Monday August 10, 2020
The Bachelor Australia: Navigating love during COVID-19
Network 10 won’t be letting the rose petals rest for long after Bachelor in Paradise winds up, replacing it in the schedule with the 2020 season of The Bachelor Australia this week.
Bachelor Locky Gilbert will trade the tribal councils of Australian Survivor for rose ceremonies as he embarks on a world first as he tries to find love in the time of Covid. Mediaweek spoke to The Bachelor Australia’s executive producer Hilary Innes about filming around peak Covid and the new Bachelorettes.
Hilary Innes
A Covid Love Story
After seven episodes were completed The Bachelor team came to the conclusion that due to lockdown restrictions they would need to send the crew, production staff, and the 10 final contestants’ home. While host Osher Günsberg stayed in The Bachelor mansion and Gilbert stayed in The Bachelor pad.
Innes said that two episodes were produced with the contestants living back home but they continued to have Zoom dates, cocktail parties and rose ceremonies in lockdown.
“Instead of stopping filming we continued to record what happened when everyone was sent home, which made for very fascinating viewing.
“There was obviously chemistry happening between some people and Locky and we needed to keep everyone engaged with the process and each other.”
While filming an intimate show such as The Bachelor sounds challenging during a time of social distancing, Innes said that it was a blessing in disguise as it broke the show away from the art department backdrop of The Bachelor, taking fans to areas that they have never seen before.
“Suddenly you break out of The Bachelor world and go into people’s lives and seeing how they do things like making breakfast in their trackie dacks. And it is a really interesting place to go and explore The Bachelor world from for a change. Everyone will relate to it because they are all going through it.”
Selecting The Bachelor
Innes described Gilbert as an alpha male who is willing to go down on bended knee for the right girl.
“There is no rhyme or reason to selecting The Bachelor. We went with Tim Robards and Sam Wood who were tall dark and handsome alpha males who knew what they wanted. Matt Agnew was more the cerebral handsome which we had never had before which was very interesting. The Honey Badger Nick Cummins was more quirky and funny with a big profile. Locky was a little bit in between.”
The show offers a diverse range of contestants including origins such as Pakistani, Indigenous, Malaysian, Lebanese, Tongan, Greek, and Croatian who will be entering the high pace world of adventure guide Gilbert. With each season of the show tailored to the interests and lifestyles of The Bachelor and contestants, Innes said that this season will be action packed despite the impact of Covid.
“Lots of companies started to close down for a bit, so it started to be a bit restrictive and we had to be creative, but there will be a lot of adventure activities with Locky.”
Locky falls for more than one girl
Laura, Nicole and Areeba
Innes explained that this year we will see another first for the Australian format of the show.
“Locky by his own admission falls in love with more than one girl, where before we haven’t found love and famously the Honey Badger (Nick Cummins) couldn’t choose someone, we have a Bachelor who has fallen in love with more than one girl which is a first for us in Australia.”
The Bachelorette: Double Trouble
10 revealed in July that in another first The Bachelorette Australia will feature sisters Elly and Becky Miles as dual Bachelorette’s for the 2020 season.
Innes said the reason for the choice was to be authentic and to react to the mood in the community – with fan favourite Elly Miles the jigsaw pieces came together.
“We stay in touch with these people and see how they are going and what they are up to, and she talked to us about her sister and the more we talked the more it felt really wonderful.
“They are not too far away in age and are very good friends, it is a very relatable idea with the siblings with the support you could offer each other, and interesting how they would react to finding love together on The Bachelorette.
“Having two of them makes it interesting in shooting it because a lot of things double up. You will probably see them chatting more about what is happening during the show, and the fact they are sisters and will want to debrief will be a nice new element people will want to enjoy.”
Nine announces 2021 Upfront: First, shorter and virtual!
As well as being the first Upfront from broadcasters and publishers, Nine will also be hosting possibly its shortest Upfront for some time – promising an event taking just one hour.
As Australia’s largest locally owned media company, Nine will use its virtual 2021 Upfront showcase to illustrate the way it works with partners in the short, medium and long term as society and business finds a way through the COVID-19 health and economic impacts.
“These are extraordinary times and we have made the decision to connect with our advertisers earlier,” said Michael Stephenson, Nine’s chief sales officer.
“We believe that now is the right time to speak to our partners not just about their 2021 plans but also about the opportunities that exist that exist today to help brand grow their business as we head towards Christmas.
“There has never been a more important time to work together to return our economy to growth, and the marketing ecosystem plays a key role in how it informs consumer expectations and attitudes. Nine, as the home of Australia’s most trusted and popular content spanning news, sport, lifestyle and entertainment, is uniquely placed to be the partner that brands turn to as they begin to look beyond the immediate short term.”
Nine’s 2021 Upfront will be delivered on September 16 with a one-hour virtual presentation outlining its vision for 2021, detailing how the group is positioned to help brands deliver better business results by leveraging Nine’s skill, passion and agility, and emphasising the breadth of audiences the group can deliver through premium content. Announcements on the day will span content, technology/data and partnerships.
“Nine is a platform with unrivalled scale to help you connect with your customers,” Stephenson said. “The things you can do with us, you simply can’t do with anybody else.
“We are unlike any other media company in Australia and it’s time to rethink, reset and reconsider who your business partner is as there’s never been a more important time to ensure you are partnering with media and content owners who can help you to achieve your goals.”
Industry campaign shows how radio maximises results for businesses
Showcasing radio’s strong reach, exceptional speed to market, ability to target new and existing consumers and impressive cut through, the campaign underlines how investing in radio advertising helps businesses to build and strengthen influential connections with audiences.
