By Kruti Joshi

The much talked-about reality TV star and owner of Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Jenner, was pitched for the September cover by Vogue Australia fashion director Christine Centenera and photographer Jackie Nickerson.

This was Jenner’s first ever Vogue cover. “She’d done a Teen Vogue cover but not a Vogue cover,” McCann said. “We want to continue making sure that we build our Gen Z audience.

“I was aware that she had an incredibly successful lip kit so we thought about also approaching her to promote it in Australia. You can’t buy it in retail stores here. You can only buy it online through her website.”

The initial print run of the September issue came with Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit and retailed for $12.99. “We thought it would make for a really compelling offer,” McCann said. “It was really noticed by Gen Z and they did pick up the magazine.”

The reprinted edition of the September issue was sold without the gift and came at a cheaper cover price of $8.99. “The sales continue to be really strong without the lip kit and that is because of the interest around her,” McCann said.

The process of negotiating a deal with Kylie Cosmetics was easier than many would think, McCann said. “Kylie is very much her mother’s daughter – Kris Jenner is a fantastic marketer and business woman. She understands value when you put something to her. Kylie’s business is pretty flat management relative to its size and turnover. It was much easier to pull the deal together because Kylie owns her brand outright.

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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.

ARN’s Duncan Campbell talks about a critical corner for the KIIS Melbourne station with this survey.

The Crocmedia-managed SEN station is also at the crossroads after a big investment in talent earlier this year.

KIIS 101.1 10+ 5.4%, Breakfast 5.9%

Cumulative audience: 840,000, Breakfast 433,000

ARN is playing the long game here. All of the station’s five 10+ results this year have been below every 2017 survey result. The breakfast results are almost the same – except that a rise in survey 5 means Jase and PJ have improved on one of the 2017 surveys results.

KIIS breakfast hosts Jase and PJ with Hamish and Andy

ARN’s Duncan Campbell told Mediaweek after the survey 5 result:

“I feel we have turned a critical corner here with the breakfast result. Research showed us there was a lot of churn going on with some of the audience moving to Fox, Nova and smoothfm. We have also been trying to market the show in a very crowded marketplace so familiarity remains an issue for that show. For it to go up a point on what was a flat book is a critical turning point. Hopefully we will now see some momentum build and it would be great to see Jase and PJ above The Hot Breakfast after the next survey.” There is a gap of just 1.1 between the two Melbourne breakfast shows.

The best result at KIIS is the drive show which sits on 7.2%, way above the station average.

The KIIS cume audience isn’t a bad result, but the station needs to get them to listen longer.

SEN 10+ 2.9%, Breakfast 3.2%

Cumulative audience: 10+ 272,000, Breakfast 144,000

The station has just recorded its second-lowest result since the start of 2016. Breakfast continues to hover around the station breakfast average for the past 18 months.

Most disappointing perhaps is the result for Gerard Whateley who delivers a cracking show Monday to Thursday at 9am in addition to his Friday night and Saturday football duties. Whateley is on 2.4% in morning, which was down 0.7 in survey 5. (See below for core audience stats.)

One bit of good news the station shared after survey 5 was that footy fans are listening the longest to 1116 SEN for their call, with SEN Footy (Saturday and Sunday afternoons) #1 for time spent listening.

Other positive results from survey five come from drilling down into key demos:

• Growth in breakfast with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson to 8.2%+ from 7% (6am-9am, Monday-Friday, males 25-54)
• 1116 SEN’s chief sports caller Gerard Whateley continues to connect with sports fans, with Whateley #1 with males 35-54, with a 10.3% share+ (up from 4.1% in the previous survey). Share also increased, to 6.1% with males 25-54 (up from 4.5% in the previous survey)
• Afternoons with Andy Maher jumped to 6%+ from 3.8% (12 noon-3pm, Monday-Friday, males 25-54)
• KB & The Doc have increased to 6.9%+ from 5.8% (3pm-6pm, Monday-Friday, males 25-54)
• Time On with Sam McClure hits headlines on the drive home with an increase to 8.4%+ from 8.1% (6pm-7pm, Monday-Wednesday, males 25-54).

