Review: Mags and papers fall out over readership; TV networks turn shy; Clarke says he’s not a sellout
If Newspaper Works hoped that its attempted takeover of readership figures from Roy Morgan was going to happen quietly, then that one died today.
Today’s Media section of The Australian focuses on the magazine industry’s response to newspaper owners’ plan to launch their own readership currency. Up to now, the Roy Morgan survey has covered both magazine and newspaper readership.
“At the moment, the print media’s future is being questioned by a whole bunch of advertisers. I don’t need the added responsibility of spending 15 minutes within a 30-minute pitch explaining methodology.”
And transparency in media owners – or potentially the lack of it – is also the theme of another piece on the paper’s front page. Lara Sinclair reports that the free TV networks are thinking of stopping their current practice of publishing revenue figures because of the negative publicity the declining numbers generate.
There’s no such shyness from WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell though. According to the paper, he believes has the upper hand in the ongoing legal battle of the purchase of George Patterson. He claims the other side is “in disarray” after changing legal representation.
The paper also gives coverage of Nine’s renewed studio deal with Warner Bros. The network’s lucky, lucky viewers are guaranteed episodes of Two And A Half Men for another eight or nine years. The deal should also provide the foundation for the long-awaited launch of Nine’s digital entertainment-focused channel.
The same topic is also covered in The Australian Financial Review, whcih reports that the deal will cost Nine about half a billion dollars. And still with telly, the Fin also reports that Foxtel is gearing up its sponsorship push for next year’s Vancouver Wuinter Olympics.
The AFR also speaks to Chris Clarke, who last week sold the Nitro group (including its Australian arm Cummins Nitro) for $50m. According to Clarke, when he sold his last agency Pure Creative it “really felt like a sell out”. But this time it’s different.
And in his column Neil Shoebridge quotes media sage Steve Allen, who is predicting that ad spend for 2009 will have slid by 4.2%. Allen says that newspapers will be worst hit, with a fall of 10.8%, followed by free to air TV, falling 7.6%.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reports an ethical dilemma after The New York Times persuaded global news organisations not to report that one of its reporters was kidnapped seven months ago. The report says:
“The unusual arrangement raises questions about whether journalists were giving special treatment to one of their own.”
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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If the newspaper companies want to invest in research that more accurately reflects how their audience is consuming their medium (off & online), and perhaps more importantly, are prepared to share it more openly with their commercial customers then good on ’em, I say.
I’m not convinced that the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” thinking that is reflected in a “by and large” happiness with the existing model, will cut much mustard with customers if the proposed new research provides a better and hopefully more transparent understanding of a traditional medium’s usage in a digital age. Perhaps the existing research is even one of the reasons why the print media’s future is being questioned by advertisers….. ?
We will always remain a cynical industry when it comes to media owner funded research, but given how much the newpaper medium appears to be suffering from the GFC, then perhaps their efforts to drive change should be applauded.
In desperate times, doing something may be better than doing nothing. Of course only time wil tell….
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There appears to be some confusion about whether it is unusual to have seperate magazine and newspaper readership surveys.
For the record, it is unusual.
The last “Summary of Current Readership Research” last compiled in 2007 by Erhard Meier which covers survey practices of 95 readership surveys in 72 countries worldwide shows only 2 countrys that could be considered to have split print audience measurement currencies.
One of these is Japan which currently measures 522 consumer titles on its magazine survey and 118 titles on its newspaper survey. It is for this reason ( the vast number of titles and subsequent length of survey) I believe that they have split currencies.
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