“With so much uncertainty everywhere people are gravitating to radio to feel more connected to their local community. Combine this reach and cut through to radio’s speed to market and it couldn’t be a more relevant advertising medium for right now,” said Ralph van Dijk, founding creative director of Eardrum, the creative agency behind the campaign.
Highlighting how radio advertising is a cost-effective quick to market way to maintain share of voice, reach mass audiences and remain top of mind for customers, the campaign underlines how radio gets the message out there to the right audience in uncertain times.
“We know that Australian businesses are facing challenging market conditions and understand that staying connected with customers is vital. Radio is a proven medium that delivers results and offers real value to businesses looking to restart marketing initiatives after a pause and get the message out there that they are open for business,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of industry body Commercial Radio Australia.
On air from today, the series of three ads will be broadcast across 260 commercial radio stations. The multi-channel campaign will be further bolstered by digital, social and trade marketing activities.
AANA reveals advertising spend intention for the second half of 2020
Half of Aussie Marketers are waiting for better times before committing budget and shift to online set to accelerate.
A total of 442 small, medium, and large businesses were asked about the combined impact of the bushfires and COVID-19 have had on marketing spend and what their media preference would be in the next six months.
68% OF SMBs and 87% of large businesses still have marketing related spending budgeted for the next six months according to new research commissioned by AANA and IPSOS. Most businesses say that releasing the spending will depend on when retail locations, national and state borders re-open and when employees re-start regular work patterns. As a result, 50% of both large and small businesses have marketing budget sitting on the sides lines waiting to be committed at some point in the near future.
The research found that the trend towards online channels will continue and its share of total media spend will accelerate as a result of the current economic crisis. Consumer uncertainty caused by new lockdowns and COVID hotspots will likely only exacerbate this as the population becomes less mobile. As a result, most Australian businesses are more likely to use and continue to use online paid media over traditional media.
MediaHub Australia celebrates 10 year anniversary: More services, clients
The business has released highlights from its first decade:
Initially built as a playout centre for joint venture partners ABC and WIN, MediaHub proved that broadcasters can collaborate and share critical infrastructure for operations while providing cost savings and greater operational flexibility and resilience.
In the last decade since launch, MediaHub has grown beyond playout to be a comprehensive end to end service provider, expanding its range of services and consolidating its reputation as technology and innovation leader in Australia, ready to meet changing media management and delivery requirements of clients.
Beyond playout, MediaHub now offers a full spectrum of products and services including ArkHub, CacheHub, ExchangeHub, FibreHub, FlexHub, MamHub, PresHub and StreamHub.These top tier services are complemented by compliance recording services, data centre, disaster recovery, master control, NOC and transcoding services. The company now also provides over 400 broadcast and live streaming services for both Television and Radio across Australia.
MediaHub CEO Alan Sweeney explained, “Ten years ago a number of broadcasters got together to discuss potential ways forward that would allow for a centralised national playout operation, reduce capex and opex spend providing a green field operation that was completely file based. After consultation with many broadcasters at the time, WIN and ABC agreed to establish a joint venture to create a joint playout centre and MediaHub Australia was born.”
In November 2009, construction commenced on the MediaHub facility in Ingleburn and the first ABC TV channels went to air in April 2010. Just six months later, WIN had completely migrated its complex regional operation into the facility. Early MediaHub innovations such as commercial hot listing and flexible multi market playout enabled significant benefits to both clients far beyond the capability of their previous in-house playout facilities. This theme of technological innovation and ultra-efficiency has continued over the years growing from strength to strength.
Sweeney continued, “At Launch, MediaHub was basic playout only. It had no MAM or connectivity of its own and the only storage was a limited functional nearline to support playout. Then year-on-year as we met and exceeded our performance and financial targets we went to market.”
MediaHub’s early days included clients such as SBS, TVN and the FOX International group of channels. It has continued to grow, adding clients including Prime Television, Imparja Television, Australian News Channel (Sky News), Network 10, Southern Cross and FreeTV.
It’s not just the number of clients that have grown but the services that are on offer now are on the cutting edge of innovation.
MediaHub head of product Derek Curtis added, “One of our major milestones was the creation of our FibreHub managed fibre connectivity services product. From a standing start FibreHub has grown to now have 14 points-of-presence across Australia and New Zealand and currently provides 37 high-bandwidth, low-latency services for clients such as the ABC, WIN Television, PRIME Television, DDA, Southern Cross Austereo, FreeTV, Network TEN and ANC-Sky News. This collectively amounts to over 1.2TB/s of managed customer traffic, 365 days a year.”
Then having built and deployed Channel Seven’s 7Flix channels and planned, project-managed, built and deployed all of PRIME’s 65 free-to-air broadcast channels, MediaHub also launched its MamHub MAM services product.
Alan Sweeney concluded, “Our success with technology advancement and improvement has been replicated in our people culture to the point where MediaHub staff have always felt empowered and happy. As a result of our low staff turnover the IP alone that exists within the MediaHub team is second to none. Where we changed and added value to the broadcasting landscape we are now making the same progress and expanding into in the worlds of telecoms, finance, education, health and government. Our philosophy has always been to innovate, grow, add value and stay ahead of the curve and that’s exactly what we plan to do for the next ten years.”
—
Top Photo: MediaHub CEO Alan Sweeney
Nine News claims 2020 Melbourne victory after already winning Sydney
The Melbourne win comes less than a month since Nine News Sydney claimed victory for 2020 and in doing so notched up its tenth year as the #1 Sydney news service.