The station noted consumption is also growing in the digital space, averaging 1 million podcast downloads per month during the AFL season, driven by breakfast with Garry Lyon and Tim Watson (305,000 downloads per month) and Whateley (400,000 downloads per month).

However, some listeners are still coming to grips with what they can stream via SEN and the new second frequency SEN+.

Pacific Star Network CEO and managing director Craig Hutchison said he was pleased with the survey 5 results. “The focused drive to capture the 25-54 male sports fan in Melbourne is working for 1116 SEN. To see increases from 6am to 7pm, it shows we’re on track with an incredible runway for what’s to come.

“With the announcements of the SEN XI cricket commentary team, fierce AFL Finals ahead, the introduction of SEN+, the acquisition of the AFL Record and a share in Melbourne United, this is the time for 1116 SEN to super-serve our sports fans.”

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Top Photo: SEN breakfast hosts Garry Lyon and Tim Watson with regular Daisy Pearce

Following the success of the first series, Roos once again sits down with iconic athletes and business people to discuss leadership, team culture and parallels between business and sport.

Paul Roos with Brendan Gale

In the new series Roos, the 2005 Premiership winning coach of the Sydney Swans and coach during the recent rebuild of the Melbourne Football Club, speaks with CEO of Richmond Football Club Brendon Gale, Olympic swimmer and CEO of AFLW Nicole Livingstone, NBA and NBL champion Andrew Bogut, music industry manager and label manager John Watson and others about the psychology of success.

“The new series provides some really incredible and deeply honest insights into the highs and lows of sport and business,” said Roos.

“There are a lot of parallels between the gruelling, high-pressure world of sport and the white-collar world.

“Great businesses rely on strong teams, and strong teams are supported by exceptional leadership – I hope this new series inspires those leaders.”

Series two of The Coach is available now via the PodcastOne app, website and iTunes.

Listen here.

 Serial season 3 continues Pandora streaming deal, new sponsor

In the past week it was announced that the third season of the popular US podcast Serial would launch on September 20 with two episodes and then drop a new episode every week.

For the new season, Serial is heading back to court, this time in Cleveland. The podcasts aim to reveal a year inside a typical American courthouse.

Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. The multi-award winning podcast, like This American Life, is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago. It comes from Serial Productions, which released S-Town in 2017, and has more projects in development.

The weekly radio show is heard by 2.2 million listeners each week on over 500 public radio stations in the US, with another 2.5 million people downloading each episode as a podcast.

The podcast producers inked a deal with Pandora for season two which continues for season three. That means no other streaming service will host the podcast. However, it will be available from podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

US jobs search engine ZipRecruiter is the exclusive sponsor for the season.

Sports podcasts celebrate footy finals

Sports podcasting is attracting big crowds year-round, but AFL and NRL podcasts do particularly well during the September finals season. Last week we spoke to AFL broadcaster Mark Howard about his all-sports podcasts, and above we have details of former player and coach-turned TV analyst Paul Roos about his latest interviews.

Many major sporting clubs now have their own podcasts. One of the interesting ones this year is the Melbourne Football Club podcast which is tracking the club’s progress through a final season for the first time in 12 years. The podcast is sponsored by Zurich and is hosted by Nine’s Clint Stanaway and TEN’s Caty Price.

The AFL’s media division has its own podcasts and there are many independent AFL podcasts from established media players through to indies. A must-listen for many is Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen’s 2 Guys 1 Cup and also Junk Time from Adam Rozenbachs and Michael Chamberlin. Fox Footy channel also has a biweekly podcast.

The new season of NAB-sponsored Trade Radio podcast from Crocmedia has also been doing roaring business this week.

The NRL attracts fewer podcasters it seems with one of the more popular the weekly NRL Podcast from NRL.com. The much-admired, multi-award winning and long-running TWiL (This Week In League) attracts dedicated fans, as does Phil Gould’s podcast for Nine called Six Tackles With Gus.

