Wednesday May 23, 2018

Nine's Tom Malone on the changing menu at Wide World of Sports

• Meet the eight-member team that strategised move from cricket to tennis
• Why Nine prefers the Australian Open tennis, and it could have handled both cricket and tennis

By James Manning

When we visited Tom Malone‘s office in the Wide World of Sport cottage adjacent to the Nine Network studio and office complex in Sydney we were offered a cup of tea that sits on a Cricket Australia coaster.

“Sorry,” Malone told Mediaweek when we noted the branding. “We haven’t updated yet!” [Laughs]

Despite being outbid for the domestic cricket rights for international clashes in Australia, Nine still has plenty of other sport – including cricket. Before our interview turned to NRL, netball and its new Tennis Australia partnership, the discussion came back to losing the cricket.

Nine CEO Hugh Marks and Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka

That triggers a green light for Malone, Nine’s director of sport, to roll off Nine’s continuing cricket schedule one more time: Australia in England in June for a ODI tournament and a T20 game this winter, then the 2019 ODI World Cup for men and women. “Next year of course we are the exclusive rights holder for the Ashes in the UK, which will be the first time Smith and Warner will be eligible for test selection again,” said Malone.

“We remain heavily invested in cricket for the next five years.”

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

Tomorrow: Nine’s Tom Malone on a summer without sport – how bad might it be? – plus Australian Open plans, NRL and State of Origin plus growing netball audiences.

Inside Sophie Monk’s return to dating reality TV: ‘I’m a sucker for love’

After three seasons of the popular British reality dating show Love Island, Australia is getting its own version.

By Kruti Joshi

Nine announced Love Island Australia for its multichannel 9GO! last year, when Sophie Monk had just finished her journey to find love on Ten’s The Bachelorette. Monk and her relationship with her then-beau Stu Laundy were much talked-about in the press. Therefore, it made perfect sense that Nine wanted her as host of Love Island Australia. After a battle of the networks, Nine came out winner. It secured Monk from Ten as the host of its newest reality TV show.

Nine’s 2018 Love Island cast

One would think that Monk might have been over dating reality TV after being in the eye of the media storm during The Bachelorette and in the days after. “Oh, no. I am a sucker for love,” Monk told Mediaweek, without a moment of hesitation. “I am just happy I am on the other side this time. I will just kick back with a cocktail and watch it like you guys do.

“I have always done everything publicly so it was all right. It’s all settled down now. It’s fine.”

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

BBC and Herald Sun grow online audience, improve Nielsen news rankings

The latest Nielsen Digital Ratings (Monthly) has revealed 20.5 million Australians accessed content online, with 13.9 million Australians who accessed news content online during April 2018.

news.com.au was the top news entity in terms of highest unique audience (5.6 million – down from 5.8m in March), followed by nine.com.au (4.8 million) and then ABC News Websites (4.7 million). Fourth place was smh.com.au (3.6 million).

Next in the Nielsen online news rankings was Yahoo7 News Websites (2.8 million), followed by BBC (2.5 million – up from 2.4m in March) which climbed to sixth position after ranking ninth in March.

In seventh position was Herald Sun (2.5 million) which lifted from tenth to seventh, followed by The Guardian with a unique audience of 2.5 million – down from 2.8m. In ninth place was MSN (2.4 million) followed by Daily Mail Australia (2.3 million – down from 2.4m).

All publishers managed to hold in the top 10.

Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston said yesterday the results proved more Victorians were turning to the Herald Sun as their favourite source of breaking news, AFL, crime, gossip and commentary, with Commonwealth Games coverage and the Trinity Grammar haircut saga among popular stories last month.

“The Herald Sun continues to maintain its long history of providing Victorians with the news that affects them,” Johnston said.

“While some other news websites report from Sydney and hope Victorians won’t notice, our newsroom is firmly entrenched in Melbourne and our journalism is written by reporters who live in Victoria for the people who live in our state.”

Top photo: chrisdorney / Shutterstock

TV Ratings Analysis: Tuesday May 22

• Nigella hands a pin to MasterChef’s first 2018 breakout star Loki
• TEN has best share since BBL – wins in Melbourne, beats Nine in Sydney
• Julia & the Prof: Stargazing Live takeover starts with 460,000 for ABC

Seven

The channel has recorded a winning primary share and Seven also has the highest combined channel share for the second successive night.

Home and Away went from 690,000 on Monday to 662,000 last night.