Since 2011, there have been 380 ratings weeks. 9News Sydney has won 351 of them.
See also: Nine News Sydney reaches a new milestone with record winning streak
“Very pleased to be able to announce we have won the ratings year for 2020. This is the 9th year in a row we have been Melbourne’s Number 1,” said Nailon after the ratings for week 32 were finalised on the weekend.
“In the official ratings survey so far this year, we have won 23 weeks out of a possible 24.
“Our average audience for 6:00pm Monday-Friday, across the hour is 350,000, compared to 7 News 324,000. Year on year, our M-F audience is up 25%.
“Our Weekend numbers are also strong: Saturday 9News – 334,000 – 7News 254,000 (up 35%). Sunday 9News – 387,000 – 7News 343,000 (up 21%).
“In the keenly contested 1600 battleground, Nine’s Afternoon News has edged in front of Channel 7 for the first time! 9 Afternoon News 66,000 – 7 News at 4pm 65,000 (up 41%).
“These numbers are an extraordinary achievement in extraordinary times. Obviously Covid-19 is driving interest in Free to air News, but pleasingly the majority are turning to us. That’s a credit to your professionalism and commitment to producing high quality news bulletins under the most trying of circumstances.”
Nailon also highlighted how Nine News had performed with its digital and social content.
“9news.com.au is attracting record levels of traffic to the site. In the latest Nielsen survey (July) we are ranked No.3 in Australia with a Unique Audience of 9.91 Million. Page Views in July 2020 were 165 Million, up 68% on July 2019.
“In Social, 9News Melbourne nearly doubled our Facebook engagement this year. We’re up to 11 million vs 5.7 million in 2019. This measures every time someone likes, comments or shares 9News content.
“Overall this is an outstanding result for our newsroom, and richly deserved reward for your hard work. On top of the relentless news cycle, we’ve also successfully embraced the delivery of radio news content to 3AW, and increasingly we’re working alongside our colleagues at The Age on breaking news stories. I can’t stress how important these partnerships are in building a news machine that will enable us to continue delivering Melbourne’s best news.”
—
Top Photo: Nine’s Melbourne news team Peter Hitchener, Livinia Nixon and Tony Jones
ARIA Chart
Singles
Just three new songs managed to find a place in the top 50 on debut. This follows Taylor Swift week where she saw 16 tracks from her Folklore album flood the top 50 including five in the top 10 and 10 in the top 20. Swift’s Cardigan dropped from top spot to #5.
No new #1 this week though with Savage Love from Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo back on top for a fifth time in the past six weeks.
One of those three newcomers was strong enough to break into the top three in its first week. Take a bow Billie Eilish as she joins an elite club whose only other 2020 members for far are Eminem, Drake, Ariana Grande with Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Eilish takes it to the next level though as she’s managed twice in 2020 to debut top three, something she shares with Swift who had two in the top three last week. Eilish’s new song is My Future which charts at #3 making it her 10th top 10 ARIA hit.
Joel Corry and MNEK are also new this week with Head & Heart debuting at #20.
The final new top 50 arrival belongs to Pop Smoke with Mood Swings in at #34. The track comes from the Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon album which sits at #5 again after five weeks on the chart. The Woo from the same album also climbs this week, from #30 to #18 after five weeks.
Something else that doesn’t happen often is having five tracks that topped the chart in the top 10 at the same time. That happens this week as Blinding Lights from The Weeknd sneaks back to #8 after 36 weeks on the chart.
Albums
Hockey Dad
Taylor Swift is staying strong at #1 for a second week with Folklore.
There was plenty of competition this week for that top spot with four new arrivals in the top 10 and eight new arrivals overall in the top 50.
#2 Hockey Dad with Brain Candy. The Wollongong duo score their second top 10 with their third album.
#3 Paul Kelly and Paul Grabowsky with Please Leave Your Light On. A collaboration with two Aussie icons delivers new arrangements of nine Kelly classics, an unreleased Kelly track and a version of Every Time We Say Goodbye by Cole Porter.
#8 Travis Collins with Wreck Me. The Australian country music performer cracks the top 10 for the first time with his seventh album.
#10 Alanis Morisette with Such Pretty Forks in the Road. It’s been 18 years since the Canadian singer-songwriter last graced the top 10. This is her first album in eight years and her ninth studio album.
#12 E^st with I’m Doing It. Top 50 debut for Melissa Bester as she releases her first album.
#26 Fontaines D.C. with A Hero’s Death. Second album from the Irish post-punk band.
#34 Dominic Fike with What Could Possibly Go Wrong. Debut album from the American singer, rapper and songwriter.
#45 Tuku with Nothing in Common But Us. The fourth solo album from the Thundamentals member. His third album Life Death Time Eternal peaked at #5 in 2015. The three most recent Thundamentals albums all made the top 10.
Loading...
Reload document
Open in new tab 
Week 32 TV: Ninja Warrior delivers as Nine #1 channel & network
Nine was also ranked #1 in Sydney and Brisbane, with Seven leading in AFL markets.
Nine Week 32
Primary share: 19.9% (20.2%)
Network share: 28.7 (28.4)%
Multichannels: GO! 2.9% (2.6%) Gem 2.5% (2.4%) 9Life 2.2% (2.0%) 9Rush 1.2% (1.1%)
Powering Nine’s win in addition to its news and current affairs offerings was Australian Ninja Warrior with its final full week where the three episodes screened were the three most-watched entertainment shows. Nine wanted a big audience for the final last night and was revealing that someone finally scales Mount Midoriyama to become Australia’s first ever Ninja Warrior before it happened.
