He discusses the new deal for a FTA Sky News channel, the new dedicated breakfast show, WIN News and media market consolidation.

Sky News began broadcasting on the WIN TV Network around Australia last Sunday at 6am. However the Bruce Gordon and family-owned broadcaster officially welcomed its new partners to FTA TV in Wollongong last night.

WIN Television hosted a function at the appropriately named WIN Stadium last night to celebrate the new partnership. (WIN doesn’t own the venue, but has naming rights.)

Amy Duggan with Matt Russell, Geoff Phillips and Angelos Frangopoulos at the Sky News on WIN launch

Several of the speakers at the event mentioned how it was 40 years ago that Rupert Murdoch sold his controlling interest in then WIN-4, and now the WIN group under the control of the Gordon family had entered into a new partnership with News Corp to broadcast the Sky News channel on FTA TV in regional Australia. (WIN-4 was the second TV channel that Murdoch bought.)

Matt Russell from Fox Sports News did a great job hosting the event. Some of the guests did talk a bit, but for anybody with an interest in media it was a fascinating evening.

Some of the guests included people who have helped the TV landscape in recent years: Andrew Gordon, Executive Chairman, WIN; Andrew Lancaster, CEO, WIN; Angelos Frangopoulos, CEO and Managing Editor, ANC; Brian Walsh, Executive Director, Television, Foxtel, and Campbell Reid, Group Executive, Corporate Affairs, News Corp Australia.

Sky News sent plenty of talent down the highway to Wollongong for the event. Some of the commentators spoke during proceedings and then were also on air for Sky News from WIN Stadium before and after the function. Paul Murray hosted a special edition, which again last night featured photos sent in from viewers all around Australia watching their new channel. Our favourite photo so far – Peta Credlin in her ugg boots watching Sky News on Tuesday night.

Sky News provided David Speers, Paul Murray, Jaynie Seal, Janine Perrett, Rowan Dean, Ross Cameron, Samantha Dawson, Shelley Lee, and Samantha Chiari.

Fox Sports News added Matt Russell (MC), Alissa Smith (can she talk… but what a great story she has! Wait for the Mediaweek podcast), Tim Robinson, Tom Wilson and Scott Jackson.

WIN talent celebrating the new channel launch included Amy Duggan, Hayley Francis, Lincoln Humphries, Geoff Phillips (just off-air after hosting the WIN News), Bruce Roberts, Melissa Russell and Tanya Dendrinos.

Several speakers also paid tribute to WIN Network news director Stella Lauri.

Local Illawarra dignitaries included Sharon Bird MP, Member for Cunningham; Stephen Jones MP, Member for Whitlam, Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government; Marianne Saliba, Mayor of Shellharbour; Gordon Bradbury AM, Lord Mayor, Wollongong; David Farmer, General Manager, Wollongong City Council; Peter Doust, CEO St George Illawarra Dragons; Brian Johnston, Chairman St George Illawarra Dragons and Paul McGregor, Head Coach, Dragons.

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Top Photo: Brian Walsh with David Speers, Paul Murray, Jaynie Seal and Andrew Gordon at the Sky News on WIN launch

By James Manning

In the few days since Harden spoke with Mediaweek, the business has seen its on-demand TV series Master The Mess launch and then just this week it has announced the Hello Sunshine Podcast Network.

Master the Mess

See also: Hit TV series, movies, Book Club + DirecTV on demand channel
• Part one: Hello Sunshine’s Aussie CEO Sarah Harden talks to Mediaweek

“I started the company with Reese as her only investor 18 months ago and then stepped in to be the CEO last year,” Harden told Mediaweek. “That was on a part-time basis as I was still in my other role as CEO of Otter Media, which was sold just a couple of months ago.” AT&T recently acquired Peter Chernin’s controlling stake in Otter Media.

Harden said the focus at Otter Media was building the next generation of great media brands. “I basically had a front row seat in how to build those things economically. The world and how you make money [in media] have completely changed in the past five years. How do you work effectively and partner with consumer brands, which is what we are doing?”

Harden has a fascinating story about her early brush with media. She can remember back to when she was in primary school. “I wrote a letter to Jana Wendt and I wanted to be in journalism. 60 Minutes was my first introduction and seeing a woman hosting 60 Minutes was a very big deal for me. And she sent me a letter back, which I thought was amazing.

“I originally thought journalism and news would be for me. I did politics at university. When I later went to business school I became very excited about what was happening in the technology world. For me it was then about the intersection of tech and media, how the world was changing and in what new ways does it allow people to consume entertainment and storytelling and media in all its forms.

“I was also a big lover of movies when I grew up, but I didn’t want to be a director, producer or writer. I have always been interested in the business of the entertainment industry.”

Harden was able to study overseas, thanks to a scholarship that covered her fees.

“When I went to Harvard I got an RG Menzies Scholarship, which meant I didn’t have to stay with Boston Consulting Group [where she was working] after my studies. I subsequently moved to Silicon Valley and started a company with two guys from MIT and I wouldn’t have had the capacity to do that without the Menzies funding.