House Rules promised Tuesday viewers a half-built house, a secret door, a magic mirror and an explosive confrontation. The audience was on 638,000, which was up on 599,000 a week ago, which was the lowest episode screened last week. The series is well behind on comparisons with where the show was this time in 2017.

Interview featured mystery healer Charlie Goldsmith – younger brother to Tottie and nephew to Olivia Newton-John – plus later in the show some bloke with a mullet. It was a program featuring a different kind of entertainment star. Goldsmith was a good guest even though it is very hard to accept the healing powers he claims. The audience of 467,000 was close to last week’s 472,000.

Andrew Denton and Charlie Goldsmith

Nine

After winning the first two nights of the week in primary share, Nine last night dropped to third place.

Reporter Alison Piotrowski was a pregnant passenger on Sydney trains on A Current Affair, followed by a hidden camera to see if anyone would offer her a seat. Not much luck. The show has had audiences of 884,000 and 810,000 on the first two nights of the week.

Episode two of East Well For Less featured host Leila McKinnon reminding viewers Australians pay more for food than any major city in the world. During the show she told how three flatmates could save $16,000 a year – cutting down on takeaway meals was part of the strategy. The second episode did 532,000 after launching on 613,000.

The first episode of The Truth About Obesity followed with 302,000.

TEN

Nigella Week has led the primary channel to its highest share since the Big Bash League in January. TEN had a better share than Seven in Sydney and outperformed Seven and Nine in Melbourne.

Maude Garrett was reporting from the US again on The Project, covering the press junket for Solo: A Star Wars Story including interviews with stars Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover and director Ron Howard. The episode was on 557,000 after 568,000 on Monday.

MasterChef featured the series’ second immunity challenge with Nigella Lawson the special guest on night three of Nigella Week. Victorian stay-at-home dad Loki Madireddi has become the first contestant in season 10 of MasterChef Australia to win a coveted immunity pin and is now a bonafide cooking star who has just changed his life. Loki managed the highest score to win immunity after going head-to-head with the 2017 Young Chef of the Year, Alanna Sapwell, from Saint Peter in Sydney. Alanna was awarded 34 out of 40 for her dish with Loki finishing with a higher score thanks to a perfect 10 from Gary. Loki literally jumped for joy after the win, kissed Gary on the cheek and looked on stunned as Nigella stuck the pin on his apron. The audience of 877,000 was up on the previous Tuesday.

Shark Tank followed after revelations last week that the sharks don’t end up investing in all of the projects they bid for. Last night the dollars were being distributed freely with all eight entrepreneurs scoring a deal. The competition between the investors was fierce and Steve Baxter stormed off the set after missing out on three successive deals. The audience of 622,000 was well up on the launch audience of 506,000.

Two episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles followed with audiences of 262,000 and 147,000.

ABC

Stargazing Live got under way with hosts Brian Cox and Julia Zemiro at 8pm with 463,000 watching.

Brian Cox and Julia Zemiro

The Checkout: Factory Seconds was pushed back to 9pm and did 321,000 after 391,000 a week ago.

The 2017 doco The Secrets Of Silicon Valley then did 265,000.

SBS

Todd McKenney was the entertaining subject on Who Do You Think You Are? with 376,000 watching after 362,000 tuned in last week.

A repeat episode of last year’s Insight on solo parents followed on 221,000.

Week 21 TV: Tuesday
TUESDAY METRO
ABCSevenNineTenSBS
ABC11.3%718.1%916.5%TEN17.4%SBS One5.6%
ABC 23.1%7TWO3.6%GO!3.8%ONE2.9%VICELAND0.8%
ABC ME0.9%7mate4.5%GEM3.7%ELEVEN2.0%Food Net0.8%
ABC NEWS1.4%7flix1.8%9Life1.6%NITV0.2%
TOTAL16.7%27.9%25.6%22.4%7.4%
TUESDAY REGIONAL
ABCSeven AffiliatesNine AffiliatesTen AffiliatesSBS
ABC10.6%720.4%913.4%WIN13.3%SBS One4.6%
ABC 23.4%7TWO5.5%GO!4.2%ONE2.8%VICELAND1.0%
ABC ME1.3%7mate6.6%GEM6.0%ELEVEN2.3%Food Net0.7%
ABC NEWS0.9%7flix1.3%9Life1.4%NITV0.3%
TOTAL16.2%33.8%25.0%18.4%6.6%
TUESDAY METRO ALL TV
FTASTV
85.1%14.9%
Tuesday FTA
  1. Seven News Seven 1,074,000
  2. Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 998,000
  3. Nine News Nine 979,000
  4. Nine News 6:30 Nine 939,000
  5. MasterChef Australia Ten 877,000
  6. A Current Affair Nine 810,000
  7. ABC News ABC 730,000
  8. Home And Away Seven 662,000
  9. House Rules Seven 638,000
  10. The Chase Australia Seven 624,000
  11. Shark Tank Ten 622,000
  12. The Project 7pm Ten 557,000
  13. Eat Well For Less? Nine 532,000
  14. Hot Seat Nine 525,000
  15. 7.30-Ev ABC 479,000
  16. Interview Seven 467,000
  17. Ten Eyewitness News First At Five Ten 466,000
  18. Stargazing Live ABC 463,000
  19. The Chase Australia-5pm Seven 393,000
  20. The Project 6.30pm Ten 377,000
Demo Top Fives