Nine’s next best primetime offering was Emergency on 507,000.
Seven Week 32
Primary share: 18.7% (20.0%)
Network share: 28.5% (30.0%)
Multichannels: 7TWO 3.7% (3.5%) 7mate 3.9% (4.7%) 7flix 2.2% (1.9%)
Seven’s run of network wins came to an end with primary share down alongside a dip for 7mate. While Farmer Wants a Wife and AFL delivered again, they didn’t quite deliver enough. Farmer delivered competitive audiences of 792,000 and 740,000. Tuesday night was the week spot again in the schedule up against a third night of Ninja Warrior.
ABC Week 32
Primary share: 12.8% (11.8%)
Network share: 17.6% (16.6%)
Multichannels: Kids/Comedy 2.4% (2.6%) ME 0.5% (0.4%) News 2.0% (1.8%)
Four consecutive shares above 14% set up the primary channel for a good week. The channel ended up posting its best share in 10 weeks. After ABC News, Hard Quiz was the entertainment champ on 747,000. Also finding a spot in the week’s top 20 were the return of Anh’s Brush with Fame (685,000) and Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell (682,000).
10 Week 32
Primary share 10.0% (10.1%)
Network share: 16.0% (16.3%)
Multichannels: Bold 3.8% (4.0%) Peach 2.2% (2.3%)
The channel is promoting next week as the biggest week of 2020. If that’s right it will come after the worst week of 2020 where primary share and network numbers hit a survey year low. The performance didn’t dent the 2020 year-on-year growth trend though which still looks good. The channel’s best was Have You Been Paying Attention? on 597,000 plus three episodes of Bachelor in Paradise (600,000, 576,000 and 517,000).
SBS Week 32
Primary share: 5.6% (5.1%)
Network share: 9.2% (8.7%)
Multichannels: Viceland 1.4% (1.5%) Food 0.9% (0.8%) NITV 0.2% (0.2%) World Movies 1.0% (1.1%)
The network had its best combined channel share in a month and its second-best share since April. The key to the growth was the primary channel which had its equal best share of 2020. The best night of the week was Thursday where a strong crowd over 200,000 watched two hours of a repeat of a Walt Disney doco. The biggest single audience though was for Tuesday’s Great Asian Railway Journeys with 323,000.
TV ratings Sunday, August 9, Week 33 2020
Seven News 1,274,000
Nine News 1,136,000
ABC News 780,000
The Project 344,000/439,000
Insiders 397,000
10 News 312,000/242,000
Nine News Late Edition 280,000
Sunrise 277,000
SBS World News 223,000
Today 206,000
Sunday TV
Seven: On Farmer Wants a Wife one of Harry’s girls wanted out after the farmer claimed he’d heard a rumour she had formed a bond with a crew member. As the series enters its third week most of the girls are still living on the farms. Just one departed last night, although another went close. The episode did 814,000 after 902,000 on Sunday last week.
A Sunday crime special was a look at the Anita Cobby case with 297,000 watching.
Between Two Worlds slipped later in the night with 171,000 watching the episode Andrew Mercado reckons is the one to build an audience. Pity it was on so late. In an earlier timeslot last week the series did just 279,000.
Nine: Third consecutive Australian Ninja Warrior Grand Final for contestant Olivia and she finally made it through GF stage two, the first woman to do so. Olivia was ranked sixth of the eight Warrior’s through to stage two. The action last night sets up a tantalising final episode with fans anticipating just which one of the eight will scale the mountain. The first part of the Grand Final did 1,098,000, the biggest audience of the season so far after the series launched with 1,040,000.
60 Minutes followed with 613,000 which added to Nine’s Sunday dominance.
10: The final of Bachelor in Paradise didn’t crack half a million, but it got close with the reveal of the winner doing 480,000. The first part of the series finale did 414,000. The numbers were strong enough under 50 to rank the show #2 in that demo behind Ninja Warrior.
Bachelor in Paradise did navigate the primary channel through the gap between MasterChef and The Bachelor/The Masked Singer both of which start this week.
Daniel Monaghan, Network 10’s head of programming, said this morning: “Love, fun and just a hint of scandal in the tropical sun proved a winning combination for Bachelor In Paradise again this year. We’re delighted with how the show performed. This series’ overnight audience was up 7% on 2019, it ranked #1 in its timeslot in under 50s, and it flooded social media whenever it was on air. It also totally dominated all BVOD viewing during its run and has become 10 Play’s #1 show so far this year.
“Bachelor In Paradise was the perfect set-up for the great content still to come on 10 this year, including the new season of The Masked Singer Australia – starting tonight – the new The Bachelor Australia with Locky Gilbert on Wednesday night, Junior MasterChef, The Bachelorette Australia and more.”
Earlier in the night The Project 7pm was on 439,000.
ABC: Vera continued to pull strong audiences after 8.30pm with 696,000 after 637,000 a week ago.
Shetland managed over 600,000 too at 7.30pm.
SBS: A repeat of a 9/11 doco 102 Minutes that Changed America screened after 7.30pm with 186,000 watching.
