there. It’s an amazing growth story,” she told Mediaweek.
After leaving the women’s network, Rizvi worked for News Corp Australia as a columnist. She finished up a couple of months ago. Recently, she was named editor-at-large for Nine’s yet-to-launch subscription website Future Women. The new entity is aimed at professional women.
“It is a leadership role that is incredibly flexible. I expect to be one of the faces of the brand,” Rizvi said. “Given my experience in women’s media over the last five or six years – which includes working for a start-up – I will be able to play a supportive strategic role to the team who are going to be running the show.”
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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.
Game Of Games was a success when it launched in the US in January this year, attracting a weekly audience of more than eight million and ranking #1 in its timeslot in people 18 to 49.
The US series is produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted & Alternative Television in association with Telepictures and A Very Good Production, which is owned by Ellen DeGeneres, who is the host and executive producer of the show in the US.
DeGeneres said: “I’m thrilled that Game Of Games is making its way to Australia on TEN.
“And I’m already thinking of ways to make it better. For instance, in the US we drop contestants into vats of mashed potatoes, but in Australia it’s gonna be 100% Vegemite.”
Each hour-long episode of Game Of Games includes supersized versions of the most popular and action-packed games from the award-winning daytime talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Contestants are pulled direct from the audience and have to manoeuvre massive obstacles, answer questions under crushing time pressure and face gigantic plunges into the unknown – all in a quest to win a big cash prize.
Network Ten chief content officer Beverley McGarvey said: “Game Of Games is a big new show that is light, fun and engaging. It’s a blast of great family entertainment that is perfect for the back half of the year.
“Game Of Games is unique. It packed full of big fun, big physical entertainment, big laughs and big cash prizes.”
Games Of Games is a Warner Bros International TV Production Australia production for Network Ten.
WBITVP managing director Michael Brooks said: “Game Of Games is the biggest physical game show ever filmed inside a studio. It’s laugh-out-loud fun and madness from start to finish and we believe Australian audiences are going to love it.”
Game Of Games will premiere on TEN and WIN Network later this year.
TEN said the host will be announced soon.
The partnership will see Nova Entertainment leverage its radio and digital platforms to promote ESL’s flagship event in Australia, IEM Sydney and the ESL AU & NZ Championships to the public.
In addition, Nova Entertainment will exclusively represent and sell ESL inventory for the ESL AU & NZ Championships in the Australian market.
Nathan Reay, Nova Entertainment’s head of M&A, strategy and partnerships, said, “We are excited to partner with ESL, a global leader in esports, with an established award-winning presence in Australia. As esports experience enormous growth, Nova Entertainment is committed to being at the forefront of their expansion in Australia.”
ESL has an extensive global digital footprint with over 2.2m followers on its Twitch streaming channel (ESL_CSGO) and over 1.6m Facebook followers on its global ESL page. IEM is the longest-running global pro gaming tour in the world.
The ESL AU & NZ championships will provide opportunities for brands to tailor sales and marketing opportunities for current esports fans while continuing to build audience.
Nick Vanzetti, ESL Australia’s managing director, said, “ESL has pioneered the way in esports live events and broadcast innovation in Australia and it is our mission to continue to develop the ecosystem here. Partnering with Nova Entertainment will provide the growth platform to bring mass audience to esports in Australia through IEM and the ESL AU & NZ Championships.”
ESL, a part of the international digital entertainment group MTG, is the world’s largest esports company, leading the industry across the most popular video games with numerous online and offline competitions. It includes high-profile, branded international and national leagues and tournaments such as the IEM Sydney, ESL One, ESL National Championships and other top-tier stadium-size events, as well as grassroots amateur cups, leagues and matchmaking systems.
ESL covers a broad field of services in gaming technology, event management, advertising and television production, fully catering to the needs of the esports ecosystem. With offices in North America, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Spain, China, and partners in many other countries, it has a global footprint (www.eslgaming.com).
