Business of Media
Former 10 boss joins production company Byron Studios
The former chief executive of Network 10 Paul Anderson has joined Northern Rivers-based production house Byron Studios as CEO, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
Anderson will work alongside founders Will Gammon and Mark Holden to position and drive Byron Studios as a key driver in creating a sustainable creative industry in the Northern Rivers region in NSW.
Byron Studios is the only film studio in the area and boasts four studios across locations in Byron Bay and Alstonville, with Netflix recently wrapping shooting on eight episodes of Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s comedy series God’s Favourite Idiots in Byron Studio’s production space.
News Corp cuts jobs, brings in McKinsey for restructure
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp Australia has swung an axe in its commercial division after tapping consultancy McKinsey & Company to assist with another restructure, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
News Corp sources familiar with the restructuring plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated between 30 to 50 commercial roles were cut in recent weeks as the changes were implemented. McKinsey was working for the publisher of The Australian, Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun in the months leading up to the end of the financial year.
A News Corp Australia spokesperson confirmed the restructuring. “We are reshaping our commercial business to strengthen how we meet the changing marketing needs of our clients to ensure we have the right portfolio, products, skills and processes for the future,” the spokesperson said. McKinsey declined to comment.
ABC’s spending on advertising has reached its highest levels in the past decade
The ABC’s spending on advertising has soared to its highest levels in the past decade despite the public broadcaster’s repeated claims that it has been beset by budget cuts over the same period, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
New figures obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws reveal the ABC has already spent $7.2m on advertising between July 1 last year and May 31 this year – up 31 per cent compared to the entire 2019-20 financial year.
The data also shows the ABC has splashed a total of $12.8m across advertising, market research and promotion in the same period, overtaking the $12m the ABC spent in the 2019/20 financial year in the same categories.
News Brands
What’s wrong with the ABC’s once-mighty Q+A, and how to fix it
If the question is what’s wrong with the ABC’s once-mighty Q+A, it seems everyone has an answer, reports The Age’s Karl Quinn.
It’s the host. It’s the day. It’s the time. It’s too many politicians and their insistence on sticking to talking points. It’s the dogma of the tweets. It’s the left-wing (or right-wing) bias of the audience. It’s the right-wing (or left-wing) bias of the host. It’s the lack of a live audience, and panellists confined to video screens, in these COVID-affected times.
Some have laid the blame at the feet of host Hamish Macdonald, who is returning to his old stomping ground of The Project on 10. He was too soft on Coalition ministers, or alternatively he was too hard, often talking over them or cutting them off. He is too left wing, unless you’re in the camp that thinks he’s too far to the right.
“That tells me that everyone brings their own opinions and points of view, and that’s to be expected,” says Erin Vincent, executive producer of the show since late 2019. “The whole point of Q+A is to bring viewers a range of perspectives and ideas – views that challenge their own, as well as ones they might support. That isn’t always comfortable, but it’s important.”
The ABC’s ‘ambiguous’ code on impartiality in media regulator’s spotlight
The media regulator has written to the ABC’s managing director David Anderson, voicing serious concerns about the ambiguity of the rules the broadcaster abides by to ensure its content has “all relevant perspectives”, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority recently completed an investigation into the climate program Fight for Planet A: Our Climate Challenge, hosted by Craig Reucassel, which aired in August last year.
The focus of the investigation was the final one-hour episode in the three-part series, which had attracted a complaint that it “unfairly and inaccurately depicted Australian cattle producers and the beef industry.”
The New Daily sues Liberal senator Andrew Bragg for article
The New Daily has threatened to sue Liberal senator Andrew Bragg after he described the industry super-backed publication as a “propaganda outfit” and a “superannuation sinkhole”, reports The Australian’s Max Maddison.
In an article entitled “Lucky the ABC finally came to its senses”, Senator Bragg praised the national broadcaster for cancelling a content-sharing agreement with The New Daily, before claiming the partnership may have impaired its ability to report on superannuation objectively.
Radio
Racing chief Alan Brown sues 2GB over ‘bullying’ claim
NSW racing chief commissioner Alan Brown is suing Sydney radio giant Ray Hadley and 2GB for defamation over a series of on-air segments he alleges portrayed him as a liar who was “callously indifferent” to bullying claims that had been raised by a well-known chief steward at the Greyhound Racing Integrity Commission, reports The Australian’s Kieran Gair.
Brown, the chief commissioner at the NSW Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission, has claimed he was defamed by 2GB, controlled by Nine Radio, during an interview in July last year in which he was accused of suffering a memory “lapse” over claims he had quit the agency due to bullying.
Television
Who’s who of broadcasting represented at David Leckie’s funeral
Even when he ran two of Australia’s most successful television networks, David Leckie hated cocktail parties and making small talk, no matter how famous, how beautiful or how rich the company he found himself in, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Hornery.
So, in the nondescript chapel at the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens Crematorium on Friday afternoon, it was somehow appropriate that, thanks to COVID-19, the “last of the rock star CEOs” was farewelled without fanfare, but rather with what amounted to his own television special.
As footage showcasing Leckie’s public and personal life was played on screens, the service was interspersed with guest cameo appearances, including billionaire Seven West Media proprietor Kerry Stokes, who described his former chief lieutenant as a man who was “loved by creatives and feared by accountants”.
‘Pay or play’ clause means Katie Hopkins is set to pocket full $200,000 fee
She may have been booted out of the country on Tuesday, but right-wing motormouth Katie Hopkins looks set to laugh all the way to the bank back in Dear Old Blighty, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Hornery.