Week 32-33 TV: Friday-Sunday
| FRIDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 10.1% | 7 | 21.9% | 9 | 16.5% | 10 | 8.6% | SBS One | 5.6% |
| ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY | 2.9% | 7TWO | 4.6% | GO! | 3.8% | 10 Bold | 3.5% | VICELAND | 2.2% |
| ABC ME | 0.5% | 7mate | 4.2% | GEM | 2.1% | 10 Peach | 2.8% | Food Net | 1.0% |
| ABC NEWS | 1.9% | 7flix | 2.5% | 9Life | 2.3% | NITV | 0.4% | ||
| 9Rush | 1.4% | SBS World Movies | 1.3% | ||||||
| TOTAL | 15.3% | 33.1% | 26.1% | 14.9% | 10.6% | ||||
| SATURDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 10.0% | 7 | 19.5% | 9 | 15.9% | 10 | 5.7% | SBS One | 6.2% |
| ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY | 3.0% | 7TWO | 4.5% | GO! | 5.5% | 10 Bold | 3.8% | VICELAND | 0.7% |
| ABC ME | 0.3% | 7mate | 3.9% | GEM | 4.1% | 10 Peach | 2.3% | Food Net | 1.1% |
| ABC NEWS | 2.2% | 7flix | 4.7% | 9Life | 2.4% | NITV | 0.3% | ||
| 9Rush | 2.0% | SBS World Movies | 2.0% | ||||||
| TOTAL | 15.5% | 32.6% | 29.9% | 11.8% | 10.2% | ||||
| SUNDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 14.7% | 7 | 18.7% | 9 | 25.0% | 10 | 9.2% | SBS One | 5.2% |
| ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY | 2.2% | 7TWO | 2.5% | GO! | 2.7% | 10 Bold | 2.9% | VICELAND | 1.7% |
| ABC ME | 0.2% | 7mate | 3.3% | GEM | 2.3% | 10 Peach | 1.9% | Food Net | 0.7% |
| ABC NEWS | 1.6% | 7flix | 1.8% | 9Life | 1.8% | NITV | 0.1% | ||
| 9Rush | 0.7% | SBS World Movies | 0.6% | ||||||
| TOTAL | 18.7% | 26.3% | 32.6% | 14.0% | 8.4% | ||||
| SUNDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | 10 Affiliates | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 14.7% | 7 | 22.2% | 9 | 20.6% | WIN | 6.8% | SBS One | 4.9% |
| ABC KIDS/ ABC COMEDY | 2.4% | 7TWO | 4.6% | GO! | 3.1% | WIN Bold | 3.2% | VICELAND | 1.8% |
| ABC ME | 0.3% | 7mate | 3.7% | GEM | 4.0% | WIN Peach | 1.1% | Food Net | 0.6% |
| ABC NEWS | 1.1% | 7flix (Excl. Tas/WA) | 1.3% | 9Life | 2.0% | Sky News on WIN | 1.2% | NITV | 0.1% |
| SBS Movies | 0.6% | ||||||||
| TOTAL | 18.5% | 31.9% | 29.8% | 12.4% | 8.0% | ||||
| SUNDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTA | STV | ||||||||
| 87.6% | 12.4% | ||||||||
All People Ratings
Friday Top 10
- Seven News Seven 1,042,000
- Nine News Nine 1,000,000
- Seven News At 6.30 Seven 962,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 899,000
- ABC News ABC 781,000
- The Chase Australia Seven 618,000
- Hot Seat Nine 584,000
- A Current Affair Nine 576,000
- Seven’s AFL: Friday Night Football Seven 543,000
- Better Homes And Gardens Seven 530,000
Saturday Top 10
- Seven News Seven 947,000
- Nine News Saturday Nine 935,000
- ABC News ABC 701,000
- A Current Affair Nine 561,000
- Father Brown ABC 555,000
- Getaway Nine 336,000
- Weekend Sunrise Seven 318,000
- Seven’s AFL: Saturday Night Football Seven 314,000
- Weekend Sunrise – Late Seven 283,000
- 10 News First 10 278,000
Sunday FTA
- Seven News Seven 1,274,000
- Nine News Sunday Nine 1,136,000
- Australian Ninja Warrior Nine 1,098,000
- Farmer Wants A Wife Seven 814,000
- ABC News Sunday ABC 780,000
- Vera ABC 696,000
- 60 Minutes Nine 613,000
- Shetland ABC 609,000
- Bachelor In Paradise Grand Finale – The Final Decision 10 480,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm 10 439,000
- Seven’s AFL: Sunday Afternoon Football Seven 433,000
- Bachelor In Paradise Grand Finale 10 414,000
- The Sunday Project 6.30pm 10 344,000
- 10 News First 10 312,000
- Landline PM ABC 305,000
- Seven News Special – Anita Cobby Seven 297,000
- Nine News: Late Edition Nine 280,000
- Insiders AM ABC 278,000
- Weekend Sunrise Seven 277,000
- Sunday Afternoon NRL Live Nine 273,000
Sunday Multichannel
- Offsiders AM ABC NEWS 203,000
- Close Of Business PM ABC NEWS 155,000
- Bluey AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 148,000
- Floogals ABCKIDS/COMEDY 146,000
- Bluey ABCKIDS/COMEDY 136,000
- ABC News AM ABC NEWS 136,000
- Peppa Pig AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 135,000
- Shaun The Sheep AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 135,000
- M- Die Hard 2 PM (R) 7mate 134,000
- Death In Paradise 9Gem 132,000
- Play School AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 129,000
- Bananas In Pyjamas AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 126,000
- Go Jetters AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 125,000
- Noddy Toyland Detective PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 124,000
- Kiri And Lou ABCKIDS/COMEDY 124,000
- Motorsport: 2020 MotoGP Live 10 Bold 123,000
- Peter Rabbit PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 122,000
- NCIS Ep 2 (R) 10 Bold 120,000
- Insiders AM ABC NEWS 119,000
- Peppa Pig PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 119,000
Sunday STV
- Live: NRL: Sharks V Eels FOX LEAGUE 299,000
- Live: NRL: Titans V Cowboys FOX LEAGUE 222,000
- Live: AFL West Coast V Carlton FOX FOOTY 217,000
- Live: AFL Melbourne V North Melbourne FOX FOOTY 180,000
- Live: F1: 70th Anniversary GP Race FOX SPORTS 506 113,000
- Live: Sunday Night With Matty Johns FOX LEAGUE 98,000
- Outsiders Sky News Live 85,000
- Live: AFL Pre Game Sunday FOX FOOTY 74,000
- Live: Bounce: Episode 22 FOX FOOTY 71,000
- Outsiders Sky News Live 66,000
- Business Weekend Sky News Live 60,000
- Live: Golf: USPGA Championship: Round 3 FOX SPORTS 503 59,000
- Live: MotoGP Czech Republic FOX SPORTS MORE 57,000
- Paul Murray Live Sky News Live 54,000
- Live: NRL Pre Game Sunday Ticket FOX LEAGUE 51,000
- Live: Motorsport: Grand Prix Sunday FOX SPORTS 506 51,000
- Weekend Live Sky News Live 51,000
- The Singapore Grip BBC First 48,000
- Live: Rugby: Crusaders V Highlanders FOX SPORTS 505 44,000
- Ryan’s Mystery Playdate Nick Jr. 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
Google, Facebook profits won't be wiped out by publishers' payments: ACCC
Local media companies have been searching for a ball-park figure that could give them guidance on how much they can expect to receive from the tech titans for use of their news content under a new code of conduct announced by Sims one week ago.
