SCA has announced three senior appointments in its strategy and insights division, which reflect the company’s digital audio strategy focus and the increasing importance of data and insights.

As part of this new structure, the following appointments have been made:

John Musgrove (pictured) moves to the newly created role of head of research and measurement. He is currently head of research & insights for SCA iQ.

In this new role, Musgrove will provide a strategic and advisory position to SCA’s senior executive team. Primarily, he will be responsible for the management of SCA’s research communities and tools and resources to enable the creation of insights across the business. He will also lead the development of measurement capability at SCA.

Abi Wallis moves to the newly created position of head of sales insights and campaign strategy.  She is currently national head of strategy & insights for SCA iQ. In the new role, Wallis will oversee all centralised Sales Insights teams at SCA, including campaign strategy, client insights and effectiveness, and commercial insights.

Jasmine Beech moves to the newly created position of client insights and effectiveness director and is currently head of sales research and insights for SCA iQ. She will continue to oversee advertiser insights leads for each state as well as being SCA’s campaign effectiveness expert.

“The centralised hub for research, insights and strategy will be SCA’s ‘centre of excellence’ for strategy and insights. These changes will ensure the effective and efficient delivery of meaningful strategic insights across all areas of the business and ensures we are equipped to fulfill our digital audio first strategy,” SCA head of corporate strategy, David Prime, said. 

SCA has also begun recruiting for several newly created positions in the strategy and insights division.

Reporting directly to David Prime, the new SCA appointments are effective immediately.

This announcement follows the recently implemented new sales leadership structure for digital audio, following the launch of LiSTNR and the opportunities it provides advertisers.

Network 10 today announced that Brooke Blurton will grace our screens as Australia’s next Bachelorette.

The 26-year-old proud Noongar-Yamatji woman is no stranger to putting her heart on the line and giving it all when it comes to love. 

Passionate about her past, heritage and connection to the land, Brooke, who hails from Western Australia and is a youth worker, identifies as bisexual and is ready to find her happily ever after.

Brooke said: “I am so ready for this. I’ve done it twice before and now, having the opportunity to choose my person and who I want in my life, is a truly unique and special experience. My perfect person is someone that loves me for me. I hope they offer shared values and compassion for others. All the dreamy things! I’m so excited and hope that I finally find that person I’ve been waiting for.”

Speaking about whether or not Australia was ready to go on the journey with her, Blurton said that she “wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

“If it makes people feel uncomfortable in any way, I really challenge them to think about why it does.

“Times are more progressive and sexuality and gender expression are just so fluid these days. I am not too sure if Australia is ready for it. I hope they are. I certainly am.”

The Bachelorette Australia host, Osher Günsberg, said: “We are a nation of people from so many different backgrounds, so many different cultures and so many different experiences, yet we all have one thing in common – we all want to be loved in a way that is meaningful to us. I can’t wait to get started on helping our Bachelorette Brooke find that kind of love.”    

Casting for The Bachelorette Australia is now open. Click here to apply.  

The Bachelorette Australia is a Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia production for Network 10.

Quantcast, has today announced the appointment of Ilda Jamison as its new managing director for Australia and New Zealand.

Jamison will join Quantcast at the end of June and will report to Quantcast APAC managing director Andrew Double. Double will continue to lead the broader APAC business and will focus on market expansion across the region. Both Double and Jamison will be based in Sydney. 

With almost 20 years’ international and local experience in the online publisher, data and advertising technology industries, Jamison has held executive positions for top global and fast-growing startup businesses. Jamison is currently managing director ANZ for SpotX, which provides a global video advertising and monetisation platform to bridge the gap between linear TV and digital video. Prior to this she led the launch of the third-party marketplace for Oracle’s Australia division. Jamison has also led commercial teams for MediaMath, AppNexus, Microsoft, AOL and Fairfax Digital.

“We have searched rigorously, both locally and internationally, to find the right candidate to lead the Australian and New Zealand operations for Quantcast, and Ilda brings an incredible depth of experience and skills from both tech – specifically with platform-based businesses – and media to the role,” said Double.

“Ilda’s experience and leadership approach will help us continue Quantcast’s trajectory of growth. Our recently launched Quantcast Platform, which allows advertisers and media agencies to easily and fully plan, activate, innovate and measure campaigns, helps publishers and marketers thrive, while consumers benefit from a free and open internet.”

Commenting on her new role, Jamison said: “The potential of the Quantcast audience intelligence platform for advertisers in the region is vast. As we enter the third-party cookieless era, advertisers will need to better understand how to know and grow their audiences and Quantcast is well placed to help advertisers succeed. I’m excited to be joining a company at the forefront of data-driven advertising using machine learning and working alongside the team to help build solutions that brands and consumers can trust.”

