Business of media
Netflix signs up to BARB for UK ratings ahead of ad-supported tier launch
Netflix has signed up to BARB’s measurement of what people across the UK are watching. BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined.
It is expected that Netflix could look to strike a similar deal in Australia with FTA-owned TV audience measurement service OzTAM. As OzTAM scans all content in homes on the TV panel it knows the number of hours that people watch various platforms.
This news from the UK comes less than a year after BARB introduced a once-in-a-generation upgrade of its daily audience reporting.
Since November 2021, streaming services have been an integral part of its gold-standard reporting of what people watch across linear and on-demand services. Its daily reporting includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD/AVOD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services.
From the second week of November 2022, BARB will publicly report the monthly reach and share of viewing for broadcaster groups and SVOD/AVOD services which account for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing.
Reed Hastings, Co-CEO of Netflix, said: “Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. We’ve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.”
For viewing from November 1st, BARB will report Netflix viewing every day at both a service and a programme level to its clients. This will be in the same way it reports viewing for over 300 other subscribing broadcast channels, broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) and advertising/subscription video-on-demand (AVOD/SVOD) services.
Netflix viewing data will be available to all BARB clients on the morning of November 2nd through existing viewing analysis software and data-processing bureaux.
The move means advertisers will get reports on the number of people viewing the new season of The Crown which launches November 9.
Alex Jones ordered to pay Sandy Hook victims’ families nearly $1 billion
Alex Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, must pay close to $1 billion to the family members of eight victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary and an F.B.I. agent who responded to the scene of the 2012 massacre, which killed 20 first graders and six educators, reports The New York Times.
Jones, who was not in court to hear the jury’s decision, had been found liable for defamation after he spent years falsely describing the shooting as a hoax and accusing the victims’ families of being actors complicit in the plot. As a result, the families were threatened in person and online. He used his Infowars platform to spread these lies.
Jones’s assets are a matter of dispute. He has put Infowars’ parent company into bankruptcy, but the families have accused him of doing so to avoid paying the damages.
Warner Bros Discovery’s cost-cutting reaches Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Discovery’s rolling layoffs have come to its television division, the studio responsible for shows including Ted Lasso, Abbott Elementary and The Bachelor, reports The Los Angeles Times.
The group on Tuesday disclosed a reorganization that will result in nearly a fifth of staff leaving the company, as parent Warner Bros. Discovery continues to seek cost cuts from the media mega-merger, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to comment.
The television group, overseen by Warner Bros. Television chairman Channing Dungey, is slashing 82 current employees and cancelling 43 unfilled open positions, for a total headcount reduction of 125. The cuts account for 19% of current staff and 26% of the total group, including the open positions.
Further layoffs are expected at Warner Bros. Discovery, which comprises the Warner Bros. film and TV studio, CNN, TBS, Turner Classic Movies and the various Discovery reality channels. Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav has promised Wall Street $3 billion in cost savings from the merger.
News Brands
Financial Times profit up after ‘strong rebound’ from Covid-19 in 2021
The Financial Times has reported a strong “rebound” from Covid-19 in 2021, returning to profitability and growing revenues by almost a fifth, reports Press Gazette.
Financial Times Ltd accounts filed with the UK’s Companies House show it went from a loss before tax of UK£29m in 2020 to a pre-tax profit of £4.3m in the year ending 31 December 2021. Revenue for FT Ltd grew by 16% to £370m.
The FT is wholly owned by private Japanese firm Nikkei, which does not publish any global FT financial figures.
Flagship daily launches ad-free ‘premium’ service for paying subscribers
A leading UK regional daily has launched a new “premium” paid-for service for its online readers in a fresh attempt to monetise its digital offering, reports HTFP.
The Manchester Evening News has announced the launch of its new MEN Premium app, which will allow users to read stories advertisement-free, among other features.
It also offers readers a twice-daily news digest, a weekly round-up of long reads and “best bits” called ‘The Edit’ and the ability to listen to articles via a text-to-speech feature.
Four puzzles a day will appear on the app too, while paying customers are also given access to exclusive money-saving offers and discounts.
The scheme, which is presently only available for iOS devices, costs either £1.99 a month or £19.99 for an annual subscription.
While not a paywall, the app’s launch represents a fresh attempt by MEN publisher Reach plc to monetise its readers directly.
Reach previously experimented with an online paywall trial at the Huddersfield Daily Examiner that came to an end after five months in February 2020.
Carrie Bickmore at 10 yesterday. Photo: Pete Helliar/Instagram
Television: Carrie Bickmore latest speculation
Nine Publishing asks who will replace Carrie Bickmore on The Project?
For the second time in just a few months, one of the most in-demand jobs in Australian television is up for grabs, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Thomas Mitchell.
Following the departure of Tracy Grimshaw from A Current Affair, Carrie Bickmore has announced she is leaving The Project after 13 years at the desk.