Sims said it would not wipe out the tech giants’ profits. Google Australia posted a 2019 a pre-tax profit of $134 million while Facebook Australia’s profit was $22.7 million in 2019.
“When it goes to arbitration, there’s three things the arbitrator takes into account,” Sims said. “One is the direct, but much more importantly, the indirect value of media on the platforms and I realise that is complex. Secondly, the cost of journalism, the cost to produce the media content. And thirdly, don’t put an undue burden on the platforms.”
Could Disney's wish upon a Star be coming to Australia?
While many have been waiting for a global plan around its US general entertainment streaming service Hulu, Disney has decided to start fresh outside of the US with a new service, Star, leveraging a brand it acquired via its $US71 billion ($100 billion) acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets.
“We plan to launch an international direct-to-consumer general entertainment offering under the Star brand in calendar year 2021,” Disney chief executive Bob Chapek told investors last week.
The new service will not license content, but will just use Disney’s own content, which goes well beyond the well-known branded Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic portfolio.
“Hulu also, I must say has no brand awareness outside of the US and nor does Hulu have any content that’s been licensed to it internationally,” he said. “So this gives us the ability to market this under the Disney umbrella and have synergies with our existing platform. So that’s our basic rationale there.”
Chapek did not give any details on whether the service would launch in Australia, or any other country, and a local Disney spokeswoman said the company had nothing to share.
oOh!media slashes billboard rates by up to 95% to maintain audience
Buyers working at media agencies said oOh!Media had dropped rates by around 30 per cent overall and it had offered two-for-one billboard and panel deals during a period of considerable change and uncertainty in consumer behaviour.
Chief executive Brendan Cook said he would characterise the drop in prices less as discounting, and more as a measure to offer advertisers the same audience numbers that the company could promise them before COVID-19 hit.
“All media is going to be value-driven to some extent, and when there is less value in the market, we are saying that if audiences are down, how can we make up those audiences for you elsewhere. So it’s not ‘discounting’ in the traditional sense. It’s about making up those audience numbers that we can promise advertisers in other places,” Cook said.
News Brands
AAP newswire customers to pay same price for reduced service
Acta Diurna AAP, which launched officially last week under new chief executive Emma Cowdroy, will need to secure contracts with former clients of AAP to shore up funding and prevent News Corp Australia from poaching customers when its non-compete clause is lifted in six months.
“The former AAP company is in the process of transferring its customer contracts to the new AAP as is standard practice in any sale process,” Cowdroy said. “AAP’s new service is focused on the highest value elements of the Newswire’s offering such as courts, sports and politics. These are the very elements that our customers told us they rely on heavily.
“It is in the interests of all of AAP’s customers that we are commercially sustainable so that their newsrooms can continue to depend on AAP as the most cost-effective means of obtaining truly independent and accurate news reporting. AAP has been in contact with its customers and we continue to liaise with them throughout the transfer process.”
Radio
96FM celebrates 40th birthday with archive and listener giveaway
The station launched a special section on its website to celebrate the milestone:
Photo: Fred Botica on air at 96FM in 1986
Welcome to 40 years of the history of 96FM, Perth’s first commercial FM radio station launched at 4pm on Friday August 8, 1980.
We’ve gathered up photos, audio, videos, press clippings and put together articles telling the story of 96FM over four decades for you to enjoy.
It’s a collection of the memories of a bunch of current and former staff and friends of the station, and we’re very grateful to everyone who’s contributed to it so far.
Among those recalling their time at the station is ARN national content director Duncan Campbell, who has posted on social media:
It was 40 years ago today that 96fm in Perth began broadcasting for the first time. In fact it was at 4pm today and the first song to be played was FM (no static at all) by Steely Dan. Gary Roberts was the station’s first programme rirector and it’s launch was the most successful in FM station history in Australia with a massive 12.9% share in its first survey.
The station’s overall share grew to over 30% and 96FM dominated the Perth market for 12 years.
