Business of Media
Nine to promote Powered boss to chief marketing officer
Nine is preparing to appoint its first chief marketing officer since it merged with Fairfax Media four years ago and the director of Nine’s internal advertising agency Powered, Liana Dubois, is the likely contender, reports AFR’s Mirada Ward.
The role replaces outgoing director of local markets and group marketing Lizzie Young, who leaves Nine at the end of next month to launch social app WeAre8 in the Australian market.
Nine, the publisher of The Australian Financial Review, has not had a dedicated chief marketing officer position since before the company merged with Fairfax Media at the end of 2018.
Goodbye, Prime Possum? Seven eyes brand changes ahead of Commonwealth Games
Generations of regional Australians might remember being told to go to bed by a cartoon figure known as Prime Possum. But after decades that tradition could come to an end, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Seven West Media, the new owner of regional broadcaster Prime Media, is planning to drop the Prime and GWN brands from their markets in the coming months. The change, which will also count as a cost efficiency from the acquisition of Prime by Seven, will be made on June 6, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in mid-July.
Seven boss James Warburton said in an internal note to staff that the time was right to create “one brand”. From June 6, Seven will migrate viewers from Prime7 and GWN7 logos to a Seven logo.
Why Albanese needs to support Australia’s TV and film industry
Australia’s screen sector is poised and eager for sustainable growth, but this must be based on regulatory certainty that recognises the growing value of the creative economy to our GDP, and better champions our own unique and independent culture and creativity, writes CEO of Screen Producers Australia, Matthew Deaner, for AFR.
With a new federal government, now is the right time to ensure our regulatory and industry settings, and the government agencies that administer them, are ready to capitalise on the opportunities ahead.
Post the disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic and the boom it caused in consumer-driven screen consumption, it is great news that the worldwide demand for screen content shows no signs of slowing down: the global film and TV market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 12 per cent this year.
Just like other industry sectors, the screen industry is characterised by competing interests. On the one hand, while attracting international productions here with our generous incentives creates local headlines and jobs for some, it’s largely an uneven proposition. Our producing SMEs and creatives, and the soft diplomacy the “Australian made” tag brings, are often missing from the picture.
Agencies
AGL’s search for advertising agencies challenged by demerger chaos
AGL’s search for an advertising agency to shape its post-coal future suffered a setback after news the company’s split may be delayed, and as a contender withdraws from the bidding for the $100 million account, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
While incumbent creative advertising partner CHEP Network (previously known as CHE Proximity) initially threw its hat in the ring for both the creative and media advertising accounts, it has since told AGL it will not participate in the process.
With CHEP bowing out of the process, it leaves independent agency The Royals and Big Red (best known for its Coles ads) fighting it out for the creative ad account. It is not clear if these agencies are the final two. The Royals declined to comment, and Big Red was approached for comment.
On the media front, UM is hoping to retain the account it won in 2018, fighting it out against Publicis Media’s Zenith and Melbourne-based independent agency Half Dome. GroupM’s MediaCom is understood to have declined to participate in the media process. All the participating agencies and GroupM declined to comment.
News Brands
Twiggy Forrest’s Minderoo helps local publishers strike Google deal
Publications such as The Greek Herald, The Australian Jewish News, Australian Chinese Daily and Time Out will receive funding from search giant Google after negotiating a commercial deal with Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Minderoo, with approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, was negotiating on behalf of 24 Australian independent publishers to obtain funding for use of their news content in search. The amount of money was not disclosed, but the not-for-profit said it will be used for a range of “content” and “digital transformation” initiatives.
Publications to receive the funding in addition to Time Out and The Greek Herald including the Naracoorte Community News, Star Observer, Primer Magazine, Australian Property Journal and City Hub.
The new deal brings Google’s total local commercial deals to more than 60, which it says accounts for more than 180 local media outlets. Google’s deals were struck after the introduction of landmark news media bargaining laws which, if implemented, would force Google and Facebook to pay eligible large and small news publishers to display articles in the search engine and “newsfeed”. The new laws don’t actually apply to either Google or Meta because they are not “designated”. Treasury is currently assessing the effectiveness of these laws and working out whether more needs to be done to ensure news outlets are remunerated for their journalism.
Anthony Albanese under pressure to review shield laws
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under pressure to introduce consistent shield laws across the nation’s states and territories in order to improve protections for Australia’s journalists, and to uphold the public’s right to know, reports News Corp’s Lydia Lynch.
Last Thursday, Queensland became the final Australian jurisdiction to pass “shield laws”, which give journalists legal professional privilege from revealing their sources in court.
But the level of protection offered to journalists differs across states and territories.
The journalists’ union has long been campaigning for national shield law reform to ensure legal protections are uniform across the country. “Australia’s shield laws have been described as Swiss cheese and I think that is a good way of looking at it, the national framework is full of holes,” Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s Adam Portelli said.
Publishing
Phil Barker’s new book exposes turbulent time for magazine industry
The past decade has been a savage one for the former queens and kings of the Australian magazine industry, reports News Corp’s Annette Sharp.
As mags have either closed or moved online, there has been an exodus of well-regarded editors — among them Jackie Frank, Deborah Thomas, Robyn Foyster, Kellie Hush, Bronwyn McCahon — as the magazine business was forced to succumb to rude and radical forces reshaping it: the economic climate, the internet, new tech, social media, and ruthless executives to name a few.
One former mag executive who observed the turbulence first-hand was Phil Barker, a one-time Daily Telegraph backbencher-turned-ACP editor-turned-publishing executive who is a proud ex-editor of the defunct NW.
Now working as a copywriter, Barker has authored a new book which pays tribute to some of the loud and proud characters who once ruled the Australian magazine industry, and also explores the devastation of the business in recent years.
Radio
Eddie McGuire to start in plum radio role with Neil Mitchell on the ‘Ideas Factory’ segment
Eddie McGuire is returning to radio having nabbed a plum role with his one-time airwaves foe, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
McGuire will be a regular guest on Neil Mitchell’s top rating Mornings show on 3AW, doing a fortnightly “idea factory” segment.
“He is a free agent and a loose cannon, what else could you ask for,” Mitchell said of McGuire.
The pairing of the opinionated, connected and outspoken pair is interesting, even more so considering for the last few years of McGuire’s Hot Breakfast show on Triple M, the team delighted in taking pot shots at Mitchell calling him a shock jock and labelling him “grumpy Neil”.
Television
The Block rejects complaints over food, living conditions
Claims that contestants on The Block are being denied basics such as food, toilet paper and car keys have been denied by producers, reports TV Tonight.
Reports on the weekend emerged that contestants were doing it tough on the reality series filming in Gisborne, NW of Melbourne.
“They barely have any food,” an unnamed ‘insider’ told the Daily Telegraph. “Some days a muesli bar and apple is as good as it gets … There is a catering tent on site, but that is for the production staff only.
“Everyone is starving, exhausted and stressed. One female contestant has been crying for three days straight.”
The source claimed car keys were confiscated at the end of the day, denying them the ability to shop for food, while living conditions were “freezing.”
Executive Producer Julian Cress told TV Tonight, contestants absolutely had access to food and transport.
“On two nights of the week, (host) Scott Cam personally cooks a sit down meal for all of the contestants. On another day of the week, they’re at our HQ for the room reveal and we provide breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we often take them away for a challenge we have full catering available. So that’s four out of seven days.”
For the remaining days couples can draw upon their $1,400 weekly per diems.