Jamison will join Quantcast on 21 June and follows the recent appointment of Quantcast’s new head of account management, Jacquelyn ‘JC’ Cowardin.

Head of the Hit Network, Gemma Fordham, today announced the appointment of Mathew ‘Eggo’ Eggleston as content director for 2DayFM Sydney. 

Eggleston has worked with SCA for 13 years, most recently as Hit Network’s metro operations manager and looking after regional content for Hit. He has held various other roles at SCA across programming, including as content director for B105 where he led the team to number one. 

He began his radio career with NXFM Newcastle as an announcer and music director, before moving to SAFM and then Fox FM in similar roles. He is no stranger to 2DayFM, where he was music director. 

“Eggo has 2DayFM in his blood, his true passion for the station and brand is obvious and he will inject his enthusiasm into the 2Day product and shows. It’s an exciting time for 2Day with our new The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin breakfast show and we are looking forward to having Eggo on the team,” Fordham said. 

Commenting on his new role, Eggleston said: “When it comes to radio, 2DayFM was always the dream as a young kid growing up in Newcastle. I’ve had the pleasure of working here on multiple occasions already over my time in radio, but nothing compares to getting the keys to the station as the content director. I’m looking forward to leading this talented team and I’m excited to get started.” 

Eggleston’s appointment is effective immediately. 

Elsewhere on the Hit Network today, Justin Hill has been announced as the host of Stan Original RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under: The Podcast to coincide with the debut of the eight-part Stan Original Series RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.

The Hit Network production, created exclusively with Stan, will be available to stream on LiSTNR every Sunday after each new episode.

The podcast will showcase a weekly rundown of each episode and interviews with eliminated queens.

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) announced today that Facebook has formally joined the system that funds the operation of the advertising self-regulatory system that includes the operations of Ad Standards.

John Broome, the AANA’s CEO, said Facebook’s decision is an important milestone in the evolution of the self-regulatory system.

“When the AANA set-up the self-regulatory system over twenty years ago, virtually all advertising was in traditional media and made via media buying agencies. Advertisers supporting the self-regulatory system voluntarily pay a small levy on their media spend that is collected on their behalf by members of the Media Federation of Australia.

“However, in recent years there has been a growing trend for advertisers to pay major publishers and digital platforms directly, with the unintended consequence of effectively bypassing the current collection mechanism. At the same time, the increasing migration to digital has led to much more advertising content and hence a greater workload for Ad Standards. So, Facebook’s move to directly fund the self-regulatory system will help underpin its future financial sustainability,” Broome said.

Will Easton, Facebook Australia and New Zealand’s managing director and vice president said a fully functioning advertising self-regulatory system was in the interests of all parties.

“Australia’s self-regulatory system provides the public with a highly efficient and effective complaints handling service that is one hundred percent funded by industry. We are committed to ensuring that we play an appropriate role in ensuring its funding now and in the future,” Easton said.

The AANA said that self-regulation would now be funded by the combination of the levy system, operated by the MFA on advertisers’ behalf, and direct funding from digital publishers and major media outlets.

“We are in discussions with the other major digital platforms and media players to achieve a sustainable and equitable funding arrangement. I am pleased to say that those discussions are progressing very well, and I am confident that we will continue to evolve our funding model so that we maintain a world class self-regulatory system that meets the Australian community’s expectations,” Broome said.

All reality SVOD service hayu has just celebrated its fifth anniversary in Australia and just launched a new brand campaign across OOH, ADTV, Radio, Podcasts, Digital and BTL. The brand campaign focuses on unique, relatable viewing moments, highlighting the emotional value that hayu delivers its subscribers.

“Our research shows that hayu’s Australian subscribers have a unique emotional connection with hayu, where viewers cherish their hayu viewing experience that represents an important moment of ‘me-time’ and escapism,” commented Richard Howard, senior vice president – marketing, hayu. “We wanted our campaign to reflect this, highlighting why Aussies love hayu through a series of relatable moments – whether that’s indulging in some Sunday morning reality after a big night out or escaping the kids for a few moments to tune out and recharge.”

