Mumbrella live blog: Friday, May 16
Welcome to Mumbrella’s live blog, the rolling diary of everything you need to know in Australian media and marketing. Refresh the page for more updates.
Top stories:
- TV ratings: Masterchef numbers halve as Nine shows edited Top Gear
- ABC analysis: A glimmer of hope or optical illusion?
- ABC newspapers: Double digit declines and digital fluctuations
- ABC Magazines: Zoo leads way as every weekly drops
- John Stephens: Seven accuses Ten of buying ‘anticompetitive’ result
- John Hartigan named chairman of Prime Media
4.32pm – Dr Mumbo got an interesting piece of correspondence from Coles. Read it here.
2.11pm – More announcements on Mumbrella 360 and ABC boss Mark Scott is going to participate in the closing keynote session along with Peter Horgan, chairman of the Media Federation chairman, Telstra marketer Andy Bateman, and Sudeep Gohil, chairman of the Communications Council.
1.20pm – Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes looks at the John Stephens case and explains that while Australia’s TV networks publicly profess to hate each other there are signs of some behind the scenes co-operation particularly on Stream Co. Read the piece here.
12:47pm – Kerrie-Anne Kennerley spoke to Dr Mumbo to say she hadn’t been approached by Ten to front a new breakfast show, but she is open to offers.
12:02pm – It seem the phenomenon of the Wicked Camper vans has reached the US, with the Wall Street Journal turning its attention to the controversially-painted vehicles.
11:49am – Standard Media Index data shows the advertising market fell 9.1 per cent in April, although media execs say that is due to the proximity of the Easter and Anzac day holidays.
11:21am – In other media news this morning Harto’s back – a ex-News Ltd CEO John Hartigan takes the chairmanship of Prime Media following the death of Paul Ramsay earlier this month.
10:39am – TV ratings are in – and Masterchef took a hammering last night as viewers tuned out for a special which focused on the contestants back stories rather than their cooking. The numbers dropped from over 1m last Thursday to under 600,000. Meanwhile Nine showed an edited ending of the controversial Top Gear Burma special, which it aired in Sydney and Brisbane last night.
9:17am – An interesting piece in AdWeek out of the US overnight positing whether Publicis Groupe might have a crack at a hostile takeover of Omnicom Group after the $35bn mega-merger fell apart last week. Analysts are being quoted as saying Publicis “always had designs on gaining scale”. See the full post here.
8.55am – The good folk of Stunt Bear – the people who created the Domino’s Facebook comments video which went viral – are back on it. This time, they’re helping Australia’s Border protection service with a rebrand and indeed theme song. New slogan: “Not raciste – we swear”
8:34am – And BWM creative honcho Rob Belgiovane is the special guest on Studio 10 this morning, and he admits he had his first “sickie” in ten years on Monday. He looks healthy now though.
8:26am – Wake Up is getting on board with all the important discussions of the day:
8:20am – Apparently it’s Food Revolution Day today and it looks as if Woolworths is getting itself in on the action in Sydney today. It’s all about educating kids on the importance of cooking good food.
8:10am – Welcome along, and happy ABC day everyone. We’ve got a complete wrap of how the Australian newspaper and magazine print sales are holding up, and an analysis of what the digital numbers might actually mean.