Thanks to a “pay or play” clause in Hopkins’ contract with Big Brother production company Endemol Shine, which creates the show on behalf of the Seven Network, Hopkins is due to pocket all of the estimated $200,000 fee for which she had signed on, despite her aborted appearance.
Hit AFL show The Front Bar investigated over beer advertising
Mick Molloy’s footy show The Front Bar has been investigated by the TV advertising watchdog after a viewer complaint that the show is an ad for beer and does not spell that out clearly to its audience, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
The Ad Standards Community Panel leapt into action after an angry viewer claimed the show was in breach of the Australian Association of National Advertisers Code of Ethics in that “advertising (was) not clearly distinguishable”.
The investigation looked at the episode of the Channel 7 show, hosted by Molloy, Sam Pang and Andy Maher, that aired on June 3, 2021.
Carlton Draught is the naming rights partner and founding brand partner of The Front Bar and has been since 2015 and far from hiding its relationship CUB described Carlton Draught as “the clear and proud” sponsor of the show.
The Ad Standards Community Panel found that The Front Bar made it abundantly clear it was sponsored program and that the sponsor was a beer company.
Barry Du Bois announces plans to enter parliament
The Living Room’s but Barry ‘Baz’ Du Bois has announced he’s running for a seat in the Senate in the next Federal Election with a goal to “keep the bastards honest.”
“It’s time for the average Australian to be given a seat at the table,” Du Bois said. “For too long, politicians have used complicated language to hide the fact not everyone’s been getting a fair go.
“This is not about being left-wing or right-wing or whether you like ScoMo or Albo. This is about getting an Independent in the Senate, to review legislation and to make sure it will create a prosperous Australia for everyone. Not just the privileged few with money and influence.
“We’ve all being let down by a system where deals are done behind closed doors and where big corporations and the lobbyists have all the power. My promise is to be the voice for the everyday citizen. I will look at every bit of legislation through their eyes, to evaluate how it will personally affect them, their family and the Australia that’s going to be left behind for their kids.”
Du Bois hosts 10’s successful lifestyle show The Living Room and works for various charities including the Cancer Council, Hummingbird House, and R U OK? Day.
Netflix reality series ‘Byron Baes’ hits trademark snag
Global streaming service Netflix’s first Australian reality series Byron Baes has hit another snag after a Bondi-based children’s business opposed a trademark application related to the show, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
Nearly five months after Netflix requested use of the words Byron Baes for entertainment services, Teena Zerefos Waldron, the owner of children’s store Bondi Beach Baby, has filed an application opposing the trademark. The reason for the opposition to the trademark is unclear, but Waldron does sell ‘Bae Bibs’ for babies.
Opposition to trademark applications is not unusual. And even if Netflix was not successful with its application it would not threaten it ability to air the series, only its ability to sell branded merchandise.
Sports Media
7plus sets Australian streaming record with More than 238 million minutes streamed
The first day of competition at the Olympic Games saw 7plus set a record for the biggest day of live streaming in Australian television history.
238.7 million minutes were streamed on 7plus, breaking the previous record of 86 million for the State of Origin rugby league match on 14 July this year.
The 7plus total comprised 207.9 million live streamed minutes and 30.8 million video-on-demand minutes. As a result, 7plus captured a record-setting 93.5% share of commercial free-to-air live streaming, and an 80.9% share of total minutes (live plus VOD).
It also marked a record for 7plus in terms of advertising revenue booked in one day.
Seven West Media Chief Digital Officer, Gereurd Roberts, said: “We knew the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would be a massive event across both digital and broadcast, but the numbers on 7plus have exceeded all of our expectations and set a new standard for streaming in Australia.
“Tokyo 2020 will be the biggest digital media event Australia has ever seen. If we are setting new streaming numbers after just one day, imagine what the next fortnight or so is going to look like.
“Australians have really embraced the innovative and incredibly comprehensive coverage on Channel 7, 7mate and 7plus, with a viewer experience and features that have never been seen here before. We’re delighted with how people are responding to our coverage,” he said.
Uncertainty over Bledisloe, Rugby Championship after Kiwi border closures
Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby will seek a government exemption for players to move freely across the ditch for Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship matches after quarantine-free travel between the countries was paused for two months, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Decent.
The Wallabies, who are based in Queensland, are set to play a Bledisloe Cup opener on August 7 in Auckland but Friday’s news could scupper those plans ahead of two more Tests against New Zealand on August 21 in Perth, and on August 28 in Wellington.
West Indies, Bangladesh tours in doubt after positive COVID-19 test
Australia’s first tour of Bangladesh since 2017 is expected to hinge on the outcome of COVID-19 tests carried out after the second one-day international against the West Indies in Barbados was postponed, due to a positive result for one of the home side’s support staff, report The Sydney Morning Herald’s Malcolm Conn and Daniel Brettig.
Suncorp Super Netball matches to resume mid next week
The Suncorp Super Netball League can confirm matches will not be played this weekend, with the fixture to resume mid next week, reports the League.
This week six clubs relocated to Queensland to join the Sunshine Coast Lightning and the Queensland Firebirds to play out the season.
The league is working through fixturing for the remaining three rounds of the home and away season and will provide an update as soon as possible.
Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said the last-minute relocation to Queensland had presented significant challenges regarding the fixture.
“The teams have experienced a highly disrupted week, having relocated to Queensland at very short notice,” Ryan said.