“That sent me on an entrepreneurial path. I then did 10 years at News Corp but I was in very entrepreneurial roles within that much bigger company.”

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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.

AGL Energy was the principal sponsor of the event held at Quay in Sydney. It celebrates inspiring young women who are making a difference.

Former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop, who is also a judge of WoTF, delivered her public address since resigning from the post late last month after the leadership spill.

Women of the Future awards winners: Sarah Moran, Caitlin Figueiredo, Ally McLean with Nicole Byers

In her 20-minute address, Bishop shared her thoughts on what is wrong with the current workplace environment in Canberra and why the dearth of female parliamentarians in Australia is a problem.

She said: “Recent events have given rise to a much broader debate around the workplace culture in Canberra. Allegations of bullying, intimidation harassment, coercion and the unfair and unequal treatment of women – unacceptable workplace practices are the responsibility of us all to identify, to stop it, to fix it.

“I firmly believe that no nation will reach its potential unless it fully embraces the talent, skill, energy, intellect and ideas of the 50% of its population that is female. It is not acceptable for us to have, in 2018, less than 25% of female parliamentarians.”

Bishop’s address was followed by a panel discussion with ABC journalist Sarah Ferguson, OzHarvest Australia CEO and founder Ronni Kahn, and Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage.

They spoke about what it took to make a great leader, particularly for women.

The Australian Women’s Weekly AGL WoTF patron, the honourable Dame Quentin Bryce then took to the stage to participate in a Q&A with event host Virginia Trioli, co-host of ABC News Breakfast.

Nicole Byers

For the first time in its six-year history, Women of the Future nominees entered across three categories: Innovation and Technology, Entrepreneur and Business, and Community, Health and Charity. The winner of each award received over $70,000 in cash and prizes.

Ally McLean took home the Innovation and Technology award for her mentorship platform The Working Lunch, which pairs entry-level women with experienced women in the gaming industry.

Jasiri Australia founder Caitlin Figueiredo won the Community Health and Charity award. A survivor of gender-based violence, Figueiredo co-founded Jasiri Australia at just 21 to educate women on resilience and skills to both avoid or stop assaults.

Within the Entrepreneur and Business category, Sarah Moran was the overall winner. Moran is the co-founder of Geek Girl Academy, an initiative that aims to place one million women into the tech startup industry by 2025.

Alongside Bishop, the judges for 2018 WoTF were former Studio 10 host Ita Buttrose, The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson, The Australian Women’s Weekly editor Nicole Byers, deputy leader of the opposition Tanya Plibersek, AGL’s Lisa Harrington and OzHarvest’s Ronni Kahn.

The event was attended by other media personalities such as Today’s Georgie Gardner, newly announced Studio 10 panellist Kerri–Anne Kennerley, former Studio 10 presenter Jessica Rowe and The Morning Show’s Kylie Gilles.

Byers said: “To say we were impressed by the calibre of entries in this year’s awards is an understatement. All nine finalists have accomplished so much, breaking ground in their respective fields, and it’s truly exciting to anticipate what they’ll do next.

“I’d like to sincerely thank AGL, our patron and the award judges, panellists and of course, finalists, for allowing The Weekly to keep telling the stories of Australian women. We look forward to continuing on our path to deliver a bright female future.”

The October issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly, featuring the AGL Women of the Future Awards winners, is on sale Monday September 10.

Julie Bishop and David Patton

Samantha Armytage

.

Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce

Edwina Bartholomew

Kylie Gillies

Lisa Wilkinson

Jessica Rowe

Kerri-Anne Kennerley

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Top Photo: Julie Bishop

The online audience was also huge, with fans viewing content from the Melbourne Esports Open over 12 million times across Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. The esports community conversation on Twitter saw #MEO2018 trending #1 nationally on Saturday.

Co-promoter TEG’s CEO Geoff Jones said the success of this year’s Melbourne Esports Open proved that esports have a bright future on Australia’s major events calendar.

“We see in Europe, Asia and North America that major esports tournaments attract live audiences of 40,000 to 50,000 fans and millions online,” said Jones. “There is no reason to doubt that Australia can follow that trend and make the Melbourne Esports Open a huge live event and a significant global esports competition.

“I commend the TEG Live team and our co-promoters for producing a spectacular live event that has set a new benchmark in Australia’s esports landscape, but we now have the challenge to make it bigger and better in 2019.”

The League of Legends’ Oceanic Pro League Grand Final was the main event on Sunday September 2, with fan favourites and four-time champions the Dire Wolves taking home the trophy after toppling the Chiefs Esports Club in a 3-1 victory. The Dire Wolves will now represent Australia in the League of Legends World Championship in South Korea, and represent the Oceania region in the global championship.

The Overwatch Contenders Australian Semi and Grand Finals shared the spotlight on the Rod Laver Arena main stage on Saturday September 1. The Sydney Drop Bears took home the title as champions of Overwatch Contenders Australia Season 2, taking out Dark Sided 4-1 in the Grand Final. It was a titanic struggle where the unrelenting pressure and cool decision-making of the Drop Bears was too much for Dark Sided after a great start.