Listen to the Inside Melbourne podcast here.

TV Recaps growing in popularity

There was a time when website text TV recaps were much sought-after for people who couldn’t watch or didn’t have the time to watch one or more episodes. Now the recap is becoming a podcasting staple.

One of the best is the Mamamia Recap podcast and in particular Bach Chat which features Mamamia’s Rachel Corbett with different colleagues from the digital publishing powerhouse.

The prolific Mamamia team now hosts something like 20 different podcasts from the flagship Mamamia Out Loud through to The Binge, The Prude & The Pornstar, No Filter with Mia Freedman and You Beauty.

Mamamia will be updating advertisers about its latest audio initiatives at an Upfront event at the Sydney Opera House next week.

Check out the Mamamia podcast platform here.

Heath Ledger’s dad talks to Ash Bradnam on Addicted

Kim Ledger, the father of renowned Australian actor Heath Ledger, shares his story with Nova’s Ash Bradnam, in the latest episode of the acast podcast series Addicted.

Kim Ledger shares his family’s grief at the death of their beloved son to an accidental overdose in 2008. In the wake of Heath’s passing, Kim has dedicated much of his time to raising awareness of the dangers of prescription drugs and, through his association with ScriptWise, is committed to educating Australians about these dangers and establishing a prescription register to spare families the pain that his family has experienced.

This episode features real-time audio from the Nova Brisbane breakfast show in 2008 when Heath’s death became news across the globe.

Nova Entertainment released the podcast series Addicted in August last year after a huge response from listeners to Ash Bradnam’s revelations about his 15-year battle with addiction.

Addicted was launched as a candid conversation about addiction and to provide practical advice and support for others and their families in similar situations. The series launched in 2017 with Ash Bradnam’s raw and honest account of his lengthy battle with addiction and the effect it had on his relationships and was followed with rapper 360’s intense account of his own battles.

Jodie Bradnam, a clinical psychologist, helped her husband Ash throughout his sobriety journey and encouraged and supported him to discuss the toll it took on their relationship, and their continuous road to recovery in the first and ongoing episodes of Addicted.

Listen to episodes of Addicted here.

ABC announces new and returning podcasts for kids

The ABC has revealed 100+ episodes of on-demand podcasts for children aged 2-6 and 5-11.

The ABC listen and ABC KIDS listen apps showcase podcasts dedicated to entertaining and educating young minds. The initiative is building an audience of kids who will want their entertainment on demand as they grow.

The titles include Animal Sound Safari with host Lawrence Gunatilaka.

Also on offer is a new season of Imagine This with host Brianna Peterson, which examines the science behind puzzling questions from inquisitive young minds – subjects include hiccups, bones, spider webs, life on other planets and much more.

The kids (and parents) ethics podcast, Short & Curly, returns to tackle the curliest questions from schools, homes and playgrounds Australia-wide with hosts Carl Smith and Molly Daniels.

New episodes of News Time drop each Saturday with coverage of stories from Australia and around the world. The series is hosted by Ruby Cornish, a presenter and reporter for the ABC children’s program Behind The News.

Explore the ABC Kids podcasts here.

Mamamia co-founder and chief creative officer Mia Freedman said: “Tony has a longstanding relationship with our company and Jason and I are delighted to welcome him full-time into the business in this senior role. It’s a busy time for us as we continue to grow our podcast network, which is already the largest women’s podcast network globally, expand our content teams, and build on our viral video production expertise to include scripted comedy. It’s all hands on deck and Tony is a welcome addition to our management team.”

Mamamia co-founder and CEO Jason Lavigne said: “Tony’s appointment into this newly created role is a key step in our continuing evolution toward commercial and operational excellence, expanding our core business, and launching two internal startups in the coming weeks.

“Tony will also be working to create even stronger relationships between advertisers and the most influential women’s audience in Australia.”

In recent times Prentice has been running a sales effectiveness consultancy Prentice and Partners and before that was in charge of sales and commercial operations at APN Outdoor, News Digital Media and then News Australia.

