Source: Simon Canning, The Australian

THE number of Australians over 45 will outstrip those under 45 this year, making baby boomers the most powerful media consumers.

Charlie Nelson

Charlie Nelson says the number of people over-50 will grow rapidly. But it is a section of the community most media and marketers continue to ignore, even though these people have $218billion burning a hole in their pockets and are desperate for a place to spend it.

The decision by most media to ignore a part of the market unhindered by the stress of mortgage rate rises or the cost of rearing children continues to perplex those who have closely followed the rise of the boomers.

According to market researcher Charlie Nelson of Foreseechange, the number of people under 50 will grow by just 2per cent between 2001 and 2011 while the over-50 population will explode by 32 per cent during the same period.

"The baby boomers are the ones who are spending the most on discretionary items; it is the one demographic that is growing," Mr Nelson said.

"In terms of the percentage of total discretionary spending, people aged from 55 to 64 have gone from 13 per cent of the total market in the 1990s to 17.6 per cent. At the same time the 65-plus market has grown from 11.7 per cent to 14 per cent."

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Source: Lara Sinclair, The Australian

THE new multi-channels set to be launched by Australia’s free-to-air television networks next year will only maintain, not increase, according to a new report.

The report The Way We Watch: Maximising Multi-Channel Payback, released by consultancy firm Deloitte this week, said it would be hard for the networks to increase viewing given the growing number of new media services.

Deloitte said the networks must build strong channel identities for their multi-channel brands with flagship programs and strong marketing support.

"Few new channels succeed in attracting more than 1 per cent audience share by their second year," the report states.

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National TV ratings race. Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

The saddest news of the TV week was how far the once-mighty Lost
has fallen. Moved by Channel Seven to 10.30pm, the series that started
with nearly two million viewers managed just 392,000 in the mainland
capitals last Thursday. The mystery that intrigued us and then
infuriated us is being solved over the next two episodes, but like the
tree that keeps falling in the forest, will there be anybody there to
see it?

Big Brother is not quite in Lost‘s hole yet, but it’s
getting there. Do we blame the hosts — limp Jackie and loud Kyle? Or
the contestants, none of whom seems to provoke what Ten likes to call
"water cooler buzz", like previous inmates (pictured here)? Is it just
an idea whose time has gone?

BB stayed steadfastly under a million viewers for most of last week,
apart from a brief visit from style guru Carson Kressley, who put the
audience back up to 1.2 million on Wednesday, when Ten also scored by
bringing back fresh episodes of House.

The most watched shows were 60 Minutes (9) with 1.73m; Border Security (7) 1.57m; and Seven news Sunday 1.47m (see below for full details).

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Newcastle TV ratings week 20, 2008

The most interesting battle in Newcastle television might soon be between Southern Cross TEN and Prime for the number 2 position. Last week SC Ten crept a little closer to Prime’s figures while NBN continued their strong ratings start for 2008.

NBN, with 9 out of the top 10 programs finished with an almost 10 point lead over Prime, while SC Ten continued their improvement just 3 points behind the Seven affiliate.

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by Craig Wilson

The Newcastle Herald H2 section had a 2 page piece today on the problems at NEWFM titled Rock Bottom. Herald journalist Neil Jameson interviewed me for the story for advertising industry perspective on the current commercial radio imbalance in the Hunter.

The full story can be viewed here.

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By Craig Wilson

The Tim Ferriss 4-Hour Work Week party led me to meeting another famous technology business name. Jodee Rich (of OneTel fame) strolled into the party fairly early to hear what Tim had to say. I managed to have a chat with the ex-mobile phone seller and junior Telco director to see what his latest venture might be.

It seems Rich is also very interested in the blooming Web 2.0 social media industry and is about to begin beta-testing a new site, PeopleBrowsr

Is another chapter in Jodee Rich’s roller-coaster corporate career about to begin?

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by Craig Wilson

Media Hunter ventured down to Sydney last night to meet and talk with Tim Ferriss, author of the 4-Hour Work Week, as he does a short publicity tour Down Under.

Why is Media Hunter taking an interest in an American author of a "lifestyle design" book? Well, apart from being an interesting person, famous for his contrarian thinking, radical work-life philosophy, Tim has also become a social media phenomenon.

I asked Tim to explain how much social media has contributed to his success. He felt it had been a major factor in driving the 4-Hour Work Week up the bestseller ranks where it eventually hit number one on Wall St Journal, New York Times and Amazon lists.

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H&R Block Cast a Wide Net With a Campaign That Included Profiles, Videos, Twitter and Widgets

By

Tax software isn’t the first thing that comes
to mind when you think of marketing in social networks or on YouTube,
spaces dominated by movie trailers and goofy viral videos. But H&R
Block proved that it, too, can be successful in the space, but it’s
about matching content to the social community and then making that
content valuable to consumers, said Amy Worley, director of digital
marketing for H&R Block.

Ms. Worley was speaking at the latest installment of Advertising Age’s
Digital Bites breakfast series yesterday and shared successes and
lessons learned from H&R Block’s most recent social-media campaign.
The campaign cast a wide net in the social-media space, with MySpace
and Facebook profiles, YouTube postings, a Twitter account, widgets and
even a virtual tax office in Second Life.

Most companies, she noted, wouldn’t dive into all the tactics
at once but her product is very seasonal and "anything we didn’t learn
in one season, we would have to wait until next year [to try]."

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Source: Michael Bodey, The Australian

THE time may well be past when blockbuster American series could turn around the fortunes of an Australian television network.

This year’s muted round of screenings and up-front presentations by US networks has yet to approach any kind of fervour or produce the next Desperate Housewives or Grey’s Anatomy.

The risky process of confirming new series on the strength of an expensive pilot episode is no longer in vogue after several high-profile failures in the US 2006-07 season and the recent writers’ strike, which curtailed Hollywood production.

Traditionally, US networks ordered pilots early each year, presented them to advertisers and international buyers in May, and premiered them in the northern autumn.

That strategy has changed for most. NBC now spends more time on development but can decide to commission an entire series without producing a pilot.

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Source: Jane Schulze, Media editor, The Australian

TEN Network chief Grant Blackley expects rival Seven Network to lose the TV ratings crown this year after haemorraghing audience share, only a year after finally grabbing the title from Nine.

Four months into the official TV ratings year, Mr Blackley does not believe Seven has the programming firepower to reverse massive double-digit audience declines in key demographics this year.

"As far as we’re concerned, Seven’s demise is not an aberration and will continue throughout the year," he said.

In the ratings year to date, Seven’s share of total people viewing – which it won last year – has slumped 6 per cent while Ten’s has jumped 4.4 per cent and Nine’s 3 per cent.

Ten has now taken the lead in the 18 to 49-year-old demographic after lifting its audience share 2.5 per cent to 34.3 per cent. Nine has boosted viewing in that demographic by 12.5 per cent to 33.9 per cent while Seven, which won this demographic last year, has fallen 12.7 per cent to 31.7 per cent.

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