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Mumbrellacast: All things Seven as David Leckie passes and Tokyo 2020 gets underway

Australian television legend David John Leckie died this week at aged 70, with his family revealing the former Seven West Media (SWM) passed away after suffering a long illness. Leckie is widely credited with turning around Seven’s fortunes in the 2000s. Before joining Seven, Leckie led rival network Nine from 1990 to 2001. So what will his legacy be for television, and the media industry more widely?

PwC has released the 20th edition latest Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook, looking back on how internet advertising, the gaming industry, as well as print and television, among others, fared in 2020. The team go behind the numbers, looking at the winners and losers, and asking whether the report is as impactful and effective as it was in the past.

In the week coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics kicking off, Seven certainly didn’t need the bad publicity that came from one of its reported Big Brother VIP housemates, far-right commentator Katie Hopkins, being deported from the country for failing to adhere to hotel quarantine rules. It’s the latest in a run of negative press stories for the network, so where does Seven’s image sit right now… and will anything stop the Olympics from being a TV ratings bonanza?

Plus, Zanda Wilson chats with Seven’s director of sales Natalie Harvey as the Tokyo Olympics finally begin. Harvey chats about the impact of advertiser uncertainty around whether the games would go ahead, the role television’s new measurement currency, VOZ, will play, as well as what the various Australian lockdowns could do for audience numbers.

In the news

  • TV titan and Seven legend David Leckie dies aged 70 (01:32)
  • PwC releases its latest Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook report (09:38)
  • The Katie Hopkins saga as Seven begins its coverage of Tokyo 2020 (34:55)

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Music credit: RetroFuture Clean Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Backbay Lounge Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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