ESL creates and promotes gaming experiences globally with its Australian flagship event, IEM Sydney, part of the longest-running global pro gaming tour in the world. The annual competition features the world’s best gamers in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive amongst other esports titles with over $7m in prize money to date.
Australia’s largest esports event, IEM Sydney, returned for a second consecutive year at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in May, building on its online audience of over 8 million last year. Additionally, the nationally focused ESL AU & NZ Championships are entering their third year of competition in 2018.
By James Manning
Ipsos has been measuring print audience since 2013 and the inclusion of Nielsen Consumer & Media View (CMV) with the print and digital currencies (emma cross-platform) will offer cross platform readership, attitudinal, lifestyle and product data. This product will be branded emma CMV.
Monique Perry, Nielsen’s managing director, media, said: “Nielsen is ready to take total audience measurement to the next level. We are thrilled to offer, for the first time, a streamlined and simpler solution for the Australian market. There is nothing more powerful than bringing to life high-quality currency data with a greater understanding of Australian consumers’ increasingly unique and diverse attitudes, consumption preferences, ethnicity and purchase intention. We are delighted to see the Nielsen Consumer & Media View client base expand to include news media and magazine publishers.”
Brian Hogan, executive director emma at Ipsos, added: “Since launch in 2013, emma has established itself as a world class readership survey. Ipsos is proud to be able to provide continuity in readership measurement to Australia’s news media and magazine publishers, including the many regional, community and independent publishers that previously had no access to robust readership measurement. Ipsos’s state-of-the-art research techniques are developed around the world and our proficiency in delivering readership and core demographic data will continue to provide media and marketing decision makers with reliable and consistent audience data and insights for many years to come.”
Mal Dale, general manager of The Readership Works, told Mediaweek: “We are entering into a five-year contract with Nielsen. The reason we are doing this is to evolve emma and integrate it into Nielsen’s suite of insights and audience currency products. By including emma amongst the other products in the Nielsen CMV ecosystem we will be able to present a more streamlined product to market.
“Certain things will change and some things will stay the same. We will be retiring the Ipsos survey product data and taking the data from Nielsen’s CMV. We have been working on this change over the past 18 months. Rather than Ipsos having a separate sales force in market selling emma we are going to consolidate sales and support into Nielsen.”
Dale said the new data will remain available to various accredited software suppliers. “At launch it will be available through Nielsen’s Clear Decisions software which accompanies their CMV database.
“Because the data hasn’t changed and still comes from Ipsos, there will be no trend breaks. People can still use the data back to when emma started in 2013.”
Mediaweek asked if the changes will allow publishers to generate more revenue.
Dale: “By giving publishers better tools by which to present their sales pitches, it gives them a significantly improved opportunity to compete better. This is now a state-of-the-art measurement and insights tool which will allow them to compete better.”
Perry: “It is about streamlining the offering. All users will now be able to access all media measurement through the CMV hub. As publishers have assets across various different media – to be able to tell a total audience story is increasingly important for the publisher.”
With detailing how much, Dale said The Readership Works is investing more in the readership service.
Ipsos will continue to collect the emma print readership data, which constitutes the currency for magazines and newspapers, including newspaper inserted magazines, branded sections and regional and community newspapers.
However, Roy Morgan continues to measure both newspaper and magazine readership, which continues to be used by a number of publishers and media buyers.
Dale said at least for the short term there will still be two magazine readership measurements used by the major publishers – emma and Roy Morgan.
As to the agency groups who don’t use emma, Dale said: “This new offer is more compelling and we expect they will reconsider using emma. We are not going anywhere though – we have just signed new five-year contracts, we are here for the long haul.”
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Top photo: [L-R] Brian Hogan (Ipsos), Monique Perry (Nielsen) and Male Dale (The Readership Works)
Mediaweek editor James Manning takes a look at the ARIA Charts for the week starting May 14.
Rapper Childish Gambino has become the fifth artist to top the singles chart in 2018 with the track “This Is America”, which is his first chart-topper in Australia. His previous best here was “Redbone”, which peaked at #27 in 2016.