“Five years in the Australian market is a big milestone, and we’re extremely proud of the ongoing success of hayu in Australia and globally,” said Hendrik McDermott, managing director, hayu. “In a competitive market, hayu resonates with subscribers because it’s a completely unique SVOD offering. hayu’s breadth of reality content continues to resonate with Australian viewers – from global celebrity reality hits such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, Below Deck and Million Dollar Listing, to exclusive content like Made In Chelsea and HBOMax’s Big Shot with Bethenny, as well as popular true crime docu-series.”

hayu offers over 8,000 episodes of reality and true crime TV shows across a wide variety of unscripted sub-genres including: celebrity, lifestyle, home and design, dating, cooking and fashion. hayu’s breadth of content uniquely super-serves reality fans and subscribers don’t have to worry about spoilers as the vast majority of U.S. shows are available on hayu the same day as their U.S. broadcast. This month sees the brand-new seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, The Real Housewives of New York City and Botched land on the service.

In addition to the brand campaign, hayu continues to cement its position in Australia through both local and global commercial partnerships, including the recently announced Samsung partnership, which sees hayu deepening its reach with the app now available on Samsung Smart TVs in all territories.

Having first launched in Australia, the U.K. and Ireland in March 2016 hayu has established itself for Australian fans of international reality TV. Now available in 27 territories globally, hayu expanded its footprint to Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in 2017, Canada and the Benelux in 2018, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore in October 2019, and Germany and Austria in 2020. In February hayu launched in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Switzerland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. 

Nova’s Kate, Tim & Joel drive show have been dreaming of travelling ever since the opening of the travel bubble with New Zealand hit the news, and now the trio are set to pack their bags for their first overseas trip as a team.

From 22 May, Kate, Tim & Joel will be partnering with Tourism New Zealand for the first time to explore the country. It’s Joel’s first time broadcasting the show from overseas, while seasoned pros Kate and Tim have taken the drive show to the UK for the royal wedding in 2018 and Las Vegas in 2016, so they are sure to have heaps of “helpful” tips for the newbie.

Tim said, “We’ve been dreaming about travelling for a while and we are not dreaming anymore. We love New Zealand – whale watching in Kaikoura, rafting in Hamilton, Waiheke Island – one of the most beautiful places on earth and skydiving in Taupo.”

Kate said, “It’s going to be awesome but I’m not skydiving, are we skydiving?”

Joel said, “Yes that’s how we are arriving.”

What do they have planned during their getaway? Winery tours on Waiheke Island, a scenic flight to Auckland’s Sky Tower – they’ll discover some of the experiences New Zealand has to offer and meet the locals along the way. After their days of sightseeing and capturing content on the Kate, Tim & Joel socials, the team will jump into the studio to broadcast live on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 May and encourage listeners to stop dreaming and go themselves.

Andrew Waddel, general manager of Tourism New Zealand – Australia said, “We’re so excited to welcome Kate, Tim & Joel over and share the wonders of Aotearoa New Zealand with our neighbours once again.

“From alpine scenery in Wanaka to the award-winning wineries of Hawke’s Bay, and buzzing streets of Wellington – there’s loads to see and do.”

Listeners can also have their own New Zealand experience with Kate, Tim & Joel giving away trips to Wellington, Hamilton & Waikato, Christchurch, Kaikoura and Nelson before they head off.

Check out the website for a chance to stop dreaming about New Zealand and go. Tune into Nova’s Kate, Tim & Joel from 3pm or check out the team’s socials to follow their NZ adventure.

The first ever web series to be funded by both Screen Australia and Film Victoria for TikTok, launched on May 17. Produced by Hayley Adams and Michelle Melky, and directed by Logan Mucha, Scattered is a new queer drama comprised of 38 x 1-minute daily eps to be released on TikTok.

It follows three best friends, Jules, Sami and Bo, the day after their friend Wil’s funeral, when they wake up with brutal hang-overs and one less person, Wil… well, his ashes that is. Over the series, the friends retrace their steps to find his ashes and give him the send-off he deserves.

TikTok has become the platform for queer communities to gather and create art, memes and trends online. Bringing this queer series to the platform in 2021 is the perfect pairing of emotive filmmaking and a platform designed for mass distribution.

Since the release of the trailer earlier this week, the account has already gained 700,000 views, 40,000 followers, 230,000 likes and 1500 comments, all before a series episode has been released.

This is not the first creative collaboration for Adams (2021 Screen Forever Ones to Watch) and Melky (creative producer of youth entertainment agency Amplify). They previously pro- duced and directed Love Songs, the world’s first narrative series for TikTok – 21 x 1 minute episodes which has amassed more than 140k followers, 12 million views and 2.5 million likes, with the highly anticipated Season 2 now being released in partnership with Tinder. Season 2 stars Australian TikTokers with a combined following of 4 million.

