Monkey business straddles platforms
20Mar08

Source: Mahesh Sharma, The Australian

A
QUEENSLAND-BASED mobile content developer has created Australia’s first
animated series able to be seen across mobile phone, television and
internet screens.

Moket managing director Dale Rankine believes a background in interactive entertainment is an advantage. Picture: David Sproule

Mobile
content company Moket initially created Dojo Monkey, an animated series
about a ninja monkey, as part of a video game, but managing director
Dale Rankine saw the potential for it to exist across several
platforms.

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Popularity: 1%

The Mint mothballed
20Mar08

Source: Lara Sinclair, The Australian

FALLING
revenues and the decision by the Nine Network’s WIN Television
affiliate to stop screening late-night quiz show The Mint have caused
the show to be axed.

The Mint and its precursor, Quizmania
(which launched in mid-2006) initially generated millions of dollars in
revenue for Nine. At its peak, thousands of callers would dial in each
night for a chance to win a cash prize, a source close to Nine said.

The executive said The Mint was "shit TV" and losing the
revenue stream from regional callers was probably the nail in its
coffin. WIN boss Bruce Gordon has long held the view that even
screening late-night infomercials showed a lack of respect for the
viewer.

"You’re preying on the weak and vulnerable," the Nine source said. "Probably the same people that play poker machines."

Nine spokeswoman Arabella Gibson said The Mint would finish up at the end of the month.

"This style of show has a natural life cycle," she said. "It’s been
a great training ground for new talent and our concentration is now
focused on new programming initiatives."

The Mint is the last of the late-night quiz shows with which each of the commercial networks flirted, beginning with Big Brother Up Late on Ten and including Seven’s Midnight Zoo.

Popularity: 6%

Newcastle TV ratings week 11, 2008
18Mar08

I must admit that we are a little surprised by this week’s results as we anticipated Prime giving NBN a hell of a scare with the cricket finally gone. How wrong we were. NBN won comfortably and TEN showed further signs of improvement.

Underbelly continues to do great business and the return of Friday Night Football gave NBN a real boost.

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Popularity: 1%

National TV ratings w/ending 16 March 2008
17Mar08

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

A swearing chef saved Channel Nine’s bacon last week. With no cricket, no Underbelly in Melbourne, The Moment of Truth pulling a mere 844,000 on Tuesday and The Cashmere Mafia sinking to 851,000 viewers just as production was cancelled in America, Nine was at risk of massive humiliation.

But Gordon Ramsay attracted 1.2 million on Tuesday and 1.5 million
on Thursday (when does he get time to cook in his restaurant?). This
allowed Nine to average a respectable 27.6 per cent of the prime time
audience. Seven got 28.2 per cent, Ten 22.5, ABC 16.6 and SBS 5.1.

The most watched shows last week were Border Security (7) 1.61 million; CSI (9) 1.54m; The Force (7) 1.53m; Kitchen Nightmares (9) 1.53m; Sunday’s So You Think You Can Dance Australia (10) 1.48m and RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 1.42m.

The ABC scored best with Doc Martin on 1.23m and SBS scored best with Mythbusters on 511,000 (while the smartest show currently on television, Newstopia, was found by 201,000).

Now begins the Easter silly season.

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Popularity: unranked

Newcastle TV ratings week 10 2008
10Mar08

The finals of the One Day Cricket featuring Australia and India proved a boon for NBN here in Newcastle too. Two finals matches were played last week, giving the Nine affiliate an unassailable lead for the week. This week it gets really interesting though. The cricket has finished and footy is about to kick off. Sunday nights should improve for both Prime and SC Ten with the absence of cricket, while Friday nights will be a convincing victory for NBN’s Rugby League coverage. Nonetheless, Media Hunter is tipping a very close race next week with Prime having a chance to notch up a first ever non-Olympics win.

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Popularity: 1%

A multi-sex theory of programming
10Mar08

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

There are four sexes in Australia: men, women, old folks and The Rich.
If you want to be perfectly precise about it, you could divide the
first two sexes into two sub-sexes: young men and women and middle-aged
men and women. Then you’d have an impression of how the viewers are
viewed by the programmers and advertisers who decide the content of
Australia’s favourite medium.

The four-or-six-sex-theory of Australian tastes explains why certain
TV shows that appear to be flops are kept on by the TV stations. The
various social segments consume entertainment very differently, which
means there is no longer such a thing as a mass market. Successful
programmers know how to play the niches. A program need only appeal to
one of the sexes to justify a spot in the schedule. You may not like
it, but as long as 700,000 members of one of the other sexes tune in
and turn on once a week, it’s a hit.

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Popularity: 1%

Cricket delivers winning week for Nine
10Mar08

Source: David Dale, Sun Herald Blogs

Channel Nine was thanking its god for the Indians last week. Their
two cricket finals against the Australians each drew 1.7 million
viewers in the mainland capitals, which meant Nine ended the week with
30.5 per cent of the prime time audience, well ahead of Seven’s 26.7
per cent and Ten’s 25.7. It’s unlikely Nine will see another week like
that this year, unless it can persuade the Indians to return.

Apart from the cricket matches, the most watched programs were Border Security (7) with 1.64 million,  Sunday’s So You Think You Can Dance Australia (10) 1.56m; RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 1.53m; The Force (7) 1.52m and Nine News Sunday 1.49m.

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Popularity: 1%

Age of Conversation ready for Amazon listing
6Mar08

Finally, after a few delays and hiccups, the innovative collaborative marketing book (including a chapter form Media Hunter), Age of Conversation is ready to list on Amazon.

Don’t rush out to order yet though, wait until 29 March when it is officially listed. In the meantime the authors and editors are organising a Bum Rush to coincide with the Amazon listing to create awareness and focus attention on getting the book off to a flying start on the best-seller lists.

Join the Age of Conversation Bum Rush on March 29th

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Popularity: 1%

Axing Out of the Question
6Mar08

In surprising news, Seven has announced there will be a second series of Glenn Robbins’ chat show, Out of the Question. The program premiered to strong national ratings figures but has since dropped to below 800,000 in its crucial 8.30pm Thursday timeslot.

A Seven source told the Herald Sun the show’s format would be “tightened” before it returned.

The show, despite low ratings, performs well for the network in the key 16-39 demographic, which The Australian last week reported was the reason it remained on air.

Thursday nights have been an unusual programming challenge for Seven/Prime so far this year with Out of the Question, The Famly Guy, Lost and American Dad proving to be a strange line-up. Lost has suffered smaller ratings coming off the back of the weaker lead-in shows.

Popularity: 1%

Heard it on the radio and saw it on TV
6Mar08

Source: Nick Tabakoff, The Australian

MACQUARIE
Media Group has unveiled ambitious moves to capitalise on its new-found
position as Australia’s only large-scale cross-media proprietor, as it
looks to closely align its television and radio advertising packages
across the regions.

In an interview with Media,
MacMedia’s chief executive Mark Dorney and Australian broadcasting
assets boss Rhys Holleran said the company would use its acquisition of
the Southern Cross Ten regional TV network last November to
revolutionise the packages it offers to advertisers.

"We are now the only media company in Australia that can offer
television and radio together to advertisers on a large scale," Mr
Holleran said. "We will be offering them integrated solutions on TV,
radio and online. It’s a great entry for us into the new digital
world."

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Popularity: 1%