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Opinion | Features
Why is advertising so much better in New Zealand than Australia?
Ok, so this isn’t a new observation.
But it really hit home after I watched some TV ads for a kiwi supermarket yesterday that advertising in New Zealand is so much better than much of the crap that is being served up in this country at the moment.
Why is it that Colenso BBDO Auckland can turn something as bland as a supermarket chain into a brand I almost like, while Australian agencies succeed only in either irritating me (Coles) or passing me by unnoticed (Woolies) because the ads are so average?
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.
Viewers turn away from TV in 2009
Total prime time TV audiences have fallen below 5m in Australia, according to a new analysis of viewing data so far this year. This is despite the arrival of the new Freeview and subscription TV channels to tempt viewers.
According to the analysis of figures across the prime 6pm to 10.30pm slot, the average audience has fallen from 5,027,868 in 2008 to 4,969,810 in 2009. This marks a decline of around 60,000 prime time viewers per evening – or a fall of just over 1%. This is despite the Australian population growing by more than 2% during the same period.
The comparison of OzTam data from the beginning of this year until October 17 was carried out on behalf of the pay TV industry. It covers both official ratings and non-ratings weeks.
The decline was concentrated in free to air television, which saw a fall of 1.8% in the prime time period.
The fall was greatest for Seven, which has seen an audience decline of 4.3% compared to last year. This can mainly be attributed to the network’s Olympics-driven ratings performance in 2008. The ABC’s prime time audience has fallen by 3.8% so far this year. Nine’s has fallen by 1.4%.
The biggest winner, according to the analysis, is Ten, which saw a peak time audience growth of 6.5%. This was mainly because of the breakout success of Masterchef, which helped the network compete across all audiences rather than the younger demographics it usually focuses on. Subscription TV’s prime time audience grew by 2.7% in the year to date. SBS grew by 1.7%.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
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Comments
26 Oct 09
12:23 pm
I’m shocked! That’s it’s only 1%.
26 Oct 09
12:45 pm
interesting headline for what is a 2% decline
26 Oct 09
1:25 pm
1% decline- talk about the market share of TV in freefall!
I find Mumbrella, more and more lately, relies on tabloid style headlines to get click throughs.
26 Oct 09
2:17 pm
@Art & Larry
I disagree. In the context of media & marketing, if media buyers consequently move 1% of their spends away from TV it could make a huge difference to the medium(s) that pick it up.
26 Oct 09
2:24 pm
@jamie – cos TV has dipped 1% there should be a 1% decline in spend? how does that work.,
that logic is flawed … it’s not quantity of time it’s quality of engagement.
26 Oct 09
2:35 pm
@ Larry
I should have been clearer. I know the decline in viewers doesn’t and shouldn’t mean an automatic like-for-like shift in media spend. My point is simply that 1) this isn’t exactly a good news story for TV and 2) TV budgets are comparatively so large that any shift in spends can mean a great deal to emerging media. Therefore, many Mumbrella readers will find this piece newsworthy.
26 Oct 09
2:40 pm
I certainly find it newsworthy, certainly given the financial climate. We are told that more people will be staying at home so I would have expected a significant rise in viewing figures. i suppose it says a lot for the quality of programmes on free to air this year.
26 Oct 09
3:10 pm
Considering the absolute arse has fallen out of mags and newspapers- I wouldve thought a 1% decline is a pretty tame figure in comparison.
26 Oct 09
3:19 pm
Why is it that every media writer gleefully predicts the imminent decline and fall of TV in spite of the data portraying exactly the opposite. If anything your headline should have read: ” TV viewers stay tuned in”
26 Oct 09
3:23 pm
Its definately newsworthy, but I do think the header was a little… shall we say, inflamatory for a 1% drop.
26 Oct 09
3:36 pm
Gezza- its usually the bloggers- who rely on a mass internet audience to perpetuate their own online popularity.
Less people watching TV =
Obviously more people reading their blogs =
More (bullshit) news stories to try to change media buyers perceptions =
Can I have more money for those banner ads now? No one watches TV anymore, havent you heard?
26 Oct 09
4:24 pm
I think you are all right and all a little wrong.
The interesting thing to me is that TV still reaches a mass audience. The other media (Newspapers, Magazines & Cinema – I’m looking at you) are suffering bigger much bigger declines.
The really interesting thing from a mass media standpoint is that there are going to be fewer and fewer TRULY mass mediums. Given the vagaries of supply and demand, I suspect that these 1.5M people plus audiences are going to become more valuable rather than less valuable in the future.
Despite all the change that the “experts” talk of when discussing media fragmentation the interesting thing is that TV will emerge from this with a stranglehold over the “Mass” in mass market.
26 Oct 09
4:30 pm
I cant believe it is at 2%…. especially when each month the figures for online video is outdoing the month before… Wait till 3 and 4g mobiles become the norm..