Tony Prentice said: “Mamamia continues to be a pioneer and independent media player that has ambitions for growth that are exciting to be a part of. Helping the team and commercial partners benefit from the expertise and understanding of over a decade of genuine and long-term conversations with the women of Australia is going to see Mamamia take on new product initiatives and a more vocal voice in market. I’m excited about what we have planned.”

In just one week audiences will finally be given an all-access pass into the lives of the sporting world’s rich and famous on the new series from Screentime.

The network is promising the show will provide a delicious insight into what makes the wives and girlfriends within the elite football realm tick. Viewers will be introduced to five very different women, all linked by a common thread: the Southern Jets Football Club.

Fresh from the country, the club’s hot new recruit Daniel (George Pullar) lands in Melbourne with his girlfriend Paige (Cece Peters), who immediately learns how out of her depth she is in this dazzling world.

Welcoming Paige into the club’s fold are Kath (Madeleine West), the perfectly mannered coach’s wife and ruler of the roost; Maddy (Annie Maynard), a high-flying lawyer and mother of two; Tahlia (Olympia Valance), a glamorous social media influencer and partner of the club’s captain and Jessie (Isabella Giovinazzo), a young mother with football aspirations of her own.

Playing For Keeps is a Screentime production for Network Ten with principal production investment from Screen Australia, and the assistance of Film Victoria.

For those that simply cannot wait, tenplay members will be able to watch the entire first episode of Playing For Keeps early at tenplay.com.au/playingforkeeps.

The exclusive preview started on 12 September for a limited time, only on tenplay.

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Top Photo:  Playing For Keeps stars Cece Peters, Olympia Valance, Madeleine West, Isabella Giovinazzo and Annie Maynard

Update: Honey Money is now #1 on the iTunes music chart.

That chart is the Pop chart from iTunes, where it has outperformed 5SOS and two tunes from Conrad Sewell as well as the best pop artists from the UK and US.

Meanwhile on the overall iTunes music chart, at the time of writing, Jackie O is also putting in an impressive performance with Honey Money at #2, poised for a run at top spot.

“As a kid I did a lot of singing and dancing. I’ve been talking about recording a song on-air for ages and, when Kyle challenged me, one of our producers Kian and I actually did it,” said Jackie O this week.

“It was all a bit of a joke actually to start with. When we finished the song I took it home to play to my seven-year-old daughter Kitty. She is my harshest critic. To my amazement she actually loved it. She was so excited and thought her mum was actually cool and couldn’t wait to play it to her friends at school.

“The song has been released on iTunes and Spotify and we’ve decided that all proceeds go towards helping the farmers affected by the drought, so hopefully we can raise some money for them. The proceeds from the song will go directly to Drought Angels.

“It was a collaboration and, while I was involved in the song-writing process, I have to give most of the credit to Kian and his team.

“When we played the song on-air I saw a headline somewhere that said ‘Move over, Iggy Azalea’. I had to laugh. I’m not seriously trying to have a recording career here – it’s just for fun. I’m certainly not competing with the great artists around at the moment but, if people like the song, they can buy it and we will be raising money for the drought-affected farmers.

“It started out as just a fantasy, but I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and reaction it’s got from everyone here at KIIS and listeners calling in to say they liked the song.

“No it’s not really steamy or suggestive. I don’t think so! There are a couple of lyrics like ‘I’m just like honey / making my money / I’m just like honey / making my money’.

“And ‘I wanna see that big a** booty start dropping / and if you shake that a** right we can get that cash right’ but it’s not really anywhere near as suggestive as some of the songs on the radio at the moment. It’s all in good fun and for a great cause.”

A judge in the Supreme Court has found that broadcaster Alan Jones defamed members of the Wagner family as many as 27 times during broadcasts in 2014 and 2015.

The findings come after a seven-week trial in front of Justice Peter Flanagan, who delivered his 253-page judgment today.