Meanwhile, Margaret Court Arena was transformed into the ESL Tournament Zone – a multi-tournament venue, featuring Forza, Overwatch, CS:GO, Pokemon and headlined by global sensation Fortnite.

Outside of Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena, thousands of fans packed into the JB Hi-Fi Game On Zone, to free play some of the hottest games along with first to play access to some of the biggest upcoming games including Marvel’s Spider-Man, Tom Clancy’s The Division and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

Melbourne Esports Open is co-promoted by ESL, TEG Live and Fairfax Events with the support of Visit Victoria, Victoria’s tourism and events agency.

2CH 10+ 4.2%, Breakfast 3.3%

Cume audience: 10+ 234,000, Breakfast 103,000

Garry Puckett and Neil Sedaka have never sounded so good – on the AM band. Nova’s Paul Jackson talked to Mediaweek recently about finding tunes not many other people are playing – that’s something 2CH does big time. The station’s new breakfast show with Indira Naidoo and Trevor Sinclair showcases the station’s playlist from the 60s and 70s and there is plenty of great stuff on offer.

Indira Naidoo and Trevor Sinclair

The challenge the station faces though is how to move listeners from the FM band to AM. The breakfast show features a Pop Quiz for boomers called $5,000 Minute.

There are plenty of iconic entertainment names still on air from Bob Rogers in morning, Ian Rogerson in afternoon through to Johnny Young in the evening. The station’s Best Disco In Town weekend also sounds like it could be worth a listen.

See also: Indira & Trevor: Behind Sydney’s newest breakfast show on 2CH by Kruti Joshi

104.1 2DayFM 10+ 4.2%, Breakfast 3.3%

Cume audience: 696,000, Breakfast 306,000

2Day might have the same 10+ shares as 2CH across the week and in breakfast, but the cume audiences tell a different story. The FM station has three times the cume audience of 2CH. We’ve stopped counting the number of 2Day FM breakfast show combos (or lost count might be more accurate), but there will be another one next week after Em Rusciano hosts her final program on Friday September 7.

The recent trio of Em with Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee showed some encouraging signs of growth earlier this year, but the survey 5 results were disappointing. SCA will be hoping people might sample the station again when rising star Ash London joins Grant and Ed. The biggest shock they might get if they haven’t listened for a while is the music mix.

See also: Casual bombshell alert: Em Rusciano’s last week at 2Day FM

Hit Network head of content Gemma Fordham agreed the recent Sydney result was a little disappointing.

“It can be tough when you have momentum and encouraging ratings only then to get a bit of a whack out of nowhere,” she told Mediaweek. “We want 2Day to be successful again and we have spent the first six months of this year on what looked to be the right path. There are a couple of areas we will look at to make sure we are performing as well as we can in the workday. Even in drive we know we are getting some incorrect brand attribution for Hughesy and Kate and that is hurting us.

“We feel the strategy is right for 2Day and we know the music strategy has been correct as well. We still have work to do though after this result.

“We will cop it on the chin and keep going.”

See also from this week:
Mediaweek radio wrap: Sydney leaders 2GB and WSFM
Mediaweek radio wrap: Nova Entertainment’s powerful double
Mediaweek radio wrap: KIIS 106.5 and Triple M

By James Manning

Seven

Home and Away just made it over 600,000 with 602,000 after 691,000 and 614,000 earlier this week.

The ob doc hour saw audiences of 350,000 for Motorbike Cops (three markets only) and 507,000 for Highway Patrol.

AFL markets then got The Front Bar a day early because of the first AFL final tonight. The episode pushed above 400,000 across the metro markets with a massive 292,000 in Melbourne.

Nine

A Current Affair had a strong midweek audience with 856,000 for a story on a master haggler.

The Block couldn’t make it to 1m for the big walkout, but 980,000 was pretty close and kept it a clear #1 after 7pm. That number was also well up on the 845,000 on Wednesday last week.

Bite Club was down again, to 456,000 after 484,000 a week ago.

TEN

Benjamin Law was a guest on The Project with 513,000 watching.

It was intruders night on The Bachelor – and they were all brunettes! The episode did 805,000 after 871,000 a week ago and the episode ranked #1 25-54 for the night.

TEN then went with the 1999 movie Runaway Bride, which did 223,000.

ABC

Brush With Fame was on 682,000 to again secure a spot in the top 10 with the final for this season to screen next week.

The penultimate episode of season four of The Weekly then did 619,000 after 578,000 last week.

The launch of Back In Very Small Business was on 348,000, followed by The Last Leg on 201,000.

The penultimate episode of Tonightly, and the last on the primary channel, did 105,000.

SBS

Michael Portillo commanded the biggest audience for a second successive night with 261,000 watching Great British Railway Journeys.

Later in the night the final episode of The Employables did 108,000.