Many people I know worked there and some still do like Gordon O’Byrne, Gavin Miller, Steven Fitton, Gary Shannon, Declan Kelly, John Dawson, Brad McNally to name a few. Kyle Sandilands worked there in the mid 90s as did I when it was purchased by Southern Cross. I worked out of the old Wellington St studios briefly as the station was being relocated to Hay Street where it is today. ARN bought the station in 2015 and after a shaky few years hired back Gary Roberts and the past 18 months have seen the station return to a strong #2 in position in the market.
Congratulations to Gary Roberts and all those who work at or worked at what is arguably one of Australia’s most iconic FM stations. 40 amazing years broadcasting to Perth!
Another radio anniversary: 40 years since Double J became Triple J
Here’s some of the highs and lows from Australia’s most uniting – and divisive – radio station.
BANNED ON THE RUN
2JJ burst on the AM airwaves in Sydney in 1975 playing Skyhooks’ racy (for 1975) You Just Like Me ‘Cos I’m Good In Bed, which was banned from commercial radio at the time.
2JJJ christened their switch from AM to FM with Gay Guys, a b-side by Perth band Dugites, which was also blackballed from commercial radio.
By July 1981 they were officially triple j (and officially lower case).
UNEARTHED
The station launched Unearthed in 1995, as a competition to discover unsigned musical talent.
Grinspoon were the first winners, launching a career that continues to this day.
In 2001 schoolgirl Missy Higgins entered a song she’d written called All For Believing to Unearthed – it won, got major airplay and saw her sign a record deal with silverchair’s label.
She’s now sold over one million albums in Australia alone.
Other Unearthed discoveries include Flume, Courtney Barnett, Rufus Du Sol, The Rubens, Gang of Youths, Killing Heidi, Thelma Plum, Vance Joy and Tones And I.
NIGHT OF THE LONG KNIVES
When Barry Chapman was appointed triple j GM in the late 80s he started prepping the network for national listeners.
In 1990 some of the station’s most loved Sydney-based presenters, including Tony Biggs and Tim Ritchie, were axed, leading to protests outside the studios and even a public meeting at Sydney Town Hall to protest against the ‘bland out’.
Some claim the station never recovered, however the national exposure has helped thousands of local musicians get exposure across all of the country – allowing them to extend their tours to city and regional areas.
Brad Blanks recalls how he landed gig with Scott Shannon 20 years ago
Twenty years ago I came to New York City for my childhood mate Cameron’s wedding, writes Brad Blanks.
He was marrying Amalie. After the wedding I had a little idea that looking back on was quite crazy. At the time I was an out of work accountant living right near Bondi Beach, Sydney. Cash was draining quickly and no one was hiring accountants before the Sydney Olympics. After that awesome New York wedding I had some free days in the city. My crazy idea was to pitch New York radio stations to be someone’s exclusive Sydney Olympics correspondent. I rang 20 radio stations with the idea and every one of them hung up on me because they couldn’t understand my accent. One station I got past the switchboard to someone’s voicemail. That voicemail had a celebrity recorded greeting and that celeb was the late Aussie star, Steve Irwin (what an omen!). Bruce Goldberg, the guy who’s phone it was, was the executive producer of the Scott and Todd Show at WPLJ New York. He called me back straight away. Big thanks to Bruce who took a chance on hearing my idea and had me go into the radio station the following day to pitch him the Olympics concept. So I went in on a hot August morning in 2000 and after a nervous chat and Bruce throwing my sweat-drenched one page pitch paper and dreadful demo tape in the trash, he surprisingly threw me straight into a radio broadcast studio. Someone ordered me to put headphones on and I saw the “ON AIR” light turn on. I was on the air with a legendary radio duo Scott Shannon and Todd Pettingill with news guru Patty Steele and traffic star Joe Nolan weather legend Bill Evans, producer “Monkey Boy” Joe Pardavila and show booker Diana Ferrito. By this stage of the morning I was figuring out that although I was not familiar of this radio program it was a huge one! Being 17 floors above Madison Square Garden were handy indicators of hugeness. Many thanks to Scott and Todd for making my first moment on radio a fantastic experience and kickstarting one heck of a journey on your show. And also ironing out the last name of Blanks!
This radio spot was from the show I’ve been on for the last six years, the Scott Shannon in the Morning show on WCBS-FM 101.1 New York’s Greatest Hits, where we talked about my 20th Anniversary in the radio business. Some funny pictures are painted in this wild piece of radio and some wonderful nostalgia…..bravo Super Shan, Patty Steele and exec prod Louis Pulice … good fun…. and Cameron and Amalie just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary! Glad you two got married and thanks for letting me sleep on ya couch with your cat all those weeks!
Listen to Brad on Scott Shannon in the Morning celebrating his 20 years
Radio station Triple M under fire for crude parody based on Richmond incident
Two years on from the station’s Barry Hall fiasco, the station penned a song in response to the Mabior Chol situation to the tune of Richmond’s club song titled “We’ve Got Your Balls In Hand” which was posted on social media on Saturday.
The song was loaded with inappropriate puns about the Chol incident and drew the ire of the AFL, which contacted the station to voice its “concern”.
The offensive post has since been deleted.
In a statement, the AFL said the inappropriate behaviour by the players was not something to be celebrated or joked about.
“The AFL contacted station management today to voice our concern at the content that was yesterday uploaded on their digital channels, and ensure they were aware that the AFL’s position on the recent unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour by the players should be rebuked and not be celebrated,” the AFL statement read.
Scott Emerson goes full circle, returning to radio in 4BC career shift
Believe it or not, Emerson was once a Triple J newsreader. “I was seconded away from ABC News,” he says.
