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Opinion | Features
Innovation is the remedy for the ailing magazine industry
With magazine circulations plummeting, FHM closing and rumours rife on future ownership of ACP Magazines, Paul Merrill says the only way forward is launching new titles.Eight years ago in the UK, nearly a quarter of all magazine sales came from magazines that were less than four years old. In Australia, the figure was slightly lower, but still significant. Today, the situation is very different. For a start there are so few new magazines. Yes, Masterchef briefly flared, and Top Gear made an initial impact. But Grazia and Alpha fizzled, and now ACP has shelved their plans to launch Elle.
More than a game: broadcasting the Olympics
The 2012 London Olympics will be the biggest televised sporting event of our time. Brooke Hemphill discovers the logistical challenges and technical requirements of producing the event.
From July 27 to August 12, the Australian media will go sport crazy as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, aka the 2012 London Summer Olympics, unfold. The games will be the most televised sporting event of our time as broadcasters look to master every manner of technology at their disposal.
The Voice - Australia's best example yet of social TV
In this guest post, Sputnik’s Rodd Messent has a theory on why audiences have taken to The Voice .I am an addict of Channel Nine’s hit show The Voice. Such is the extent of my addiction I seriously think my housemate might kick me out of our apartment for the semi-frenzied yelling and tweeting that ensues in our lounge room each time the show airs.It’s the first time in almost three years that such disagreement has resulted in less than civil behaviour towards one another, and it’s made me think it might be a microcosm of the large volume of online debate about the show and, correspondingly, an explanation for its success as a social TV experience.Why brands are the US Army - and culture jammers are the Viet Cong
In this guest posting, Dave Burgess, who painted ‘No War’ on the Sydney Opera House, claims that ‘amoral’ advertisers have copied his idea.
Culture jamming is a 28-year-old term coined by the San Francisco-based band Negativland, who declared that the ‘Studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large’.
Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model.
Shock advertising: 30 ads that would give Australia's ad watchdog a coronary
Is shock an underused weapon in Australian advertising, asks Robin HicksToday, Sydney agency The Cabana Boys used an image of a mouth sewn together to shock people with the idea that problem gamblers lie to conceal their habit. Is it the most disturbing image ever? No. Will it get banned by the Advertising Standards Bureau? No. But it did make me wonder why shock is not used more often in Australia – and not just by charities and government bodies. (WARNING: NSFW)
The making of ratings blockbuster The Voice
Jason Mountney goes on the set of Channel Nine’s talent search series, The Voice, to see how the format, based on an international franchise, has come together. What ingredients have gone into making this certified hit that’s rated more than two million viewers on three consecutive nights?
Mike Goldman has one of the toughest jobs on the set of the Nine network’s new talent show, The Voice. He not only has to narrate the show, but also keep the audience from losing their enthusiasm as they realise shooting TV programs takes a lot longer than the one-hour bursts they see in their lounge rooms. A lot longer.
Nine problems stopping The Global Mail from getting an audience
While it’s a shame The Global Mail has failed to make an impact on the media landscape, the signs have been there for some time.I love the concept of a well resourced, philanthropically-funded independent news site. Anywhere in the world, that’s a rare and wonderful thing. In Australia even more so. So I hope that Grame Wood gets to see his investment make a difference.
And I have no inside info on whether Monica Attard’s sudden departure is linked to the site’s failure to find an audience so far.
Regardless, here are nine areas they can easily start to address:
Journalism’s new model?
Does the launch of philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail signal a new era for journalism or is the model destined to be a passing fad, asks Cathie McGinn in this article first published in Encore magazine.With little fanfare, philanthropically funded news site The Global Mail launched in February this year.
The online-only title received a generous five-year funding commitment from businessman Graeme Wood, founder of accommodation website wotif.com, who donated $15million.
Five things that make a great suit
In this guest posting, Gareth Collins argues that the role of a great account manager is to make the work betterI’m surprised at how many suits I meet who don’t know their role in the advertising business. The question ‘what does an advertising account manager or director do?’ is frequently met with answers such as project manager, relationship manager, plate spinner or go between … and those are the nice ones.
Success is judged on the ability to manage a process, be strong administratively and get stuff done. And while a good suit needs to do all of these things brilliantly, if these are the traits that define a great suit, then I’m in the wrong job.
What the hell is transmedia?
From advertising campaigns to online video series, the term ‘transmedia’ gets quite the work out. But what does it actually mean? Cathie McGinn trawls the media landscape for a definitive definition.
Transmedia, all media and multiplatform are terms often used interchangeably when referencing modern storytelling techniques. Yet, depending who you speak to, there are distinct differences between them.
The top seven...most patronising pieces of communication
Sometimes brands have big ideas. Sometimes marketers get so caught up with a grandiose idea that instead of finding engaging ways to sell breakfast cereal, they start to believe their own rhetoric. And sometimes it’s just lazy marketing. Here are my top seven inadvertently patronising pieces of communication…
1) Last night thousands of women gathered in Sydney’s Centennial Park to take part in She Runs the Night, an event created by Nike.
