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Opinion | Features
My memo to your boss
So let me guess?
You really want to come to Mumbrella360, but you’ve got to justify the time and cost to your boss?
Good news! I think I can help.
Woz not great
In this guest post Tony Prysten argues that the thousand dollar price of seeing out-of-touch Apple co-founder Steve Wozniack on his Australian tour was a waste of money.
This week, for the cost of two iPads (yep, two) I went to the Woz Live conference in Melbourne. I was not impressed.
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.
According to industry experts Encore spoke to, the key elements that define transmedia can be summarised as follows: platform, time, audience, adaptation, and creative collaboration.
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.
Australian Idol finale fails to draw big audience
Sunday night’s finale of Australian Idol on Ten failed to reach the ratings levels of last year as Stan Walker was announced as the series winner.
According to preliminary OzTam figures the first part of the programme, Live from the Opera House was watched by over 1.1m viewers which was down on the 1.3m it attracted last year. The Final Verdict part of the show attracted over 1.2m, also down last year’s 1.6m.
During the Announcement of the Winner segment, there were just under 1.5m viewers, again down on last year’s 1.6m.
Overall however, Idol helped push Ten’s channel share for the night to 22.1%, which was higher than the 19.1% it reached the previous Sunday. But the channel still finished third behind Seven and Nine.
In other results, Seven led the ratings race with The Force and Seven News. Nine’s digital channel Go pushed ahead of SBS1, with a 4.8 per cent share, compared to the latter’s 4 per cent.
Sunday channel share:
- Seven: 27.8%
- Nine: 24.2%
- Ten: 22.1%
- ABC1: 12.6%
- Go: 4.8%
- SBS1: 4%
- 7Two: 2.6%
- One: 0.9%
- ABC2: 0.8%
- SBS2: 0.1%
Sunday’s top shows:
- The Force – Seven 1.6m
- Seven News – Seven 1.5m
- Australian Idol – Announcement of Winner – Ten 1.5m
- Border Security – Seven 1.4m
- Bones – Seven 1.3m
- Australian Idol – Final Verdict – Ten 1.2m
- Sunday Night – Seven 1.2m
- Nine News – Nine 1.2m
- All Star Twenty/20 – Nine 1.1m
- Australian Idol – Live from the Opera House – Ten 1.1m
- Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation Christmas Special – Ten 1.1m
- ABC News – ABC 0.929m
- 60 Minutes – Nine 0.928m
- Castle – Double Episode – Seven 0.78m
- Just for Laughs: Best of British – Ten 0.761m
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:59 am
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Comments
23 Nov 09
12:27 pm
I would say the 10%-15% viewer drop off places an almost exact value on the decision to prematurely axe Kyle. Like him or not he provided the essential ingredient for the judging panel to work off. Obviously JayDee will not be back and chances are Kyle will.
the other disaster was dropping the slot for the exiting singer to have a last song. As the show went on this became more and more missed. Especailly for the last 3 to leave, Toby, nathan and James. All of whom had fully earned and their fans expected an encore. Shame on whoever made that call.
This year’s talent, in spite of a slow start, proved to be a good bunch with 4 serious contenders all of whom improved through the show.
Also the star turns brought in were hit and miss and again shows lack of judgement by the producers. eg James Morrison – puhlease
The format has plenty of life in it just needs to be managed properly.
23 Nov 09
1:36 pm
the format is old tired and extremely bland. The best things about the whole series was the firework display – ahhh lovely fireworks.
23 Nov 09
1:40 pm
My 12-y-o son kept Australian Idol alive in our home week after week. However, even he was torn last night when presented with the option of seeing Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath bowl again in Twenty/Twenty cricket on Ch. 9.
23 Nov 09
1:53 pm
Yes, it’s an old format that needs some work although Stan is a great story and quite a unique result. There’s a lot to be said about the voters that chose him. Great result.
I agree that JD may not have the flamboyant flare that Kyle might but PLEASE do me a favor – Kyle is an insult to our intelligence. He’s a moron and a freak. He should never been allowed a stage. He’s a sexist and he just makes the typical Aussie look bad. I hope we’re over this bad mouthed style. It’s a talent show not a “who can use the most inappropriate language celebrity wannabe show”. Come on Australia – grow up and join the rest of the civilized TV world. Boobs and bad mouth presenters is so passe
23 Nov 09
2:08 pm
They are definitely preliminary figures, because the final ratings show that the 2009 Australian Idol Grand Final audience peaked at 1.71 million, with an average audience of 1.49 million.
http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/e.....31109.html
And yes, the show is coming back next year.