16-39 Top 5

  1. MasterChef Australia Ten 283,000
  2. Shark Tank Ten 211,000
  3. The Project 7pm Ten151,000
  4. Nine News 6:30 Nine 150,000
  5. House Rules Seven 148,000

 

18-49 Top 5

  1. MasterChef Australia Ten 453,000
  2. Shark Tank Ten 334,000
  3. Nine News 6:30 Nine 271,000
  4. The Project 7pm Ten 262,000
  5. Nine News Nine 257,000

 

25-54 Top 5

  1. MasterChef Australia Ten 482,000
  2. Shark Tank Ten 356,000
  3. Nine News 6:30 Nine 335,000
  4. Nine News Nine 325,000
  5. Seven News Seven 310,000
Tuesday Multichannel
  1. Outback Truckers-PM 7mate 216,000
  2. Peppa Pig-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 208,000
  3. Floogals ABCKIDS/COMEDY 205,000
  4. Hey Duggee-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 200,000
  5. Octonauts-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 192,000
  6. Ready, Jet, Go!: Back To Bortron 7 ABCKIDS/COMEDY 191,000
  7. Peppa Pig-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 190,000
  8. PJ Masks-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 188,000
  9. Highway Patrol E2-PM 7mate 182,000
  10. Kazoops!-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 178,000
  11. Go Jetters-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 172,000
  12. Thomas And Friends-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 172,000
  13. Fireman Sam-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 171,000
  14. Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom ABCKIDS/COMEDY 169,000
  15. Midsomer Murders 9Gem 167,000
  16. Shaun The Sheep ABCKIDS/COMEDY 165,000
  17. Ben And Holly’s Little Kingdom-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 157,000
  18. Dinosaur Train-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 156,000
  19. Full Custom Garage-PM 7mate 151,000
  20. The Terminator 9GO! 149,000
Tuesday Subscription TV
  1. Live: AFL 360 FOX FOOTY 87,000
  2. Family Guy FOX8 66,000
  3. Live: NRL 360 FOX LEAGUE 61,000
  4. The Bolt Report SKY NEWS LIVE 60,000
  5. Criminal Minds TVH!TS 55,000
  6. Jones & Co SKY NEWS LIVE 52,000
  7. Peppa Pig Nick Jr. 52,000
  8. Live: Back Page FOX SPORTS 50151,000
  9. Peppa Pig Nick Jr. 51,000
  10. Family Guy FOX8 50,000
  11. Peppa Pig Nick Jr. 49,000
  12. Open Mike FOX FOOTY 46,000
  13. Paul Murray Live SKY NEWS LIVE 46,000
  14. Beat Bugs Nick Jr. 44,000
  15. Rusty Rivets Nick Jr. 44,000
  16. The Simpsons FOX8 43,000
  17. NCIS TVH!TS 42,000
  18. Max And Ruby Nick Jr. 41,000
  19. Credlin SKY NEWS LIVE 40,000
  20. Mickey And The Roadster Racers Disney Junior 39,000

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

Media News Roundup

Business Of Media

Sony Corp spending $2.3b on EMI Music Publishing’s catalogue of 2.1 million songs

Sony Corp is buying EMI Music Publishing, getting its hands on a catalogue of 2.1 million songs from Beyoncé, Carole King and other artists as it embarks on a new growth plan built on content and services, reports Bloomberg.

Beyoncé Knowles (credit: jStone/Shutterstock)

The Japanese company will buy about 60% equity interest from a consortium led by from Mubadala Investment Co. for about US$2 billion, Sony said in a statement. The Tokyo-based company already owns almost 40% of EMI, operates the business and had been in talks to buy the library for the past few months.

EMI’s extensive catalog will solidify Sony’s position as the largest music publisher amid a boom in streaming services that has fuelled valuations for music copyrights.

