News

Nine denies all the rumours, More digital radio delays; Everyone’s an adshare winner

Rounding up today’s media and marketing sections

Australian Financial Review

Joe Pollard, the boss of beleaguered nineMSN, gives her first interview in the five months or so since taking on the gig. And she tells Neil Shoebridge that things aren’t as bad as they look, disputing claims that 30 staff lost their jobs in the last month – it was only 20, she says. The paper quotes OMD managing partner Leigh Terry as saying that Pollard’s restructure of the sales team has improved things.

Sister company Nine is trying to make the most of its TV coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, says the paper. Advertisers are being offered packages that stretch from October to mid-March next year.

And Nine also gets testy over rumours in the market that a staff cull is planned. An unnamed source accuses rival network Seven of “a particularly stupid  and puerile whispering campaign”.

Even Robert Morgan, chairman of the Clemenger Group is sounding less bullish than usual. He tells the paper that revenues for the financial year are flat, with its PR and design agencies having  a tough time, although its ad agencies going okay. However, he said that the company was still in a position to make the right acquisitions because it has no debt.

The outdoor industry’s ad share will rise by 6% by 2014, APN boss Brendan Hopkins tells the AFR, citing the introduction of new measurement currency MOVE – Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure.

The Australian

The newspaper industry’s ad share will rise if  Newspaper Works has its way. The trade body has commissioned research to demonstrate the effectiveness of advertising. And if it doesn’t work, then perhaps it’s ad agencies’ fault, Newspaper Works boss Tony Hale tells the Oz. He suggests “lazy creatives” are often to blame.

The cinema industry’s ad share will rise because of the increase in movie-going, the paper says. It quotes Val Morgan boss Graeme Yarwood as saying that an 11% growth in ticket sales has coincided with ad sales growth of around 20%.

The online advertising industry’s ad share will rise because the cost of putting TV commercials online is going down, reports Lara Sinclair. She quotes Ikon boss Gary Hardwick, who heads up the Media Federation as saying the cost per thousand of running TVCs online is now about the same as television.

Radio appears to be virtually the only medium not claiming a likely increase in share this week. The Oz reports that the ABC’s decision to delay its launch of digital radio, has taken commercial radio’s plans down with it. It says that the much-delayed launch date for digital has shifted back yet again – this time from May 1 to August 6. Columnist Mark Day points out that the original predicted date for the launch of digital was 1996.

Seven’s attempts to make its investment in digital video recorder TiVo pay off has seen it do a deal with an Adelaide-based ISP to provide unmetered video downloads to subscribers. However, there is a catch – viewers will have to pay to see each movie, and they’ll still face a charge of up to $100 for their TiVo and broadband connection on top of that.

The boss of Nielsen, Peter Cornelius, is cross with The Oz, as he makes clear in a letter to the paper, which used Nielsen data last week to highlight the poor state of the ad market in January. He accuses journalist Lara Sinclair of being “irresponsible” and spreading “doom and gloom”.

Nine is also denying rumours in The Oz – this time that the hard-up network is trying to sell on its rights to the 2012 Olympics to Seven. And, according to the paper’s diary, staff at Nine’s sister magazine company ACP are using grim humour, renaming the publisher’s 30 Days of Fashion initiative, 30 Days of Redundancies.

Sydney Morning Herald

The “death watch” for CanWest, owner of Network Ten, is entering its final two days, reports Miriam Steffens.

Daily Telegraph

Bonds has been forced to scale down its involvement in the Melbourne Fashion Festival because of its PR problems over its outsourcing of manufacturing. However, the company will still ahve to pay its $100,000 fee, says the tele.

TV viewers are becoming “alienated” by networks’ swift axing of shows the perform poorly. The paper points to Nine’s Wipeout as next for the chopping block.

The intriguing dining companions of Seven’s David Leckie and Nine’s Eddie McGuire triggers speculation on the paper’s Confidential page. However, their high profile choice of restaurant suggests they weren’t looking to keep their meeting private.

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