5 Seconds Of Summer creep into the top five with “Youngblood” at #3 after five weeks on the chart.
The big chart news though is Drake has dropped to #4 with “Nice For What” on the chart, which is the lowest the artist has been since the end of January when “God’s Plan” entered the chart at #3.
The only new arrival in the top 10 was Amy Shark with “I Said Hi”, which hits a new chart peak at #9 after five weeks on the chart, gradually climbing each week.
Just one single debuted inside the top 50 this week – Selena Gomez with “Back To You”.
Jessica Mauboy’s “We Got Love” has returned to the chart for just its second week, reaching a new high at #31 after a disappointing weekend at Eurovision a week ago.
Two tunes found a place in the top 50 from lower down the chart:
#42: Hayden James with “Just Friends” featuring Boy Matthews after three weeks on the chart
#49: The Chainsmokers & Drew Love with “Somebody” after four weeks on the chart
Arctic Monkeys have landed their third album, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”, at #1 on debut with three other artists finding a top 10 spot in their first week while four other artists debuted inside the top 50. It was The Monkeys’ third #1 album.
Delta Goodrem’s soundtrack album for “I Honestly Love You” has entered the chart at #4 as the second part of Seven’s miniseries screened just last night on Seven. Four of Goodrem’s previous five album releases have made it to #1, with “Child Of The Universe” climbing to #2 in 2012.
Also in the top 10 on debut were Charlie Puth with his second album “Voicenotes”, and metal all-stars Bad Wolves with their first album “Disobey” at #9.
The remainder of the top 50 debut albums were:
#14: “Eurovision Song Contest” compilation – Various Artists
#39: Beach House with “7”
#42: Esoterik with “My Astral Plane”
#49: Playboi Carti with “Die Lit”
By James Manning
Seven partnered with ITV for its coverage and started earlier in the afternoon than other local options. Seven’s coverage was anchored by the ever reliable Melissa Doyle and featured plenty of guest commentators including UK TV icon Angela Rippon.
Seven had a combined metro and regional average audience of 2.59m watching the ceremony and a metro average of 1.95m.
Here are the average metro audiences for Saturday night:
Seven: Ceremony 1.95m, Arrivals 1.73m, Procession 1.50m, Countdown 1.41m, 7News 1.27m
Nine: Wedding 1.47m, Post 1.14m, Pre 974,000, 9News 800,000
ABC: News 524,000, Ceremony 506,000, Procession 427,000, Arrivals 410,000, Countdown 361,000
SBS: Ceremony 129,000, Post 112,000
All networks seemed to do a poor job of identifying many of the guests as they entered the church apart from the obvious household names like Oprah, Clooney, Fergie etc. It wasn’t a traditional red carpet arrival to be sure, but it had certainly been hyped like one in the lead-up. It is understandable some of the Australian commentators didn’t know who was who, but poor form from the British networks.
The Saturday night metro primary shares were:
Seven 36.4%, Nine 26.0%, ABC 9.9%, TEN 3.4%, SBS 2.9%.
On subscription TV, UKTV easily did the best with its BBC coverage attracting 180,000.
Sky News carried UK Sky News coverage and did 70,000, just days before the channel finally gets its dedicated home on the Foxtel platform.
BBC World News also did well with 52,000.
The wedding might be over but there was still plenty of coverage live from London. Today’s Lizzie Pearl and Sunrise’s Edwina Bartholomew were both reporting from outside Buckingham Palace this morning.
At Nine, Sylvia Jeffreys and Ben Fordham were hosting Today with Karl and Georgie making their way back from Windsor.
At Seven, Sam Armytage is taking some time off after the wedding. David Koch managed to make it back after a massive weekend that saw him fly out of London on Friday to Shanghai to watch Port Adelaide win in China and then back on another plane to return to Sydney on Sunday.
