Mumbrella’s Summer Shorts Series – Episode One

The media, marketing and advertising worlds are switching off for the summer holidays, but Mumbrella is whipping out the shorts and surfing through the break.

Mumbrella is bringing you all the news and fun stuff we spot to keep you informed and entertained. And you won’t find this in any newsletter – so keep popping back to the website regularly for updates.

We’d like to keep this interactive, so please, if you’d like to be part of Mumbrella’s industry insider holiday summer camp, send your thoughts, sightings, and ideas to abanks@mumbrella.com.au.

Moving in

Moving out

• Jorod Graetz has stepped down as the CEO of Positive Media, which operates 89.9FM, The Light in Melbourne. He has created three new media brands under the Positive Media banner and formed partnerships with like-minded organisations during his 12 years in the role. There will soon be a search for Graetz’s replacement.

Around the traps

• SVoD revenue in Australia is forecast to increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3 per cent from $1.9 billion in 2021 to $3.2 billion in 2026, driven by solid growth in subscriptions and unique SVoD households, and a steady rise in average monthly revenue per unique SVoD household, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company.
• Cross-party lawmakers in Britain say online service providers, such as Google and Facebook, should be held legally responsible for ads on their platforms. By passing the new draft legislation, the Committee has agreed to clarify what is considered illegal online and hold internet service providers accountable for that content. These rules will also cover abuse of children, fraud, racist abuse, self-harm promotion, and violence against women (for which there was no enforceable sanction previously). The regulations will be put to UK Parliament for approval in 2022.
• An ACMA report shows how much streaming services spent on Australian content last year. The Australian Communications & Media Authority’s Australian Content on Demand Video Subscription (SVOD) report reveals Amazon Prime, Disney, Netflix, and Stan spent nearly $180 million dollars on programs in Australia. As part of their review of funded programs, the ACMA also determines whether they meet the minimum requirements for hiring Australians in key creative roles such as producers, directors, screenwriters and actors. The $178.9 million spent on 1,765 Australian programs in 2020-21 is up from $153 million the year prior.
• The Seven Network will continue as the official free-to-air partner of the World Surf League (WSL) in Australia through 2022 with WSL programming across Seven and live-streamed on 7plus. All stops of the elite Championship Tour and Challenger Series along with Australian based Qualifying Series events will be broadcast across their online streaming platform 7plus. The deal will also see Seven live broadcast the Rip Curl WSL Finals on Channel 7 and 7mate as well as 11 CT event hour long recap shows throughout the 2022 season and “quick to market” hour long event highlight shows.
• The Daily Mail General Trust (DMGT), which publishes The Daily Mail, The Mail On Sunday and Mail Online, has won shareholder approval to take the group private. DMGT has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1932 and will now be delisted. The company said 63% of shareholders voted in favour of the deal which was estimated to be worth around £2.4bn.
• Heinz has teamed up with Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific to identify hidden spots in its latest map Caldera to “safely enjoy a well-deserved break and eat a delicious burger with Heinz” in real life. Fans and gamers are watching Twitch and YouTube this weekend to see top CoD:WP streamers reveal these Heinz Hidden Spots in-game and (hopefully) enjoy a burger break as they explore the new map.

That last item sounds very familiar …

And now for some light listening …

Short shorts

• The New South Wales government has struck an agreement with Qantas to keep its global headquarters in Sydney. The move will create 2,500 jobs over five years and generate $30 million in the economy. Its loyalty team will also be expanded in Mascot.
• The ABC’s internal complaints division has dismissed Fox News’ claims of bias in the broadcaster’s investigation of Four Corners. So, Fox News has turned to its local media watchdog to address its concerns.
• The Australian reports the ABC spent $2.595m on external legal fees in 2020-21, compared with just $901,000 in the previous financial year. The public broadcaster used external lawyers to defend defamation cases brought against investigative journalist Louise Milligan by Liberal MP Andrew Laming and former attorney-general Christian Porter during the last year. The ABC also has a 36-person in-house legal team.
• Data from OzTAM shows that the Ten Network’s broadcast of the men’s A-League match on 18 December attracted just 63,000 viewers across Australia’s five major capital cities. Ten’s audience numbers have been below 100,000 in each of the last four weeks of the A-League season, The Australian reports. Ten broadcasts one match per round under the current rights deal with parent company ViacomCBS, while streaming service Paramount+ has exclusive rights to other matches. Ten also broadcasts one women’s A-League match in each round.
• The Australian Financial Review reports data from Pathmatics shows Australia’s top 20 digital advertisers spent about $400m on such advertising in 2021. This was headed by Procter & Gamble ($30.06m), PepsiCo ($27.28m) and Telstra ($26.57m). Eugene Du Plessis of Pathmatics says marketers had to shift their focus primarily to digital in 2021 as coronavirus-induced lockdowns prompted huge growth in the consumption of digital media.
• The Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) has chosen Australian sports business company SX Global to run a global Supercross racing series. SX Global has raised over $30 million to help fund the FIM Supercross World Championship, which is due to start in mid- to late-2022.
• 86 400’s chief product and marketing officer, Travis Tyler, has become the new chief product officer at payments group, Zip Co.
• Flybuys chief customer officer, Rosemary Martin, is joining Super Retail Group’s Rebel Sport business in the newly-created role of general manager of ecommerce and marketing. She will report to MD, Gary Williams, and relocate to Sydney in January to take up the position.
• The latest Bastion report shows Aussies have become a nation of “COVID chameleons”. Our ability to adapt to change (40%) tops the list of aspects of life that have improved most through the pandemic. Many of us have also improved our personal resilience (32%), family/life relationships (27%), personal habits (26%) and work/life balance (25%). Two in three (66%) Australians are confident about their employment over the next 12 months, 17% are not. The greatest employment worries come from those who are unvaccinated and intend to remain so, with almost half (45%) lacking confidence in their job prospects.

Memebrella

Remembering some of the best memes of 2021. Here’s a good one.

Publicis puts out Annual Wishes video

Both Publicis bosses, Maurice Lévy and Arthur Sadoun, guest starred in Hollywood classics for this year’s Annual Wishes film to find out where they’ll be next year.

The announcement comes as the group announced its employees will be able to work from any of its offices around the world for six weeks of the year as part of the new “Work Your World” program.