Business of Media
‘Obvious benefits’: HT&E, Seven investors flag possible tie-up
The two largest shareholders in radio company Here, There & Everywhere have left the door open for a tie-up with Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media, saying a transaction under the right terms could generate scale in an increasingly fragmented media landscape, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Allan Gray and Spheria Asset Management – which own a combined 28 per cent of HT&E – said they were not opposed to a tie-up with Seven or any other bidder amid industry speculation that a deal could take place as early as this year.
Multiple industry sources familiar with Seven and HT&E, which runs KIIS FM, WS FM and Gold FM, said there was interest in some form of transaction, but it will only take place if Seven’s share price hits a certain point.
How Southern Cross’ plan to sell TV assets could play out
Network 10 is shaping up as the likely buyer for Southern Cross Austereo’s regional TV stations, while Seven West Media may be keen to get its hand on the company’s Tasmanian businesses to complete their national positioning, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
Late last week, Southern Cross Austereo flagged to the ASX its intentions to sell its regional television assets, indicating it had received “unsolicited approaches from several parties indicating potential interest”.
“The approaches, which are non-binding and incomplete, do not include details of timing, price or conditions,” the update to the ASX said.
SCA flagged the interest in its TV business as part of an announcement to conduct an on-market share buyback to purchase up to $40 million worth of stock, a process which could take up to 12 months to complete.
The interest in SCA’s regional TV assets has been coming for some time from a wide and diverse group from media companies through to private equity firms and is timely as the company doubles down on its future as an audio player, however there is no guarantee any deal will go ahead.
Agencies
Wavemaker appoints Daniel Isaac as managing director Melbourne
Wavemaker has announced the appointment of Daniel Issac as managing director Melbourne.
Issac, who is a well-known figure in Melbourne’s media market, brings more than 25 years of experience to the role agency.
He leaves Dentsu after joining the agency in 2019 as CEO of DentsuX before becoming dentsu international’s chief operating officer, media in 2020.
Issac has led some of the largest accounts in Australia across finance, retail, FMCG, telco, government and technology sectors, and worked with agencies such as Omnicom Media Group, IPG Mediagrands, Publicis’ Zenith and PHD.
He replaces Nathan Cook who will take on a client-side position as regional marketing director in the APAC region for Tempur Sealy International.
Isaac’s appointment is effective May 1 and join the national leadership team. He will agency which counts L’Oréal, Mondelez, Australia Post, Doordash, Jetstar, a2 milk, Honda MPE among its clients.
GroupM NZ appoints Christophe Spencer as chief digital officer
GroupM New Zealand has appointed Christophe Spencer as chief digital officer to lead digital, technology and transformation.
He steps into the newly created role after his tenure as chief digital officer at PHD New Zealand. His appointment is effective 14th June.
Spencer brings more than 20 years of experience in technology, data, media and strategy across New Zealand, France and the UK. He is charged with delivering digital and technology consultation, enhancing capability, and developing GroupM’s media sustainability strategy.
He will lead GroupM’s digital services, performance marketing and specialist business units, including influencer marketing platform INCA, programmatic platform Xaxis, Social and Search, and provide digital and tech consultancy.
Spencer will report to Chris Riley, GroupM New Zealand CEO, who said: “Christophe is one of the region’s finest leaders. His ambitions and values really align with ours, so we are thrilled to welcome him into the GroupM family. Christophe is a strategic thinker, with a unique ability to intimately understand a complex problem and articulate a clear solution for clients.
News Brands
News Corp’s regional publications kept communities informed during the floods crisis
Battling floodwaters, decimated roads, power outages and having little or no phone or internet reception while also dealing with the personal impacts of the recent NSW and Queensland floods made it a gruelling time for reporters working around the clock to inform regional communities of the disaster as it unfolded, reports News Corp’s, Sophie Elsworth.
Residents were desperate for regular information from their local media outlets as floodwaters inundated many townships late last month, and the situation continued to worsen for thousands of Australians who were forced to evacuate from their homes in the days and weeks that followed.