Scattered stars an emerging cast of relative newcomers, including the three leads – Zenya Carmelotti as Sami, Kurt Pimblett as Bo, and Campbell Connelly as Jules. It has been co-written by Logan Mucha, Kate Darrigan and Adolfo Aranjuez, and was filmed on location in Melbourne.

Lee Naimo, senior online investment manager at Screen Australia said, “We’re really proud to support this clever and captivating series from a talented team with a proven track record of creating entertaining content in bite-size episodes. With the trailer already gaining impressive traction, I can’t wait to see the full series reach audiences on TikTok.”

Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher said “Moving, diverse and beautifully shot, Scattered has set the bar high for Australian TikTok series. We can’t wait to see audiences embrace this heartfelt screen story and we encourage more Victorian creative teams to take the leap into vertical production.”

Scattered has received principal production funding from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria.

Primetime News
Seven News 974,000/930,000
Nine News 910,000/888,000
ABC News 615,000
10 News First 354,000 (5:00pm)/ 248,000 (6:00pm)
SBS World News 158,000 (6:30pm) 139,000 (7:00pm)

Daily current affairs
A Current Affair 678,000
7.30 573,000
The Project 285,000 (6:3 pm)/445,000 (7pm)
The Drum 175,000

Breakfast TV
Sunrise 242,000
Today 190,000
News Breakfast 170,000

Late News
Nine News Late Edition 112,000
The Latest 87,000
ABC Late News 61,000
SBS World News Late 42,000

Nine

Travel Guides was the #1 non-news program as the show took 630,000 viewers to South Australia where the guides went sand dune surfing, got cuddly at Kangaroo Island, and went shark diving.

This was then followed by the Aussie drama Doctor Doctor with 368,000 tuning in.

Footy Classified then had 95,000 viewers after airing in Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide.

Seven

Big Brother had 539,000 viewers watch as three housemates went home. This was the #1 program in all key demos last night as well. Although this episode was down on last Wednesday’s 562,000 viewers.

In the episode, the twins went head to head for a bonus spot in the house. After close to five hours, Alex made the ultimate sacrifice, forfeiting the challenge so her sister could stay.

“I’ve got something good to go home to,” said Alex. “It was good for Char and I to spend that time together. It’s definitely brought us closer as sisters and it’s still been the best experience. I hope Charlotte wins more than anything.”

Mitch claimed another challenge victory, nominating Charlotte H, Gabe and Ari, but Ari was saved from the vote after a technical fault. Charlotte was ultimately sent packing.    

“Everyone’s nuts,” said Charlotte. “People take it way too seriously and I just laugh at them, like, ‘oh my gosh, get a day job’. I don’t really care. I was running out of clothes and there is no dry cleaning service.”

As Charlotte exited the house, Gabe had some news of his own, telling Big Brother he wished to depart.

“I’m mentally, emotionally and physically struggling in here Big Brother,” said Gabe. “I find it hard finding my voice in this house. There’s a lot of loud personalities and I feel like I get smaller when they speak. I’m not doing well, it’s better for me to leave.”

Big Brother was followed by the classic comedy film The Hangover with 201,000.

Home and Away was the top non-news program on seven last night with 559,000 viewers.

10

MasterChef had 557,000 viewers as Beat the Brigade Week continued as the amateur chefs faced off against the team from the Melbourne restaurant Lucy Liu.

The MasterChef team won after winning entrée and main, while losing to Lucy Liu on desserts. This means Brent, Kishwar, Aaron and Tom are now safe from Sunday night’s elimination.
This episode was up on last Wednesday’s 513,000.

On The Project 285,000 (6:3 pm) and 445,000 (7pm) viewers tuned in as the show discussed the Somerton Man, PETA’s advice to Aussie farmers, and why people are upset over Eurovision.

10 Bold was the top multichannel with a share of 4.3%, with a lot of the credit for the win going to NCIS.

ABC

Hard Quiz continues to perform well on Wednesday nights narrowly missing out on the top non-news spot last night after bringing in 620,000 viewers, only 10,000 less than Travel Guides.

This was followed by the season finale of The Weekly with Charlie Pickering which had 516,000 tune in as the show featured Tony Armstrong and Margaret Pomeranz.

Up next was You Can’t Ask That, with this week’s episode focusing on amputees. The episode had 374,000 tune in.

SBS

The top show on SBS last night was the third episode of See What You Made Me Do with 175,000 viewers. The series shows journalist Jess Hill examining the epidemic of domestic violence. The show had 262,000 in its premiers and 212,000 last Wednesday.