Agencies
A creative brand is down to the creativity of the C-suite
Creativity in marketing and communications effectiveness is on the decline around the world, and Australia’s leading agency creatives say it’s up to the C-suite to fix it, reports The Australian’s Ally Burnie.
Yet despite client-side marketers recognising the power of creativity to drive campaign effectiveness, not enough are actually prioritising it.
Research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Clients and Creativity report was the world’s first global study focused on clients and the role they have in strengthening creativity in marketing and advertising.
Australia’s leading agency creatives are seeing the trends play out on a local level, with chief creative officer at The Monkeys, Tara Ford, saying while there are clients who are open to collaboration and innovation, it’s not the standard.
“Marketers in Australia have been on the conservative side for a while now, with a ‘that works OK, so let’s keep doing that’ attitude, rather than pushing out of their comfort zone to do something truly fresh and interesting. Not everyone has the stomach and stamina for it.”
Business of Media
TV rights battle could lead to new Netflix, Disney+ competitor
There might be yet another streaming platform heading to Australia’s shores to compete with the menu of options already crowded with the likes of Amazon Prime, Binge, Disney+, Netflix and Stan, reports The AFR’s Mark Di Stefano.
Seven West Media, owner of Channel Seven, appears to be in the box seat to win free-to-air broadcast rights to US media giant NBC Universal’s content.
Last former Fairfax board member Nick Falloon quits Nine board
Former Fairfax chairman Nick Falloon is stepping down from the board of Nine Entertainment but will remain as chairman of property group Domain, which is majority-owned by the media group, reports Nine Publishing’s Colin Kruger.
Nine told the market on Friday that Falloon would end his tenure as deputy chairman and retire from the Nine board immediately before the annual general meeting in November.
Falloon was given the non-executive deputy chairman role at Nine in 2018, after the merger between Fairfax and Nine was completed.
Falloon, a media industry veteran, served Kerry Packer for nearly two decades, including his role as chief executive of Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL) from 1998 to 2001. He spent another nine years as executive chairman of Ten Network Holdings.
The Australian: ABC’s $50m to Paramatta move angers staff
The ABC has acknowledged its controversial relocation to Sydney’s west will cost almost $50m, a move likely to cause further consternation among staff about potential cuts to programming, reports The Australian’s Liam Mendes.
Last year the public broadcaster announced it would be relocating almost 300 television, radio and news staff to a Parramatta location as part of a five-year plan to have 75 per cent of “content makers” working outside of the Ultimo office by 2025.
According to documents tabled to a parliamentary committee, funding for the project will come from the existing ABC budget. However, the revelation raises questions as to what impact the move – and reduction in budget – will have on ABC programming and staff salaries.
Sydney-based producer charged with intentionally choking a woman
Sydney advertising producer Chris Klockner has been charged with intentionally choking a person without consent and remains on bail, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Klockner, who originates from the UK, is the executive producer of production business Magnify and was charged after a dispute erupted between him and a woman on the morning of September 4.
Magnify, Klockner’s business, specialises in television commercials, branded content, music videos and social media stories. Prior to establishing the company, he was a senior producer at Taxi Film Production from 2018.
Australia’s streaming market is ‘packed to the rafters’, says Foxtel boss
Foxtel boss Patrick Delany says Australia’s streaming market is “packed to the rafters”, and providers must keep rolling out significant new offerings to keep consumers on board, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
Speaking at APOS, Asia’s premier event for the media, telco and entertainment industry in Singapore last week, Delany said “re-engagement” should be one of the central focus points for streaming platforms, given the competitiveness of the industry.
He said it was inevitable that after the initial “exuberance of subscriber growth”, customer numbers had tapered off across the industry, and streamers must turn their attention to building revenues.
News Brands
Sunday Telegraph responds to SMH ‘sob story’ claims about Charlie Teo
An editorial in The Sunday Telegraph has hit back at claims made by The Sydney Morning Herald without naming the opposition news brand:
It has been suggested in other Sydney media that our special report last Sunday into neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo and the current holding pattern that stops him from operating was some kind of ‘sob story’.
The inference being that we are biased towards Teo because our reporter was operated on by him many years ago (a fact we have covered in depth previously and still proudly point to on our website).
While other media snipe from the sidelines and refuse to acknowledge mistakes in previous stories they have written, we are only interested in one thing – helping people who are in an otherwise hopeless, desperate situation.
There’s nothing ‘sob story’ about it.
What The SMH reported last week in a CBD column:
Crucial detail News Corp left out of Charlie Teo puff piece
New ABC ombudsman Fiona Cameron tells staff: ‘We can do better’
The ABC’s inaugural ombudsman has told staff at the public broadcaster that they can “do better”, as she outlined her vision for overhauling the media organisation’s much-maligned audience complaints system, reports The Australian’s James Madden.
Fiona Cameron, who assumed the role of ABC ombudsman on September 19, sent an all-staff email last Thursday, in which she said she was committing to “building on the credibility and trust audiences have in the ABC”.