The week 20 metro averages for the two commercial TV breakfast shows were:
Sunrise 247,000
Today 239,000
Both averages were down slightly on their previous week.
By James Manning
After six nights of week 20 Nine was actually 0.8 ahead in primary share, but after Seven’s big Saturday win Seven jumped ahead to claim the week.
In combined channel share, Seven was ahead all week with consistent performances from both 7mate and 7TWO. The only channel to fall below 3% all week was 7TWO on Saturday and that was because all the viewers were watching the primary channel.
The top seven week 20 shows were from Saturday night wedding coverage.
Just one entertainment show made the top 10 and did better than 900,000 – The Voice Sunday with 1.0m from May 13.
By James Manning
Sunday night on House Rules and the judges arrived in Queensland where the teams brought the Hamptons into Mel and Dave’s Gold Coast home. There were tears and low scores with wake-up calls for some of the contestants. The audience liked what it saw with the audience climbing to just under 800,000, the best for this season.
No audience growth though for the second week of Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted To You, which slipped to 488,000 after launching a week ago with 731,000.
The Voice went well over time with a finish after 9.30pm and Luke Antony and Brock Ashby sang off to survive. A strong performance secured Brock a spot in the next live final. There were some great and not-so-great singers last night with Boy George having the best grip on reality with his comments. The audience of 885,000 was down over 100,000 on a week ago and might slip further when time corrected as the show ran over by close to 45 minutes.
60 Minutes posted a figure of 777,000, which will possibly slip significantly as it started over 30 minutes late beginning with coverage from London with Allison Langdon.
Lisa Wilkinson was again reporting from London for The Sunday Project with 472,000 ranking it in the top 10, yet the show was just under last Sunday’s 490,000.
Nigella Lawson week started on MasterChef and she managed to keep the show #1 in the key demos. The all people Monday audience was up close to 90,000 week-on-week to 811,000.
Roseanne then did 406,000 after 298,000 a week ago.
NCIS was on 287,000.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth met David Attenborough on The Queen’s Green Planet, which did 654,000.
The second of the three-part Agatha Christie’s Ordeal By Innocence was on 464,000.
A doco on the 2015 Met Gala took a long time to get here with special The First Monday In May featuring Baz Luhrmann and Anna Wintour in starring roles with 125,000 watching.
A repeat of Riddle Of Petra was on 193,000 at 7.30pm.
A repeat of Yeti Man, Myth Or Beast then did 182,000 at 8.30pm.
SUNDAY METRO | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven | Nine | Ten | SBS | |||||
ABC | 10.9% | 7 | 20.2% | 9 | 22.7% | TEN | 14.2% | SBS One | 4.4% |
ABC 2 | 2.4% | 7TWO | 3.4% | GO! | 4.1% | ONE | 2.5% | VICELAND | 0.7% |
ABC ME | 0.8% | 7mate | 3.4% | GEM | 2.8% | ELEVEN | 2.2% | Food Net | 0.4% |
ABC NEWS | 1.1% | 7flix | 2.1% | 9Life | 1.5% | NITV | 0.2% | ||
TOTAL | 15.1% | 29.1% | 31.1% | 18.9% | 5.7% |
SUNDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | Ten Affiliates | SBS | |||||
ABC | 10.3% | 7 | 20.9% | 9 | 22.0% | WIN | 10.5% | SBS One | 4.6% |
ABC 2 | 2.1% | 7TWO | 3.4% | GO! | 4.4% | ONE | 3.1% | VICELAND | 0.9% |
ABC ME | 1.0% | 7mate | 3.6% | GEM | 5.4% | ELEVEN | 1.6% | Food Net | 0.5% |
ABC NEWS | 1.1% | 7flix | 2.2% | 9Life | 2.2% | NITV | 0.2% | ||
TOTAL | 14.5% | 30.1% | 34.0% | 15.2% | 6.2% |
SUNDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FTA | STV | ||||||||
85.3% | 14.7% |
Friday Top 10
Saturday Top 10
Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV national
Source: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM
Each year the results appear exclusively in the Australian Reader’s Digest. More than 2,400 Australians took part in the poll.