TV audience measurement – why big isn’t always beautiful
In this guest post, Chris Walton argues that the media industry needs to take a new approach to TV tradingThere has been a significant amount of coverage recently about how successful The Voice has been. Indeed, audience figures of 2.6m+ people are very impressive these days. Based on reports, this is apparently double the size of audience that Nine was hoping for in the lead up to the programme launching.
How do you solve a problem like Blunty?
So if you were the proposed News Standards Body, how would you regulate Blunty?The News Standards Body, in case you didn’t notice, is the new organisation proposed by the Convergence Review this week to regulate news and commentary, regardless of platform.
Blunty, in case you didn’t notice, is the video blogger who this week went viral after he filmed a guerrilla marketing demo outside Apple’s Sydney store apparently as a coincidental bystander, but later admitted he’d been put up to it by BlackBerry.
40 ads where music made the difference - and why agencies should think of music first, not last
Music can make an average ad great. So why, Robin Hicks asks, is music the last thing a creative thinks about when writing an ad?My favourite TV ad of the year so far is the Let Yourself Go spot for Kangaroo Island.
When it didn’t win Mumbrella’s Ad of the Month for March (it came third) I felt aggrieved for the agency that made it. But less so a week later when it emerged that the agency had paid celebrities to tweet nice things about its work.
Let Yourself Go is a stunning spot with lots of pretty images. But it would probably have had a similar effect on me if I’d watched a blank screen for 60 seconds.
AFL final tops NRL in the TV ratings
AFL beat NRL in the ratings battle over the weekend.
Seven’s coverage of the repeated AFL Grand Final on Saturday saw an average five city audience of 2.683m tune in to see Collingwood beat St Kilda, according to overnight ratings from OzTam.
Meanwhile, Sunday saw Nine’s turn for a ratings bonanza with the St George Illawarra’s defeat of the Sydney Roosters delivering a metro audience of 2.091m.
However, the ratings for the AFL Grand Final were down slightly on the first game.
October 4th, 2010 at 10:20 am
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Comments
4 Oct 10
11:00 am
better game afl
4 Oct 10
11:12 am
what was AFL’s melbourne result compared to nrl’s sydney result? I bet NRL killed afl.
4 Oct 10
11:49 am
Lets wait til the FULL ratings come out – not the 5 city ratings which only include half the country.
4 Oct 10
12:37 pm
exactly J they always seem to decide who won before adding up all the figures… funny that (afl poofs)
4 Oct 10
1:00 pm
At present I only have the city by city breakdown for Sunday. The Sydney ratings for NRL were 1.127m, which is huge.
Nationally, AFL averaged 3.625m on the Saturday.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
4 Oct 10
6:17 pm
“what was AFL’s melbourne result compared to nrl’s sydney result? I bet NRL killed afl.”
NRL Grand Final in Sydney: 1,127,000
AFL Grand Final in Melbourne: 1,475,000
AFL Grand Final Replay in Melbourne: 1,311,000
5 Oct 10
1:57 pm
Here is some interesting reading for AFL fans
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-le.....5854339189
5 Oct 10
7:03 pm
Diogenes – it is an interesting read. Selective Roy Masters statistics – why don’t you ask him to present a proper ratings per match and see who clearly wins. Masters ‘cumulative’ numbers incorparate 26 rounds of NRL (vs 22 for the AFL), 3 State of Origins, Internationals and many Toyota Cup matches. After all that NRL can only get its nose in front of the AFL.
6 Oct 10
5:52 am
Melbourne ratings were 1.47 million. Also, If you go to tvcentral,.com the latest oztam rating are there. It appears the AFL have won easily
6 Oct 10
6:06 am
Regionals were 1.122 million plus the 2.09 million from 5 metro cities for the NRL_ 3.1 million combined as per article in yesterdays Courier mail..
The AFL cumulative figure from last tuesdays Australian newspaper were 3.573. (And a peak of (4.811 million)
6 Oct 10
8:33 am
these figures are distorted anyway – what about the people who like to go in groups to clubs, pubs, etc?
The venue I was at to watch the NRL GF – there were at least 150 people there. Not the biggest venue either – so it was packed.
I can only assume these figures are based on people who preferred to watch the games at home.
6 Oct 10
1:44 pm
Yes, true. Apparently 25,000 were at the Sidney Myer music bowl in Melbourne and another 20,000 at Federation square. Not to mention an extra 20,000 at the MCG compared to the Olympic stadium crowd.
But I guess all that doesn’t matter. When It comes down to TV rights. The Oztam 5 Metro city results are used to determine the value of a product to advertisers. And I’m guessing AFL won.
And for the record I follow both codes. Give credit when credit is due.
6 Oct 10
1:50 pm
Other than sectarian chest thumping, Roy Masters article sums up the marketing situation. The total audiences over the season are fairly comparable but the NRL has until now been hand-cuffed when selling the product. In the mid 90s, the last amateur administrator of RL sold the 5 year cable rights to Kerry Packer for $1M ( it is said he didn’t know what they were). The result was the Super League War which ended with Packer’s lot having virtually a free run with free to view and Foxtel having a free run for cable. Now that News have withdrawn from the NRL I suspect that the competition between NRL and AFL and the interested parties for TV rights will be much more intense.