But from Monday at 3pm, he will be back behind the console, with the hit Romantics tune What I Like About You already set to go as his theme tune.
Things have changed in the radio booth in the past 30 years, he admits.
“It’s faster, and I’m slower,” he says with a laugh. “But the show is going to be pretty pacy.”
Emerson tells a good story or two, which will suit the old 4BC talkback radio fans.
He recently travelled through outback Queensland, stopping at Winton’s famous North Gregory Hotel, where Banjo Paterson’s Waltzing Matilda was said to have first been performed publicly.
“He loved the place, as do most travellers, me included.”
Emerson resigned from the LNP last month to take up the 4BC position.
“I will make sure that all the tough questions are asked of everyone to make sure 4BC listeners get the answers they want,” he says. “No fear, no favour.”
Publishing
National Geographic Kids leads way as magazine sales surge
Against a double-digit drop in advertising revenue across the broader Australian media sector, digital subscription retailer isubscribe’s recent sales have been the best April to July period for almost two decades, according to managing director Hunter Drinan.
National Geographic Kids is the most popular magazine on its Australian and New Zealand websites, with upmarket women’s magazine Vogue holding top spot on its British site. Locally, Gardening Australia, Better Homes & Gardens, National Geographic and Australian Traveller round off the top five selling magazines.
Across its three markets, the privately-owned company sells 5000 subscription products, including magazine and newspaper subscriptions, plus boxes of beauty and wellness products. About 70 per cent of its customers are female, aged between 35-59, with a “slightly higher disposable income”.
It has more than 1000 clients worldwide, of which 400 are locally based, including ABC, Executive Media and News Corp Australia. For every subscription isubscribe sells, it receives a 25 per cent commission. That is essentially what news agents and supermarket chains receive.
Television
Matt Preston on quitting MasterChef: ‘I asked myself – what have I done?’
But last year, when he and his co-hosts announced they would not return to the show they helped put on the map, it made front-page news. At the time, Preston explained that contrary to rumours, the reason contract negotiations had stalled did not involve disagreements over money – rather, he said, they were unable to agree on terms, and said that MasterChef’s lengthy filming schedule did not allow time for other creative pursuits.
Ultimately, he says, “I asked myself a really simple question: ‘Is this the worst thing that could happen career wise?’ And the answer was no. I loved working on the show. I loved the people I worked with. I am always going to be thankful for the experiences I had doing that show.
“But the worst thing that could have happened was if I lost the writing gigs. That’s who I am. I always defined myself as a food writer.”
Preston’s time in the TV wilderness was not to last long. Soon after former Network 10 boss James Warburton stepped into a new CEO gig at the Seven Network, Preston was one of the first people he called.
“James came knocking with the opportunity to make a show that didn’t take nine months of my life, giving me the option to spend more time writing or filling in on ABC Radio,” Preston tells Stellar. “I love that. I need new challenges.”
George Calombaris will not be joining this latest TV venture. “George wasn’t allowed to play with us at Seven,” says Preston. “He was still contracted at Network 10. I’m mindful of the fact it’s hard [for him] – before the promos for Plate of Origin ran, Gary and I got in contact and said we loved him. All these transition points are hard.”
Today host Karl Stefanovic as unpopular as ever, survey claims
A study commissioned by a rival network and leaked to this column surveyed more than 3500 television viewers and found almost 40 per cent were “negative” towards Stefanovic and 30 per cent of his own Today viewers are reportedly “feeling burnt out” or “negative” towards him.
Nine last night scoffed at the opposition’s claims, saying Today’s ratings are up 10 per cent year on year in total people.
“The show has won the last four weeks in Brisbane. On Friday, the Today was the most watched breakfast show on the east coast, Melbourne and Brisbane,” the spokesman said.
“We are – as are viewers – happy to wake up with Ally and Karl.”
The new research, which was conducted in July, comes as Sunday Confidential understands the father-of-four is preparing to ink a new contract with Nine – one which will see him realise his ambition to remain as host of Today.
Netflix reveals $110m spend on Australian children’s shows
In an exclusive interview with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Netflix executive Ed Horasz argues local quota obligations for subscription video-on-demand services – an option being considered as part of a broader government review of Australian screen content – are unnecessary.
“We commission stuff from Australia because the quality is fantastic,” says Horasz, global director of licensing and co-commissions in the “kids and family” genre. “I’ve never been a fan of quotas because they can breed mediocrity.”
Netflix spent $109.4 million across nine series including some created, filmed and set in Australia (Izzy’s Koala World, The Inbestigators, Bottersnikes and Gumbles); and New Zealand co-productions such as The New Legends of Monkey.
The Block 2020: Contestants, season premiere date announced
This year’s season of The Block is set to be a bit different in more ways than one. Each couple is tasked with renovating one of five houses from five different eras from the 1910s through to the 1950s, moved from around Melbourne to The Block site in Brighton.
Throw in a global pandemic and a pause in filming during the height of lockdown, and the contestants this year have truly faced challenges like no other group of Blockheads before them.
We spoke to them before they got started on the most unusual season yet.
Harry and Tash, Victoria
A local father-and-daughter team, IT and telecommunications specialist Harry and production manager Tash have wanted to apply for The Block for the past few years, but the timing was just never quite right.
“One year we forgot!” Harry says. “But this time everything aligned, which is great.”
Tash says the pair may have the home court advantage – if not for the fact that they know the streets of Melbourne, but because her mum (Harry’s wife) will be not too far away.
“She’ll do some drive-bys with a moussaka or two,” Tash says.
She says her experience in project management through her job and Harry’s renovation know-how will hold them in good stead to take on the competition.