“There are currently four* billion mobile phones in use worldwide and there are almost seven billion people. Mobiles have exceeded the number of TVs and computers and unlike those devices, mobiles are carried everywhere and are hardly ever turned off. Achieving this milestone confirms there is continued solid demand in the mobile industry and it puts the global market on a path to reach a staggering six* billion connections by 2013. A captive audience of four billion people represents an awesome opportunity for advertisers to grab their attention, even though it’s on a small screen, with well targeted relevant advertising messages via mobile websites.”
26 Oct 09
4:40 pm
Chris A- If you spent more time actually reading the article before throwing yourself into some astrix ridden diatribe about how many mobile phones there are in the world, you’d realise the figure’s 1%, not 2%.
26 Oct 09
4:40 pm
What about the rise in uptake of PVR’s and other digital TV recording devices that allow viewers to easily break free from the TV Networks broadcast schedule and watch shows in their own time.
These viewers are still watching free-to-air TV, they are just not being counted by OzTam at present. Perhaps because they can easily skip the ads.
26 Oct 09
4:42 pm
Please please please no adverts on the mobile. It pains me to watch a 30 second Special K ad to get to the video of the 27 second news report on SMH.com
26 Oct 09
5:01 pm
TV has become “cheap.” Many nights is simply a wasteland – both Freeview and Pay TV. And as for the new digital channels…….
26 Oct 09
5:05 pm
Regardless of how many people are watching TV, the advertising dollars the medium attracts should be linked directly to how much TV is contributing towards various advertisers sales. Indeed, if fewer people watch but those that do watch buy more stuff then actually more money should flow into TV. It is now possible to analyse TV (and other media) in this way, and actually far more appropriate to do so. The ‘mine is bigger than yours’ approach to selling media is what we should be doing away with.
26 Oct 09
5:28 pm
One factor that isn’t showing in YOY comparisons is time shifted viewing.
OzTAM’s 2009 panels only capture and report live viewing, but from next year they’ll also release As Live (viewing on the same day) + Timeshift (viewing after the day of broadcast but viewed within seven days). Based on overseas data there’s good reason to believe the net effect will show an increase in total viewing in 000s and time spent viewing.
That’s only one additional consideration. Even with the current data we could look at changes by channel, variance across the year, commercial FTA vs total FTA, and so on. The real picture is complex and nuanced, and “viewers turn away from TV in 2009″ isn’t a particularly deep summary of the trends.
26 Oct 09
6:08 pm
have to say Art Vandalay makes for good reading.
chris a – nice figures but what do they actually mean. conference speak is lovely but falls down when it comes to real world scenarios generally.
26 Oct 09
6:20 pm
Want a simple explanation?
The OzTAM data is for LIVE viewing only. Anyone who uses a DVR, their Foxtel iQ, their TiVo, burns to DVD, or records to VCR (yes they still exist) and then watch the programme back aren’t counted.
With the explosion in sales of DVRs, Foxtel’s push on iQ, and Seven backing TiVo this simply HAS to be having an effect.
The good news is that starting with the 2010 television year, OzTAM will be reporting any playback that occurs within seven days. All that unreported viewing will be reported, so expect 2010 to show growth on 2009, simply because the “lost” time-shifted viewing will be incorporated.
If you look at US data (Nielsen) around about 5% of all viewing is time-shifted (with a PVR penetration rate of around 25%), and in the UK around 4% (BARB) of all viewing is time-shifted (with a PVR penetration rate or around 23%). Given that Australia’s PVR is around the same, I’d expect to see around the same lift in 2010.
I wonder what the headlines will read this time next year? Don’t forget what Mark Twain is reported as saying upon reading his own obituary in the New York Journal … “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”.
26 Oct 09
9:49 pm
I can’t find the numbers so I can’t quote them but I thought the bigger story was the decline in time spent watching TV and the increase in time on the Internet. I know in the UK there is more time spent online that watching TV. I think in this country this is still controversial.
26 Oct 09
9:50 pm
I am surpised the figures aren’t higher I’d like the programmers to see if they can appreciate the programme they broadcast in between the advertisments, infomercials and station promos. No wonder we station switch or record to replay were we can manage the barrage. Surely the bean counters can work a better balnce , where the advertiser gets a better deal, and so to will the the viewer. SBS has a good balance.
27 Oct 09
9:29 am
Yeah, cause everyone watches the ads on their timeshifted PVR’s so they are a REALLY valuable audience for advertisers.
One of the big advantages of a PVR is to skip the ads. Isn’t it? So you can discount 90% plus of these people surely?
27 Oct 09
9:34 am
Carrob: I think the point he’s making is in regard to overall audience numbers, not necessarily the penetration of the ads.
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