Vegemite returned as the Most Iconic Australian brand. Meanwhile, Coles is the Most Trusted Supermarket, Bunnings is the Most Trusted Retailer and Guide Dogs Australia continues to be the Most Trusted Charity.
“As we’ve seen so clearly this year, trust can be hard earned and easily lost, and it can definitely be the difference between success and failure,” said Australian Reader’s Digest group editor Louise Waterson.
“It is built on quality, consistency, honesty and delivering on your promise. Trust matters, and congratulations to those who have managed to earn it. They enjoy a hard-fought competitive advantage in this day and age.
“This is our 19th annual Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey, and the importance of trust – in a digital age influenced by social media tribes – seems to get more important each and every year.”
1: Band-Aid
2: Dettol (First Aid)
3: Colgate (Toothpaste)
4: Gillette
5: Dulux
6: Dyson
7: Energizer
8: Cadbury
9: Weber
10: Bridgestone
11: Panadol
12: Aerogard (Body Insect Repellent:
13: Listerine
14: Vegemite
15: Cancer Council (Sunscreen)
Lizzie Young, Nine’s content strategy director, is pursuing plans to secure a fairer share of ad revenue generated from content distributed on the platform but it is understood the two sides are stuck in an impasse over terms as Google plays hardball in negotiations.
Anthony Fitzgerald, chief executive of sales house Multi Channel Network, said tech giants were now bullying television networks after taking advantage of publishers.
“Silicon Valley has used news media and other traditional publishers for years and now they’re trying the same tricks with the broadcast industry,” Fitzgerald, who represents Ten and Foxtel in talks with advertisers, said.
Catalano, 51, is believed this week to have sold 30 million shares in the $1.72 billion Fairfax Media.
He is also believed to have sold 3 million shares in Domain, the $2bn property listings company Fairfax spun off in November and which the entrepreneurial former property reporter led until his January showdown with Falloon.
The broadcaster has already spent two days in the witness stand in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, and will return to it on Monday when lawyers for the Wagner brothers – who are seeking up to $4.8 million in damages – will continue their grilling.
Jones was repeatedly asked if he hated brothers John, Denis, Neill and Joe Wagner, each time answering, “I don’t hate people.”
The combined space of the properties, owned by Rail Corporation, is about 90,000 square metres.
The property market speculation comes a month after the NSW Government rejected a proposal that would have seen Google anchor a new technology hub in Sydney.
The suggested new site comes as Google fits out two additional floors at one of its Pyrmont offices, which are being vacated by Accenture. Next year, Google will also expand in a building at Darling Island Road, when Fairfax Media, the publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, relocates.
David Uren moves from economics editor to associate editor (economics). Uren joined the newspaper in 2004 and is a former editor of Business Review Weekly (BRW).
Adam Creighton moves from economics correspondent to economics editor. Creighton joined the national daily in 2012 and is a former senior adviser to then-opposition leader Tony Abbott.
Paul Maley moves from national security editor to defence and national security editor, working closely with defence writer Rory Callinan. Maley first joined the newspaper in 2007.
Ibrahim launched legal proceedings against The Daily Mail last year after it wrongly alleged he was involved in an international drug syndicate that led to a spate of raids and arrests across Sydney and Dubai.
Ibrahim did not comment to PS on the settlement when contacted this week, although it is understood to be at the upper end of defamation payouts, but less than $300,000.
McLachlan, 52, is suing the national broadcaster and Fairfax Media, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, over a joint investigation airing allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct made against him by female performers relating to the 2014 production of The Rocky Horror Show.
The media outlets foreshadowed on Friday they will raise “in excess of 20” fresh allegations of bullying, harassment and indecent assault against him by unnamed witnesses when they file their defence to his claim next week.