Tessa Flemming, who is a journalist in News Corp’s northern regional NSW team and writes for the online Northern Star publication, said her home at West Ballina was heavily impacted by floodwaters, forcing her to leave and bunker down in two evacuation centres while covering the crisis.
Regional Australians prefer print and digital for their news
Regional Australians rely heavily on print and digital news services to access local information, according to a recent survey, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The poll, which was included in the federal government’s report into Australia’s regional newspapers – The Future of Regional Newspapers in a Digital World – showed 69 per cent of those surveyed accessed news in the past seven days via regional print or digital news services, ahead of other media outlets including television (63 per cent), social media (55 per cent), radio (49 per cent), and metropolitan news services (print or digital) at 41 per cent.
More than 1700 Australians across all states and territories took part in the survey, with 90 per cent of the respondents from regional areas.
Entertainment
Screen success: Australia needs to rewrite the script to maintain global hits
The government has been consulting on how best to support the Australian screen industry for some years now, and some contributors to this discussion claim that without further government action, a sharp decline is unavoidable, writes Paul Muller for SMH.
The data doesn’t support that view. Screen production activity in 2020-21 reached all-time record-levels and more than $1.9 billion was invested across both domestic and inbound production. In December 2021, the Producer Offset for non-theatrically distributed Australian stories increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, triggering so much activity that Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason asked producers for patience as his team “work through a glut of applications”.
But the best news is found beyond big headline numbers; we no longer have two separate worlds – one where Australian stories are funded with Australian money at lower production budgets, another where big Hollywood studio productions with massive budgets bring big international stars to Australia. Now these two worlds have amalgamated to form one seamless continuum. Australian stories now secure more funding from the international market than they do from home, and Australian production companies are developing big global hits, using the international Location Offset and Location Incentive tax incentive programs.
Radio
Kate Ritchie’s absence from Nova gives Ricki-Lee a chance to shine
TV sweetheart Kate Ritchie has been missing in action from Nova FM’s Drive shift for the past fortnight with her absence giving Ricki-Lee Coulter the chance to remind listeners what terrific radio talent she is, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
Ritchie has, according to a Nova spokesperson, been off-air owing to a bout of Covid.
She is expected to rejoin the Drive team of Joel Creasey and Tim Blackwell on Monday.
Richie’s unexpected absence did however let Coulter shine when she stepped in at late notice to work alongside Blackwell and Creasey.
Podcasts
ABC receives multiple complaints over podcast about Fine Cotton affair
The ABC has been embroiled in another controversy over its coverage of historical Australian crimes and faces legal action over the newly released eight-episode podcast on the Fine Cotton affair, reports News Corp’s Sophie Eslworth.
Multiple complaints have been sent to the ABC since the podcast series, Dig – The Ring In, the first in the public broadcaster’s “investigative history feed”, was released on March 1, amid claims of significant inaccuracies about one of the nation’s biggest sporting scandals.
Among those who have made written complaints to the ABC is David Waterhouse — the estranged son of the late bookmaker Bill Waterhouse and brother of Robbie — over his portrayal in the podcast, which he said left him “deeply offended” and “defamed”.
Television
Celebrity Gogglebox set to return
Foxtel and 10 will screen more of Celebrity Gogglebox, following its debut earlier this month.
“We’ve committed to do that as an 11th episode of the next couple of seasons. I was really happy with how it happened,” said Wendy Moore, General Manager of Lifestyle channels, reports TV Tonight.
“Not all the celebrities will probably be available all of the time. But they all really wanted to be part of it. So I think they’ll try as much as they can to make themselves available. It would be nice to have maybe a bigger pool of celebrities and then we can swap people in and out depending on who’s available.
“We’ll run it as the first episode. So one Celebrity special and then the normal 10 episodes of Gogglebox.”
Love on the Spectrum gets US adaptation
Northern Pictures hit dating documentary Love on the Spectrum is getting a US adaptation on Netflix, reports TV Tonight.
The series follows people on the autism spectrum as they navigate the world of dating and relationships.
The Australian series has picked up multiple awards including Rockie Awards, Real Screen Awards, New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, and screened two seasons on ABC.