Alan Jones and his employer 2GB’s Macquarie Media/Harbour Radio have been ordered to pay the Wagner family $3.3m, while Jones and another Macquarie Media station, Brisbane’s 4BC, have to pay $440,000.

Payment breakdown: Jones and 2GB ordered to pay Wagner brothers Denis, John, Neill and Joe $750,000 each plus $78,102 interest. Jones and 4BC ordered to pay the brothers $100,000 each plus $10,643 interest.

Each of the brothers will receive $940,000.

The Wagner brothers’ claim against journalist Nick Cater was dismissed by Justice Flanagan.

Macquarie Media has subsequently issued a short statement following the release of the findings:

2GB is disappointed by the decision today of the Supreme Court of Queensland. The decision follows a hard-fought legal battle between 2GB and the Queensland-based Wagner brothers, following a series of broadcasts on the Alan Jones Breakfast Show concerning the Grantham floods and the Toowoomba airport.

2GB, 4BC and Mr Jones will be considering carefully their appeal options. As injunctions now restrain them, nothing further can be said at this time.

Alan Jones said in relation to the decision:

“I need to read the entire judgment very carefully.

“I do feel that I have somehow let down the people of the Lockyer Valley who sought my assistance. As the judge found in this case, I sought to ventilate concerns expressed to me by those people.

“I am restrained in what I can say because I am now subject to injunctions and will be making no further comment.”

The show will make its debut on the video-sharing platform on October 7 at 6pm. Then the first episode of Superwog will screen on ABC Comedy and iview on October 9 at 9.30pm.

This is ABC Comedy’s first original scripted series and the public broadcaster’s first YouTube series collaboration.

Superwog was created and written by brothers Theodore and Nathan Saidden, who will also been seen acting in the show. The six-part series continues on from the hugely successful The Superwog pilot, which was the highest trending YouTube video in Australia last year, with in excess of 3.7 million views (90% Australian based).

The Superwog series will follow the highly dysfunctional Superwog family as they struggle to navigate life in Australian suburbia. Superwog (Theodore Saidden) is a teen enrolled in a prestigious private school and obsessed with girls and fast food. His misadventures with best friend Johnny (Nathan Saidden) often cause Superwog’s emotionally primitive, highly strung father (again Nathan Saidden) extreme stress as he battles to keep his delusional but fiercely loyal wife (again Theodore Saidden) happy.

The show has been produced by Superwog and Princess Pictures for YouTube and the ABC with principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with the public broadcaster, and financed with support from Film Victoria and YouTube Series.

Theodore Saidden is the director of the program. Executive producers on the show are Emma Fitzsimons and Elia Eliades, along with ABC’s Rick Kalowski and Lauren Merolli.

Joan Warner, the chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia, said the importance of audio was highlighted by growing audiences for radio and the increasing popularity of podcasts and voice activated speakers.

“Having an audio brand strategy is as important as having a visual one because consumers are spending a significant proportion of their media time listening, and this is only set to increase as voice technology continues to develop and audio content becomes available across more channels and devices,” she said.

CRA has reported cumulative audiences are at record highs and metro ad revenue is up 5.8% in the first half of the calendar year.

The third phase of the Radio Alive campaign, includes three new radio ads and an audio logo developed by agency Eardrum.

The ads have been on air nationally this week across 260 radio stations and will be supported by trade marketing.

Ralph van Dijk, founding creative director at Eardrum, said the Radio Alive audio logo uses sampling and original music to grab attention and improve recall.

“The brief was to create a distinctive audio logo that would reflect radio’s contemporary image in just a couple of seconds and be highly memorable.

“The big benefit of an audio logo versus a visual logo is that it stays with you after you’ve experienced it and plays an important role in positively differentiating a product or service. It can create preference, build trust and even increase sales.”

The new ads focus on radio being “the medium Aussies trust most” and continue the theme of using case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of radio advertising.