“Complaint-handling procedures have changed over the years at the ABC and this is to be expected,” Cameron’s email said.
“It is always good to embrace change and review how things can be improved because, as with any individual or organisation, the ABC can always do better.”
Queensland tax grab defeated by News Corp reports and Ray Hadley
The early reports on the ditching of Queensland’s expanded land tax regime will need to be rewritten following the fresh revelation that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did not notify Treasurer Cameron Dick ahead of her decision, reports prolific News Corp property guru Jonathan Chancellor writing in his Monday column in The Australian.
Dick, who unveiled the policy last December and slipped it into the mid-year budget, confirmed he found out “through the announcement made by the Premier after she had spoken to (interstate) leaders”.
It was 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, relaying into Brisbane on 4BC where he’s the top rating morning talk host, who’ll be credited for undermining the new tax.
Hadley highlighted the issue of double taxation on the same asset – almost daily – after it was raised by Katrina Grace Kelly in a column published in The Australian in late August. That hit a nerve with more than 600 reader comments.
Hadley, who was upfront about being hit by the tax, piqued the interest of Courier-Mail columnist Peter Gleeson, who ascertained Queenslanders who owned outside the state would also be caught in the expanded tax net, despite Dick’s promise of no new taxes for Queenslanders.
“We’ve had a victory,” Hadley told his audience on Friday. “Cameron Dick will be removing the egg from his face.”
Television
Field narrows with three TV stars in battle for A Current Affair crown
An announcement regarding the new host of A Current Affair is imminent, with News Corp Sunday Confidential columnist Briana Domjen reporting three names are in the midst of final negotiations.
Popular 60 Minutes reporter Sarah Abo and 2GB radio host Deb Knight are understood to be the last two standing, but whispers would also suggest Today host Ali Langdon is making a play for the lucrative and coveted position.
Earlier reports suggested Nine’s Georgie Gardner and Leila McKinnon, 10 talent Carrie Bickmore and Sarah Harris, Seven’s Melissa Doyle and the ABC’s Stan Grant and Lisa Millar were also being considered, but are understood to have since been culled from the list.
Liam Bartlett announces he is stepping down from 6PR and 60 Minutes
Host of 6PR’s Mornings Program and long-time 60 Minutes journalist Liam Bartlett has announced he will leave Nine and step down from both roles by November.
Bartlett has spent 30 years in media including anchoring 9 News Perth, working at A Current Affair in Melbourne and reporting for 60 Minutes since 2006.
“It’s been a real privilege and an honour to be allowed to present the morning program in my home state and be part of the wonderful 6PR team,” he said in a statement from Nine.
“My time at 60 Minutes has afforded me so many memorable moments in the footsteps of some of the best in the business. I’m extremely appreciative of all the opportunities.”
6PR content manager Emily White said Bartlett had been a force to be reckoned with since returning to the radio station.
“His unflinching interview manner and dogged pursuit of the truth has entertained and informed our listeners over the past two years,” she said.
“We’ll be sorry to see him go, but he leaves with our very best wishes.”
60 Minutes executive producer Kirsty Thomson praised Bartlett as an exceptional correspondent.
“His reports from the world’s most far-flung places and his award-winning investigations into animal cruelty, government rorts and global scams will always be among the program’s most memorable,” she said.
See also: Chris Uhlmann, Lane Calcutt depart Nine reports TV Tonight.
Radio
Making more noise: Nova radio tunes in with advertising rebound
Lachlan Murdoch’s privately owned radio group, Nova Entertainment, reported a rebound in advertising revenue for 2021 – and rising earnings – as the sector recovered from COVID-19 lockdowns last year, reports Nine Publishing’s Colin Kruger.
Nova reported a 15 per cent rise in revenue to $183.5 million for the year ending December 31, 2021, according to accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, but it was still short of the $210 million of revenue achieved for the 2019 financial year before COVID hit.
Nova also reported a 37 per cent rise in net profit to $22.6 million. The strong earnings boost was achieved despite the group receiving $10.6 million worth of JobKeeper payments the prior year, which reduced its employee expenses.
Sports Media
Buzz Rothfield: Ray Hadley’s anger over Ray Warren TV snub
2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley is privately furious at his employers Nine Entertainment over a grand final week snub, reports News Corp’s Phil Rothfield.
The television network ran a documentary on legendary commentator Ray Warren on Friday night in which they interviewed all his closest media mates – except for Hadley.
“It would have been nice to be part of a show to honour the great man,” Hadley told Rothfield
Hutchy secures two-year extension to keep Matty Johns on air at SEN
Sports Entertainment Network chief executive Craig Hutchison told Phil Rothfield on Friday he had secured Fox Sports’ Matty Johns on a new two-year contract.
Matty will also be making extended appearances on Matt White’s morning show and on drive with Joel Caine and Bryan Fletcher.
“He’s a brilliant character and entertainer,” Hutchison said.