Sony is paying $1.9 billion for the 60% equity stake from the consortium. With the cost of warrants for stock and management incentives, the price is $2.3 billion, a spokesman for the company said.

Mubadala said the EMI deal is based on an enterprise value of $4.75 billion, exceeding its target of getting at least $4 billion. That’s double what the Sony-led group, which also includes billionaire David Geffen, paid for the business six years ago. That makes the sale the largest music-industry transaction since the last time EMI changed hands.

[Read the original]

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg says sorry again but angers European lawmakers

The Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for the company’s mistakes but angered European lawmakers by dodging their questions, reports CNN.

Zuckerberg was questioned on Tuesday by political leaders and lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels for about 80 minutes.

His replies left them mostly frustrated. They used the last few minutes of the meeting to complain and accused him of giving general answers.

“I asked you six yes and no questions,” Philippe Lamberts, a Green party politician, said. “I got not a single answer.”

The setup of the meeting was largely to blame. The lawmakers were given three minutes each to ask their questions one after another. Zuckerberg was allotted time at the end to answer them.

As time ran out, Zuckerberg promised Facebook will respond to each of the lawmakers’ questions in writing in the “next few days”.

Zuckerberg pledged to double the number of people working on Facebook’s security and said the investment will “significantly impact [Facebook’s] profitability”.

“Keeping people safe will always come before maximising our profits,” he said.

Multiple members of the European Parliament pressed Zuckerberg on whether Facebook is a monopoly, with one asking whether the CEO could convince him that the company does not need to be broken up. Zuckerberg said Facebook exists “in a very competitive space”, pointing out people use different tools to communicate.

[Read the original]

Radio

Wil Anderson on 2Day FM breakfast amid reports of latest breakfast crisis

After Sydney audiences have been offered seven different incarnations of the 2Day FM breakfast show over the past four years, the current lineup seems ready to implode as the station borders on its latest crisis.

Despite the program beaming into Sydney from Melbourne most mornings, the show seemed to be steadying with a bigger share last survey, which was followed by what looked like team unity at a Sydney listener event last week. Although Grant Denyer did make that event, albeit late after filming commitments, he wasn’t well and didn’t make the show the following morning with all announcers to be in the one studio in Sydney.

The latest in-house angst is linked to Em Rusciano’s podcast with Wil Anderson where she talks frankly about being thrown on-air with her new colleagues and she also unloads on Sydney media.

The Daily Telegraph’s Kris Crane reported this morning that staff at SCA are refusing to work with Rusciano while co-host Ed Kavalee reportedly did not talk to her off-air on Tuesday.

After giving Sydney media a serve last week, The Daily Telegraph today tells Em Rusciano that only 3% of its readers want her and her colleagues to continue on the 2Day breakfast show.

The Wednesday morning show started with only Kavalee on air – he said Em and Grant were out making a waffle. He said that a special guest on the Wednesday show would be Wil Anderson. The trio were on-air together by the first break.

Anderson appeared in the first hour of the show, before he was due on-air at Triple M Melbourne’s Hot Breakfast. There was no mention of his podcast with Em with the interview plugging the next episode of Gruen.

MasterChef’s Gary Mehigan reveals the Prince Charles dealmaker

When Prince Charles’s appearance on MasterChef Australia was confirmed, there was one question fans had on their lips: “How on earth did they get him to say yes?” reports News Corp’s Alison Stephenson.

Now judges Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston have spilt the beans on how they managed to secure the British royal for the Channel 10 cooking show.

“We didn’t know it was going to happen until the very last minute,” judge Gary Mehigan told Confidential. “I mean, why on earth would he do it? Why would he say yes?”

Mehigan revealed after a “a very, very long conversation” with Kensington Palace it was Prince Charles’s wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who got them over the line.

“She’s a massive MasterChef fan,” he said.

[Read the original]

Brands returning to cricket: Energy supplier to announce sponsorship deal

Cricket Australia has secured energy provider Alinta Energy as major sponsor for the national men’s team less than two months after the ball tampering scandal, reports Fairfax Media’s Andrew Wu.

The West Australian brand joins as a shirt sponsor for all three forms of the game in a four-year deal to be announced today.

The governing body had been under pressure from its corporate partners after the ball tampering crisis with wealth management company Magellan ending a lucrative agreement one year into a three-year deal.

Qantas also expressed its disappointment but continued its shirt sponsorship deal. Magellan had held the naming rights for the Test series.

[Read the original]

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