The ad “Flaky Results” tells the story of a bakery that can’t express the tastiness of their sausage rolls using a visual ad but finds success with radio able to bring to life the sounds of real people reacting to the taste. The ad “Trusty Tunes” focuses on trust in radio presenters, while “Crazy for Cars” focuses on radio’s ability to create conversations and get people talking.

Listen to the new ads at the Radio Alive website www.radioalive.com.au.

Consumers are demanding more immersive technologies when it comes to live sporting events, according to new research.

The study, released by Stable Research and commissioned by over the top (OTT) streaming technologies company, Switch Media, surveyed over 1,000 consumers on their behaviour with streamed content and their expectations for future streaming. Switch Media technology has been used by Foxtel, Seven, ABC iview and SBS.

From the results, almost 70% of respondents said they’d be interested in streaming content in either 360-degree view, virtual reality or an augmented reality environment. Of these technologies, almost half said they would be more likely to use 360-degree, and a third chose virtual reality.

Switch Media CEO Mark Johns said: “There’s clearly a shift occurring in the market where consumers want more than the ‘one-dimensional’ experience of streamed content. This is especially the case when it comes to major sporting events.

“With the emergence of these new technologies, consumers will be able to relocate themselves to blockbuster live sporting events or watch a highly anticipated match from multiple views at the touch of a button and as frequently as they like.”

The main reasons respondents said they would be attracted to a virtual reality environment was that the experience would be more realistic and that they would feel like they were part or personally involved in the event.

There are several players experimenting with this technology already.

Earlier this year, Optus launched the FIFA Virtual Reality app for the World Cup. It allowed fans to access full matches on demand, with extensive access to commentary and the ability to view the game up close through a VR headset.

Organisations in the NRL, AFL and cricket space have also begun trialling applications centred on virtual reality and 360-degree experiences.

“This type of exploration really shows how Virtual Reality technologies will be a game-changer for future world-wide sporting events. It’s an exciting prospect to think what might be available by the next World Cup,” said Johns.

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Top Photo: Mark Johns, CEO Switch Media

By Kruti Joshi

Nine

The broadcaster’s news bulletin was its most-watched program. The audience for it increased from 908,000 to 921,000 for the half hour starting at 6.30pm.

The walk-through episode of The Block saw one piece of advice from Shelley Craft handed out to three of the five couples: the pantry is too big. Bianca and Carla, Norm and Jess and Hayden and Sara all put their own arguments forward, but the judgment from Craft remained the same. At the end, Kerrie and Spence took out the $10,000 prize from Domain.

It was also challenge day for the Blockheads. They were given a sculpture challenge by the show’s judge Neale Whitaker. Hayden and Sara were the winners, taking home $5,000.

The Wednesday night episode of the Nine renovating show had 870,000 watching. It ranked #6 behind The Bachelor on Ten.

Bite Club did 469,000 and Hot Seat was on 461,000.

Seven

Seven News was the most-watched program on TV last night. The half-hour starting at 6pm had 970,000 watching. The audience picked up at 6.30pm to 980,000.

Home and Away was the broadcaster’s most-watched non-news show. It had 650,000 tuning in. Motorbike Cops, Highway Patrol, The Chase Australia and 9-1-1 secured spots inside the top 20 shows for last night too.

TEN

After a week of heavy promotions on Ten about contestant Brooke’s big secret, all was revealed on last night’s episode of The Bachelor. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that the secret was a little underwhelming. Brooke’s concerns about Nick changing his perception of her after knowing she’s dated women in the past were all laid to rest. The bachelor didn’t bat an eyelid. However, the marketing around the big reveal did do the trick. Last night’s episode of The Bachelor had 884,000 watching. It was the most-watched non-news show on TV last night and also the #1 show in all demos.

Earlier in the night on TEN, The Project had 513,000 tuning in.

ABC

The news was the channel’s most-watched program, closely followed by Anh’s Brush With Fame. Australian actress Sigrid Thornton was the guest on the show last night. The Wentworth actor was brought to tears as she recounted the passing of her father after a long battle with illness in 2014. This episode of Anh’s Brush With Fame was watched by 665,000.