Business of Media
‘Perfect storm’ wipes nearly $575b off large US media groups’ value
The largest US media companies have collectively shed nearly $US400 billion ($574 million) in market value this year, as recession worries, an advertising slowdown and post-pandemic audience trends ignite a “perfect storm” for Netflix and its peers, reports The Financial Times’ Anna Nicolaou and Nicholas Megaw.
Big US media stocks have fallen on average by 35 per cent since the start of the year, compared with a 13 per cent decline in the S&P 500 index, resulting in total losses of $US380 billion in market capitalisation.
Even after recovering somewhat in the past few weeks, the stock prices of the largest media groups – Disney, Netflix, Comcast, Spotify, Roku, Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros Discovery, The New York Times and News Corp – have halved on average from all-time highs reached during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Financial Times analysis.
Executives and analysts blamed a confluence of factors for the bursting of the Netflix-fuelled bubble in media stocks.
Julian Assange’s family urge Anthony Albanese to intervene before US extradition
Julian Assange’s family have said the Albanese government needs to intervene in the case before he is extradited to the US, saying it would effectively be a “death sentence” for the WikiLeaks founder if there was no intervention, reports The Guardian’s Sarah Martin.
The plight of Assange, who is being held in UK’s Belmarsh prison pending an appeal against his extradition to the US, has been raised with the new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, by Assange’s Australian solicitor, Stephen Kenny.
Attending Parliament House on Wednesday, Assange’s father, John Shipton, and brother, Gabriel Shipton, raised concern that there had been little progress made since the May election, and urged the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to make the issue “non-negotiable” with the US.
Facebook parent Meta makes first-ever bond offering
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms said on Thursday it would make its first-ever bond offering, at a time when the social media company is making massive investments to fund its virtual reality projects, report Reuters’ Nivedita Balu and Shankar Ramakrishnan.
While Meta did not disclose the size of the offering, IFR News reported the bond sale could fetch between $8.5 billion and $10 billion, citing a source familiar with the matter.
The company said it would use the proceeds for capital expenditures, share repurchases, acquisitions or investments.
Agencies
VMLY&R Appoints Johan Borg as regional chief growth officer
VMLY&R announced the appointment of Johan Borg as chief growth officer across Australia and New Zealand. VMLY&R is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands.
VMLY&R has recently expanded its capability beyond Creative and Technology with the integration of VMLY&R Commerce, and GTB, WPP’s Ford business, which brings deep Retail and Commerce capabilities. This has presented significant incremental opportunities for the agency to invest, building capabilities to suit client needs – especially in the area of technology.
Chief executive officer, Thomas Tearle said, “We are incredibly excited for Johan to join our business at a time when we have more to offer than ever before, and a ton of new business opportunities to manage. I’ve personally worked with Johan for several years and know he will bring so much to our team and clients.
“He is a joy to work with and has an exceptional track record of delivering growth. His tech experience further develops our CX offering following the recent appointment of Miles Cox to Chief Experience Officer and at the same time, builds out our growth engine working with Charmaine Griffith, formerly of PWC.”
News Brands
Nine to hold in-person Upfront for 2023
In good news for the industry, Nine is the first network to confirm an in-person Upfront, following two years of virtual events, reports TV Tonight.
Nine will hold a showcase to media buyers and press in the Big Top at Luna Park, Sydney on Wednesday 14 September.
Summer of strikes? Nearly 300 Reuters journalists in US go on strike
Nearly 300 Reuters journalists in the US went on strike on Thursday over a management offer of a guaranteed annual wage increase of 1%, according to the NewsGuild union that represents them, report Press Gazette’s Andrew Kersley and Charlotte Tobitt.
Inflation was at 9.1% in the US in June, the country’s highest since November 1981.
The union said: “The miserly pay offer is particularly hard to swallow for journalists who have found themselves in the line of fire like never before in recent years, be it reporting on the front lines of the Covid-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, or extreme climate events.”
NewsGuild also said the offer did not include any retroactive pay for the period since the last general wage increase in March 2020 and claimed the company had failed to schedule dates to move negotiations forward.
Television
Batgirl’s axing fuels speculation about the future of HBO Max
Fans and the industry are still reeling from the shock decision to can Batgirl, a $US100 million movie that had already been filmed. Batgirl was commissioned for Warner Bros’ streaming platform HBO Max, it was never intended for the cinema, which makes its demise all the more puzzling, reports News Corp’s Wenlei Ma.
It was to star Leslie Grace as Batgirl, with a supporting cast that also included Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser and J.K. Simmons. The directors were Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who were hired off the back of the commercially successful Bad Boys for Life.
Initial reports of Batgirl’s axing suggested it had done so badly for early test audiences, it was declared irredeemable and that the smaller scale of Batgirl meant it wasn’t in line with the rest of the DC movies.
The latter is a weak argument because the DCEU movies are notoriously tonally mismatched and a smaller scale entry would not have disrupted some grand, cohesive vision such as the one Marvel has.
And there are now more, sometimes contradictory, reports that point to a much larger move at play than an issue with just Batgirl.
MKR, The Block, Masked Singer go head-to-head
Aussie TV networks will be relying on big-name celebrities, extravagant costumes, social media buzz and inclusivity this Sunday, as they scrum down for the most fierce reality show battle yet, reports News Corp’s Lisa Woolford.
Seven’s My Kitchen Rules, Nine’s The Block and 10’s the Masked Singer go head-to-head in a highly-anticipated clash, not even the Commonwealth Games could delay.
Seven, as the official broadcast partner of the Birmingham games, fast-tracked its third-quarter tent-pole shows’ launch, despite competition still running in the UK.
Kylie Minogue admits ‘there were tears’ during Neighbours finale cameo
Kylie Minogue has lifted the lid on her Neighbours finale cameo, admitting “there were tears” during her highly-anticipated return to the show, reports News Corp’s Bronte Coy.
The pop superstar, who is arguably Ramsay Street’s most successful export, shared a sweet album on Instagram showcasing her time on the long-running soap, which included an image of her character alongside on-screen husband Scott (played by Jason Donovan) in the final episode.
“Yep, there were tears! Congratulations to the @neighbours team for the heart-warming and celebratory finale. You’ll be in my heart always!!!” Minogue, 54, wrote in the caption.