In an affidavit filed in court, McLachlan’s solicitor, Mark O’Brien, said he had contacted the actor on Wednesday to inform him about the potential new witnesses and McLachlan had replied: “I cannot believe they still need to look for witnesses five months after ruining my life.”
An ABC spokesman said the broadcaster would be buying search terms for the royal wedding, but described the total amount spent on search engine marketing (SEM) as “very small”, reports Fairfax Media’s Jennifer Duke.
“For example, less than $1,000 would be spent on SEM for the ABC coverage of the royal wedding, for which we will have both television and news coverage available.”
Guthrie recently provided information to the Senate showing a $1.5 million spend on digital marketing in 2016. This included $1.05 million on social media marketing and $450,000 on SEM. All paid search activity is on Google, while 97% of the ABC’s paid social marketing spend is on Facebook.
The SVOD provider will showcase its original content of premium drama and comedy on Qantas flights and feature its own channel on the airline’s inflight entertainment.
The channel called “Stan Exclusives” will give Qantas customers a taste of Stan Original shows with episodes available from No Activity, Wolf Creek, The Other Guy, Romper Stomper and One Night Stan. More original shows will also be added in the future.
In addition to this, Stan will also offer Qantas customers who are new to the SVOD service a complementary three-month subscription with unlimited access to its library of content on all Qantas domestic, international and regional flights.
Qantas and Stan have been partners since the launch of Qantas’s first aircraft with Wi-Fi last year.
“The extension of our partnership with Qantas through an inflight entertainment channel reflects Stan’s strategy of being everywhere that people want to consume content,” said Stan CEO Mike Sneesby.
“We are pleased to partner with Qantas and give customers access to original content both on the ground and in the air. There is great alignment between Qantas and Stan and we will continue to partner with brands that share our passion and values.”
Customers can access the subscription offer via the Qantas app or by logging into Qantas’ Wi-Fi on one of its domestic Wi-Fi enabled flights.
Logies Hall Of Famer and AACTA Longford Lyell Award-winner Jack Thompson features in the series alongside Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award-nominated Keisha Castle–Hughes (Game of Thrones, Whale Rider), acclaimed Israeli actor Igal Naor (Homeland, Riviera) and Nicole Chamoun (Safe Harbour, Romper Stomper).
Directed by Shannon Murphy (Offspring, Love Child), The Ropes is produced by Helen Bowden (Wake in Fright, The Slap) and Courtney Wise (Fragments of Friday) and executive produced by SBS’s Sue Masters and Lingo Pictures’ Jason Stephens. Writers include Tamara Asmar (Doctor Doctor, Love Child), Adam Todd (Wentworth, Sea Patrol) and Ian Meadows (House Husbands).
The story follows aspiring Iraqi-Australian boxing trainer Amirah Al-Amir (Chamoun), who has idolised her world champion father Sami (Naor) her entire life. While working in the family gym in Sydney’s west alongside her two brothers, Amirah negotiates a professional debut match for her hardnosed fighter Jess O’Connor (Castle-Hughes) with Sami’s longtime promoter Strick (Thompson). Furious that she has done this behind his back, her father threatens to cut her off. Desperate to chase her dream of transforming women’s boxing, will Amirah choose her fighter or her family?
SBS director of television and online content Marshall Heald said: “The Ropes continues SBS’s run of acclaimed provocative dramas that reflect Australian stories through a uniquely multicultural lens. This compelling and intense series is distinctly SBS, showcasing the complex and nuanced relationships of a migrant family alongside the physicality and deep-seated culture of misogyny in the sporting world.
“We are thrilled to be creating this stellar drama with the team at Lingo Pictures and an incredibly talented cast with a wealth of experience from all corners of the globe.”
Producers Helen Bowden and Courtney Wise said: “SBS has been supporting beautiful, daring drama and we are delighted to be working with them on The Ropes. The world of boxing is passionate and fraught with adversity and creating a female-driven story within this world is exciting. We are thrilled by the talented cast attached to portray this, including a fearless gang of women lead by Keisha Castle-Hughes and Nicole Chamoun.”