6 Oct 10
1:57 pm
TJ @ 8 , a little bit disingenuous there are 26 rounds in NRL but these are split at the time of Origin games ( and NRL is notoriously poorly attended and watched in those weeks) – the total number of rounds AFL vs NRL are 22 vs 24. Masters’ figures also don’t include the international season which apart from the ANZAC test starts next month. It also doesn’t include the ratings in NZ and Northern England. I suspect on a match to match basis NRL would be slightly in front but there would not be much difference.
6 Oct 10
3:08 pm
Here’s a article NRL fans may enjoy –
http://www.theroar.com.au/2010.....expansion/
Diogenes – the Networks do not take in consideration any viewing outside the country as it does not benefit them financially. The whole Regional Viewers versus Metro Ratings argument is a biased manipulation of figures for what I can see. When regional areas of WA, SA and Tasmania are not measured yet areas in Queensland and NSW are (Gold Coast given double ratings) how can people use these ratings to validify a point at all.
It seems a large amount of the articles on this matter appear to be generated by biased journo’s who have a vested interest in manipulating the facts to get as much money for the NRL TV as possible. I can’t get over the amount of articles written in Sydney papers on this very thing. I don’t mind comparisons as long as they are legitimate.
6 Oct 10
3:35 pm
Interesting reading, Micheal. The article makes a good point. I guess this is why the 5 metro city ratings are used . This is no doubt be why the AFL recieve higher Bucks from the networks.
7 Oct 10
11:42 am
Thank you Queenslander. I’ve heard a lot about how the NRL rate higher than the AFL when using Regional Ratings but what people don’t realise is how inaccurate these are. I mentioned that the Gold Coast gets counted twice but I failed to mention that the Central Coast does too. This is why broadcasters use the 5 Metro City ratings as a better guide and guide.
The rights will be interesting this time with the AFL pushing for the anti-siphoning laws to allow Foxtel more allowances to bid for games ensuring more money to the rights int he process.
I would suggest the NRL and AFL rights are closer in price this time unless the Networks overspend on the AFL rights are afford themselves less to spend on the NRL. Time will tell.
7 Oct 10
12:08 pm
Yes it will be interesting to see how much each code can raise for the TV rights. I suspect they will be much closer and this will have an important effect on league where the low salary cap, at least in part due to the bad rights deals over 15 years, has led to a lose of players. I don’t think AFL necessarily has an advantage by being first up to tender. The friday fta NRL ratings are huge in the Northern states but last time I looked live AFL saturday night matches were rating lower that the Iron Chef in Sydney. They are both very substantial products in their respective markets.
I think the real loser in all this is rugby which has falling crowds and ratings and a schemozzle of a competition (as well as being boring). It can’t be too long before Citizen Rupert pulls the pin. ( I would love to see the sports combine under mainly league rules but I guess that is not going to happen)
8 Oct 10
8:47 am
Interesting you should mention ratings on Friday and Saturday nights. I think Friday night ratings are huge in their perspective markets for both codes. That’s a given. I understand that the AFL rate poorly into Sydney on Saturday nights but you may find this changes when the second Sydney team enters the competition. More people tend to watch a sport when they feel some sort of connection to one of the teams they are watching. I realise that Swans games are not huge ratings winners but this would also have something to do with the Sunday time slot they are usually placed into as well.
The important factor here Diogenes is that the NRL is not shown at all in Melbourne except after midnight etc. Its ratings are nearly non-existant in all of the Southern markets. This does not bode well for negotiations into future rights where sponsors want National exposure.
So while AFL rates poorly into Sydney, it still rates.
8 Oct 10
1:58 pm
I am not sure about the veracity of this but my understanding is that the AFL FTA contract insists on its Sydney station showing the Saturday PM game live. I can’t imagine any other reason for this to occur – after all no commercial TV network wants to spend 2 hrs on Saturday night rating lower that The Bill and Iron Chef. The 2nd Sydney team will be interesting – I guess it will either produce a great increase in interest in AFL in Sydney or I think much more likely dilute the interest that is currently around.
8 Oct 10
7:37 pm
Your correct about the rights stipulation to telecast the game in an effort to increase overall exposure of the game into Sydney. The AFL actually took less money from the last rights to compensate for the forecast ratings hit and some of the funds were also used for additional advertisements and exposure from the channels.
The AFL are well aware of the pain they will need to endure, particularly in the short term, both in ratings and finances backing the new club but they are going about the creation of the GWS Team in a very different manner than they did with Sydney. The Swans were given no initial financial assistance and was made up of discard players. You would have already noticed the amount of media exposure the team has recieved even though they are over a year away from playing a game.
They are backing that all of this exposure, attention and finances builds interest particularly in those who do not have the traditional rivalry/hatred towards anything Melbourne that many generational NSW are proud of. It is the new Australians that the AFL are targeting in particular and going on their past track record and the all the money they have invested into market research, I’m willing to bet that they will make a success out of this team and the Gold Coast.
I can not see the ratings or competition getting smaller can you?