23 Nov 09
2:14 pm
Hi JP,
That’s the same figures we’ve got. The 1.49m you are referring to is the 20 minute or so ‘Announcement of Winner’ segment we refer to above as having “just under 1.5m viewers”.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
23 Nov 09
2:16 pm
Great! Another year of generic drivel to look forward to on Channel 10. It astounds me that a channel that can come up with such a successful format at Masterchef has to rely on this boring crap. It’s really shocking to compare the ratings and just the general buzz around this programme to the X Factor in the UK. It seems that the UK is just gripped by the show and it definitley has people talking.
23 Nov 09
2:23 pm
“Australian Idol finale fails to draw big audience”
This headline is completely incorrect if you ask me … it rated 1.5m … I’d say it’s a pretty bloody big metro figure. Most media brands would kill to have 1.5m people tune in/watch/read on average for their show/website/magazine
C’mon Mumbrella’s … some of these headlines are certainly eye grabbing and pageview generating … but stretch the truth a little.
23 Nov 09
2:29 pm
I think 1.5m is a very poor result for such an expensive and hyped show. They should be embarrassed!
23 Nov 09
2:33 pm
Hi Larry,
Thanks for your comment.
Australian Idol was split into three segments last night as far as programming data goes (the audience wouldn’t have known it though as in the TV guides it appeared as one show).
Those three parts averaged 1.5m, 1.2m and 1.1m. The segment that averaged 1.5m was the shortest, at only around 20 minutes long.
And, yes, for the climax of a network’s second biggest franchise to rate 1.5m is not a big audience in my view.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
23 Nov 09
2:42 pm
Ch. 10 should give me a job. I could turn the show around.
The main issue is that they took away an integral part of the show, the results. Now while this may seem small…all it meant is that consumers had less time with the contestants and therefore did not feel as emotionally invested in the format.
The talent this year was not the problem at all..Stan and Hayley are both very marketable and will do well.
What they need to do next year is the following;
- Bring back Kyle Sandilands
- Integrate Twitter into the show– put live comments from users while the idols sing
- Let the fans choose what the idols sing
- Invite fans along to the auditions and let them help select the finalists.
They need to give fans the opportunity to actually be engaged with the concept of the show.
23 Nov 09
2:44 pm
1.5m people is 1.5m people – regardless of franchise – isn’t it?
Isn’t the real commercial/media story in how it’s performing for the key demos? Not the total mass audience? Admit that it’s not the beast it has been previously but the figures are decent nonetheless.
23 Nov 09
3:26 pm
Agree on all points. Good call.
23 Nov 09
3:26 pm
Doh. PAUL! I agree on all points. Good call.
23 Nov 09
4:00 pm
Larry,
1.5M for 20 mins is not good at all. How many commercials appeared in this slot?
Overall the program rated less and reached a lot less people than it used to. The Idol flame is fading fast and no matter how much rejigging and reformatting 10 are doing they cant seem to plug this leaky, once large ship. Specifically it was down this year overall and breaking it down by segments. whichever way you cut it no advertiser would be stoked with these results.
Advertisers would be happy with the 1.5M for the Force and 7 News and would still be happy with the 1.4 delivered by Border Security. All just regular weekly programs and not Event television.
For the premiums that 10 charge in a finale program like this you would have to say that anyone who bought here based on last years audience levels would be underdelivering.
Got Makegoods?
23 Nov 09
4:13 pm
Gasp…what a surprise that this tired format and waste of space show had “failed to draw” a big audience…are they expecting 2M “people” to watch this rubbish – after the 1st season it was B O R I N G…
Memo to Ten, send Aus Idol the way of BB….to the axed pile!
23 Nov 09
5:43 pm
BIggest Loser and Masterchef, both broadcast 6 nights a week, are far more important to Ten than Idol (1 night a week).
24 Nov 09
9:54 am
I thought the big difference this year was John Foreman’s exit and his replacement’s the el blando musical direction. No matter how many musos they packed in the studio, it still sounded like a backing tape. No wonder many performers came off as bogans who follow the kareoke guy around the outer suburbs.
Also, the moment the nuttier than a fruitcake, Mark Holden left the show was always going to struggle. He was the only judge who could issue Touchdowns.
The Touchdown is one of TVs most ridiculous and absurd concepts in years.
But it worked.