Also appearing in the series are Louis Hunter (Troy, Out of the Blue), Michael Denkha (Devil’s Playground, The Code), Tyler De Nawi (Doctor Doctor, Here Come the Habibs!), Neveen Hanna (Tidelands, The Principal), Nader Hamdan (East West 101), Priscilla Doueihy (Back in the Game), Setareh Naghoni, Claude Jabbour and introducing Bonanza Diab and Otis Dhanji.
The Ropes will premiere on SBS and SBS On Demand later in 2018.
Beginning Sunday May 27 at 8.30pm on 9Go! and 9Now, what is being labelled as Australia’s sexiest cast is just days away from meeting each other for the first time in their own luxury villa in Mallorca, Spain.
The singles will play a game of love and lust in a format that last week won a BAFTA for Best Reality and Constructed Factual show.
Love Island Australia is hosted by Sophie Monk and is produced by ITV Studios Australia for the Nine Network.
Love island on socials: LoveIslandAU on Facebook, @LoveIslandAU on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
Industry sources tell TV Tonight TEN will mount a local version of the big-budget Saturday Night Takeaway, one of the UK’s top-rating shows hosted by Ant & Dec. The network has recently been hinting at shiny-floor shows on the way.
The studio-audience show includes musical numbers, hidden camera pranks and prize giveaways, including a Win the Ads game where audience members win products featured in the commercial breaks.
If successful it could be the answer to viewers’ long-held calls for genuine variety back on TV, in a landscape crowded with reality shows.
The ITV Studios title was previously announced by Seven for 2016 as Sunday Night Takeaway but did not proceed, amid chatter Seven was hoping to secure Hamish & Andy.
The program, which claimed to solve the mystery of the crash with fresh “groundbreaking revelations”, in fact solved nothing and simply rolled out theories that have been around ever since MH370 disappeared on March 8 2014.
It was in fact almost a carbon copy of one aired by 60 Minutes in July 2016, say experts.
The match will be shown live, free and in HD on Monday July 23 from Optus Stadium.
It will be simulcast in Australia via The World Game website, The World Game app, and on SBS On Demand.
The one-off match will be the first football game to be played at the new multipurpose stadium in Perth and Tony Popovic’s first game as Glory Coach.
SBS director of sport Ken Shipp said: “We are pleased to be presenting the broadcast of Chelsea’s first game in Perth since 1974 live, free and in HD on SBS later this year.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for Australian football fans to see one of our local sides go head to head with one of the most established clubs in Europe at a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium, with the trusted coverage and comprehensive analysis SBS is known for.
“We’re proud of our football heritage at SBS and we know the sport’s ability to unite Australia’s diverse communities will be more prevalent than ever in the wake of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.”
The match is slotted between the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2018-19 Premier League season.
Broadcast schedule:
Monday July 23
SBS: Perth Glory v Chelsea live
9pm-11.45pm AEST (kick-off: 9.30pm), 7.25pm WST in Perth
Optus chief executive Allen Lew told The Australian Financial Review the rights would allow Optus “to add another string to our bow” as the telecommunications provider tries to become the home of overseas football.
If Optus were to secure the Champions League, it would call into question incumbent rights holder beIN Sports Australia’s strategy. The Al Jazeera-owned sports channel, formerly known as Setanta, has struggled in Australia, despite being added to Foxtel’s main sports package.
“I was very lucky and grateful to Channel 9, Channel 7 and Fox Sports for all putting in substantial offers,” Warne said. “I nearly didn’t leave Channel 9 because I am a very loyal person by nature and they’ve been very good to me through the ups and downs. Twenty-five years is a long time with a network.”
Talks between Warne and Nine centred on potential commentating roles at the Australian Open and Masters Tournament.
“There were plenty of things I could have done at Nine, new TV shows as well. But in the end I made a call after speaking to Steve Crawley [head of television] and a few other people at Fox about how they want to revolutionise commentary.”