Chrissie Swan
A favourite at Network Ten, Swan is a longtime Project regular and currently appears each Thursday as a guest.
Georgie Tunny
If the big brass at Ten is keen to roll the dice on a fresher-but-less-familiar face, then Georgie Tunny could be a calculated gamble.
Abbie Chatfield
Perhaps a little left field, but there’s no denying that Chatfield has built a strong audience by sharing her strong opinions.
Tracy Grimshaw
No one would see it coming. Grimshaw replaces Bickmore. Bickmore takes over at A Current Affair. The TV version of musical chairs.
Nine exec producer rejects rumours of Carrie Bickmore joining Today
Today show executive producer Steve Burling has also quashed suggestions she could join Nine’s breakfast show, which emerged from suggestions Ally Langdon could replace Tracy Grimshaw, reports TV Tonight.
Burling took aim at one story published by Daily Mail.
10 is also yet to clarify if she is staying with the network. Without a new gig that seems unlikely after November 30.
“We hope to work together again,” said Paramount’s Beverley McGarvey.
Meanwhile, Carrie is not doing interviews for now. Who can blame her?
Meanwhile, other Bickmore pieces overnight include:
Peter Helliar shocked as 10 removes Carrie Bickmore’s signage from the workplace
Channel 10 has wasted no time reacting to Carrie Bickmore’s shock announcement on Tuesday she’s decided to leave The Project to focus on her family, reports Daily Mail’s Ali Daher.
Less than 24 hours later, the network appears to have removed her image from their hallowed hallways, much to the shock of her co-host Peter Helliar.
On Wednesday evening, the jovial comedian took to Instagram to share an image of a bemused Carrie, 41, holding a cup of coffee in front of an empty poster frame.
“Wow. Channel 10 have reacted swiftly to Carrie’s big farewell news!!” Peter, 47, wrote beside the image, adding a rolling on the floor laughing emoji alongside the hashtags #farewell and #theprojecttv.
Could Carrie Bickmore’s next project be waking up with Today?
Within minutes of Carrie Bickmore announcing her departure from The Project, the rumour mill went into overdrive, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Industry executives have suggested Bickmore could jump networks completely with suggestions the 41-year-old may join Karl Stefanovic hosting Nine’s Today breakfast show in 2023.
Stefanovic’s current co-host, Ally Langdon, is a top contender to take on the coveted gig at the helm of A Current Affair following the announcement Tracy Grimshaw is stepping down.
See also: Carrie Bickmore could move to Channel 9 after quitting The Project
Cate Blanchett gets in on the joke for this absurd TV satire
Cate Blanchett knows. When the most gifted dramatic actor of her generation wants to do comedy, her destination isn’t a Hollywood comedy, writes The Age’s Craig Mathieson.
It’s the tiny Documentary Now! series, a loving and ludicrous satire of classic non-fiction films that feature an absurd wit and impeccable detail.
This is the fourth season of Documentary Now!, which was created by Saturday Night Live alumni Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and director Rhys Thomas, and if anything it’s getting sharper and more seditious.
Tragedy forces a warring family to reunite in absorbing new ABC drama
There’s an immediately absorbing intensity to the six-part local drama, Significant Others, writes The Age’s Debi Enker.
It opens with teenage Hanna (Zoe Steiner) waking to discover that her mother, Sarah (Jacqueline McKenzie), has left their home. She heads to the nearby beach, where she sees Sarah in the distance, signalling from the water: is she waving or indicating distress? Hanna tries to swim out to her, but can’t find her. So, from the outset, there’s a mystery. Did Sarah drown? Was it an accident? Or has she, for some reason, disappeared?
Soon after, Sarah’s three adult siblings arrive at the house that Hanna also shares with her brother, Ciaran (Gulliver McGrath) and it’s readily apparent that this is a fractured family. Den (Kenneth Moraleda), Ursula (Rachael Blake) and Claire (Alison Bell) are dismayed to discover their childhood home in the midst of a substantial renovation.
Radio
Albo to lead team in return of Fitzy & Wippa’s First X1 Backyard Cricket at Kirribilli House
A star-studded game of backyard cricket is taking place at Kirribilli House today, as Fitzy & Wippa’s First X1 Backyard Cricket returns bigger than ever.
Back for the first time after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the ultimate game of backyard cricket will see Fitzy and Wippa go head-to-head at Kirribilli House alongside a number of VIPs and special guests, including star player Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Also competing in the charity match will be New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet, who will be facilitating the coin toss, Richard Wilkins, Colin Fassnidge, Brett Lee, Home and Away’s Lynne McGranger, Karl Stefanovic, Mark Ferguson, Beau Ryan, Mel McLaughlin, Cam Merchant, Dr Andrew Rochford, Nova’s Tim Blackwell and artist Conrad Sewell, who will be kicking off the match with his rendition of the national anthem.
Nova 969 breakfast hosts Fitzy & Wippa and their teams will be raising funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney.