Business of Media
Former MP Andrew Laming receives apology, defamation payout from Nine
Former federal MP Andrew Laming has been awarded a significant damages payout after he was defamed by the Nine network, which last year falsely accused the Queenslander of taking an “upskirting” photo of a woman at her Brisbane workplace, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
Dr Laming’s payout – the exact details of which have not been publicly disclosed – is understood to be among the highest defamation payouts to a current or former Australian politician.
Nine’s total liability in the case, including Dr Laming’s legal costs, is understood to have exceeded $1m.
Appeal follows defamation win for Erin Molan
Daily Mail Australia is appealing findings and damages following a high profile defamation case won by Erin Molan, reports TV Tonight.
Justice Robert Bromwich said each side had a “measure of success and a measure of failure”.
The court found five of the eight imputations Molan alleged were wrongly conveyed by the Daily Mail, including that she “deliberately mocked the names of Pacific Islanders on air” and that her “inability to pronounce the names of Polynesian NRL players is so disrespectful and incompetent that she is unfit to be an NRL commentator”.
Bromwich found that Molan was not putting on a Polynesian or Pacific Islander accent on the radio program but rather putting on an accent of her colleague Ray Warren who had stumbled over the names.
Interactive video start-up Vudoo rattles the tin
Melbourne-based marketing technology business Vudoo, which reckons it’s built the world’s first in-video shopping solution, is asking investors for $7 million to help with product development and geographical expansion, report Nine Publishing’s Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson, and Kanika Sood.
Vudoo has been around since 2016 and its core product is an interactive video platform and a matching data analytics business. However, it’s been working on an embedded payments function that would let customers make purchases without leaving the video they’re watching.
Vudoo told investors its “in-video payment capability” could significantly improve sales conversion rates for advertisers, while helping video publishers retain the viewer within their universe.
As an example of the “in-video payment capability”, champagne brand Moet Hennessy has a campaign that uses Vudoo to embed purchases within a video.
University of Sydney student newspaper’s Queen parody falls flat
A student newspaper at Australia’s oldest university has come under fire for a front page depicting King Charles identifying the Queen’s body in a morgue and a series of tweets that have provoked criticism from students for being “offensive and disgraceful”, reports News Corp’s Rhiannon Down.
The University of Sydney’s student publication Honi Soit emblazoned the front page of this week’s edition with a parody photoshopped image of the Queen stretched out on a mortuary table with King Charles standing over her and the headline “Queen dead, Charles next”.
The article described the Queen’s death as “gruesome, lonely and painful” and joked that King Charles got the chance to “catch up with her after the event”, in an attempt at satire that has been panned by many at the sandstone university.
News Brands
‘Final homecoming’: UK front pages as the Queen’s coffin arrives at Buckingham Palace
There’s only one place to start for the papers as the Queen’s coffin was driven through the gates of Buckingham Palace in what was inevitably dubbed the “final homecoming”, reports The Guardian’s Martin Farrer.
The front of Wednesday’s Mirror features a dramatic picture of the hearse sweeping towards the brightly lit palace as crowds formed a roadside guard of honour. “Led home by lights of love”, the headline says.
The Guardian’s front page pictures the hearse just moments later as it goes through the palace gates and also carries pointers to stories inside on anger about the sacking of some members of King Charles’s staff, and how the queue to see the Queen lying in state could stretch for five miles. It leads, however, on “Johnson’s junk food rules under threat as Truss targets read tape”.
Radio
Wayne Carey loses his radio gig on Triple M two weeks after casino ‘white powder’ incident
Former AFL great Wayne Carey has been cut from Triple M’s commentary team, two weeks after he was embroiled in a controversial incident at Perth’s Crown casino, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
Carey’s ongoing roles in the media have come under scrutiny since it emerged he was asked to leave the casino on September 1 when a bag of white powder in a zip-lock bag fell from his pocket in a gaming room.
The 51-year-old’s contract with Triple M expires at the end of this AFL season, and on Wednesday the station’s owners, Southern Cross Austereo, announced the company had chosen not to renew the deal in 2023.
“On behalf of Triple M we would like to thank Wayne for his services to our football commentary team, and we wish him the best for the future,” SCA chief content officer Dave Cameron said.
Television
Brooke Warne speaks out about Channel Nine drama, Warnie
Brooke Warne, the eldest daughter of Shane Warne, has spoken out about the news that Channel Nine will be airing a dramatised telling to the life of the Australian legend.
Announced at the 2023 Upfront, Warnie will pay tribute to the cricketer who passed away earlier this year.
On her Instagram story, Brooke Warne wrote:
“Do any of you have any respect for Dad? Or his family? Who did so much for Channel 9 and now you want to dramatise his life and our families life 6 months after he passed away? You are beyond disrespectful.”
Warnie will air over two nights in 2023.
See Also: Nine Upfront 2023: Nine to pay tribute to Shane Warne’s life in Warnie
Netflix estimates ad-supported tier will reach 40 million viewers by late 2023
Netflix estimated that an advertising-supported version of its streaming service would reach about 40 million viewers globally by the third quarter of 2023, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that Netflix shared with ad buyers, report The Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Vranica and Sarah Krouse.
Executives from Netflix and its advertising partner, Microsoft have met with ad buyers in recent weeks, seeking to lock in deals ahead of a planned launch later this year.
In preliminary projections, Netflix told ad executives it expects to have 4.4 million unique viewers worldwide at the end of the year, with 1.1 million coming from the U.S. The company estimated that would grow to over 40 million unique viewers by the third quarter of 2023, with 13.3 million from the U.S.
Netflix’s projections for advertisers covered a dozen launch markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Korea, Spain, Italy, Australia and Canada.
Sports Media
Despite the spectacle, it’s no easy feat to broadcast an AFL final
The AFL grand final beckons. For much of the country, that one day in September will soon be the go-to topic on talk shows, even those not specifically devoted to the game, reports Nine Publishing’s Tom Ryan.
City streets will be alive with the colours of the competing teams, the coaches and players will be on edge as they await destiny’s decree, and the adrenalin will be pumping for the rest of us. And then, after the parade is over, the crowd has gathered, the songs have been sung, the ceremonies are done and the opening siren has sounded, those who care but can’t be there – like me – will be gathered around a screen to watch the Big Game. What should we expect from the coverage?
Let’s start with a word of sympathy for the broadcast directors: we know it can’t be easy. Aussie Rules is a game like no other: once that notoriously fickle oval ball is bounced, chaos rules. And it’s their responsibility to make sense of it for us.