Mumbrellacast

Just days after celebrating its second birthday, 10 Daily announced it would be closing at the end of this week. It is another sad piece of news for the industry, but despite an email from Ten boss Beverley McGarvey saying it was part of a wider strategic move from Viacom CBS, the Mumbrellacast team can't help but wonder if the closure is shrouded in COVID-19 revenue struggles.Also in publishing, the latest chapter of the Bauer Media saga is its push for some positive PR, announcing that its magazine subscriptions have increased by 60%. Is this a very faint light at the end of the very long tunnel for magazines?Alan Jones received one last strike from ACMA, ruling that his infamous comments about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern breached broadcasting decency rules, but he was let off with a slap on the wrist due to his impending retirement.And in fortuitous timing, Jones' replacement on Brisbane's 4BC Neil Breen joined the Mumbrellacast alongside head of content for Nine Radio Greg Byrne to talk about the fresh, local strategy Nine Radio is taking in the Queensland capital, and whether politics should shape talk back radio

In this week's bumper edition of the Mumbrellacast, the team bids farewell to 2GB's breakfast radio king, Alan Jones. From the on-air announcement of his retirement, the cultural and commercial impact he had on radio, and the comments of support from Nine's managing director of radio Tom Malone one question must be answered: did he jump, or was he pushed?Ten's chief content officer Beverley McGarvey and chief sales officer Rod Prosser joined the team to give insight into the goings-on at the network. With a new mysterious channel on the horizon, the successful launch of a refreshed Masterchef and operating within a merger and pandemic, it's been a busy couple of months at Ten. McGarvey and Prosser also give a hint at what the rest of 2020's content will look like.Also in media, the team mourns the loss of Buzzfeed following an announcement to staff this week that the business would be withdrawing its Australian editorial arm. It is another sad development in Australia's rapidly shrinking media landscape, and as recent data from Seek shows, job listings in advertising, media, communications and marketing have declined by 60%. The team also debates whether it's appropriate for brands to keep advertising, despite their entire marketing team being stood down, following a new version of Peter Allen's 'I Still Call Australia Home' for Qantas.Plus, Vivienne Kelly chats with former Triple J breakfast hosts, Matt Okine and Alex Dyson, about their shift to a commercial network and podcasting with All Day Breakfast.

This week saw WPP AUNZ lift the bonnet at its annual general meeting, but don't worry about new CEO Jens Monsees. Despite the fact he stepped into the leadership role just before a global pandemic, he promises Mumbrella's Brittney Rigby he's 'doing fine', even facing a potential $10m loss for the group from H1 CY20.Foxtel hung on to the exclusive rights to HBO's content in Australia. It's a massive win for the pay TV provider, with shows like Succession, Big Little Lies and the upcoming reboot of Gossip Girl a huge drawcard for consumers. The deal has put the launch of streaming service HBO Max on the back burner, but how long will it last?And how many magazines will hit newsstands when publishers come out the other side of COVID-19? Just days after Bauer Media took ownership of Pacific Magazines, 60 staff were cut from the business. As it stands, 140 Bauer and 100 Pac Mags staff have been stood down or made redundant and several titles have been suspended. How will the business piece together its magazines with so little staff? And which ones will make it through in the long term?

Straight off the back of revealing the acquisition of Red Engine SCC, entrepreneur and creative chairman of McCann Worldgroup Australia, Ben Lilley, joined the Mumbrellacast to discuss his industry homecoming. Lilley discusses his return to McCann as its owner, his long-term acquisition strategy, and whether a creative classic, like 'Dumb Ways To Die', will emerge in the near future.Across the industry, we've seen the loss of the Logies, further job cuts and salary sacrifices at Bauer Media, Southern Cross Austereo, Domain and IPG Mediabrands, and Princess Cruises named the most trusted cruise brand. It's hard to go a week without mentioning the impacts COVID-19 has had, although some organisations (here's looking at you, NRL) are insisting on forging ahead in 2020.The week in ads saw humans hypnotised to believe they are tigers. The team debates the merits of hypnotism and using people in the campaign instead of real tigers - Netflix's Tiger King may have come into play. Plus, is a rugby tackle on the street an act of violence? Industry watchdog Ad Standards has an answer.

This week on the Mumbrellacast, the team reflect on the state of Australia's media industry after it sank to 26th place on the World Press Freedom Index for 2019. Following the raids on the ABC headquarters and News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst and the closure of AAP newswire, is Australia's reputation as a respected home of democratic journalism at risk?The week in adland saw industry watchdog Ad Standards ban a couple of ads. Despite its best efforts to redefine the term 'whipped', frequent flyer Sportsbet copped a ban for an ad suggesting that Prince Harry was pussy whipped by Meghan Markle. And, an ad for Coles' Stikeez collectables caught the attention of the community panel over the question of whether it amounted to pester marketing.And, what is the value of a pre-recorded radio show? Highlights of the Christian O'Connell show will now air nationally on weeknights, and Stevie Jacobs will be hosting breakfast with his links pre-recorded and inserted into the music programming. As budgets have been tightened, is this the future of entertainment on a shoestring?

Masterchef is 'Back to Win' and back with a vengeance in the TV ratings. Was it the lack of MAFS? The familiar faces on screen? COVID-boredom? Or, just the perfect storm for Ten to take out the colossal win? The team chats through how no one came close to guessing the 1.268m metro viewers launch on Easter Monday, and the pay off from Ten's programming decision.Also in TV, the team was joined by Nine's head of content production and development Adrian Swift to chat through the 2020 launch of last year's smash hit, Lego Masters (39:21). He talks through what the TV landscape will look like now that COVID-19 has put a production on hold, what Australians can expect from Lego Masters' latest season and what ratings figure for the launch will have him doing a jig. And, the week also saw the government introduce a relief package for the media industry which suspended some content quotas for Australian content across free-to-air and subscription television for 2020, tax relief for commercial TV and radio companies, and much needed assistance for media businesses in regional Australia. However, is it enough?

This week saw the ultimate game of chicken being played by Bauer Media and Pacific Magazines. Rumours had it that Bauer was ghosting Pac Mags over its impending $40m acquisition. Pac Mags took Bauer to court, then told the ASX 'Everything is fine'. 24 hours later the deadline for the sale was pushed back a month. The Mumbrellacast team discusses what is really going on.And, as is the sad reality of the industry right now, more cuts took place at Foxtel, ARN and WPP AUNZ. While lower paid staff face heavy implications, the team took a deep dive into the salaries of WPP execs to determine who really needs to take a pay cut. And why is it that on-air talent at ARN aren't having their hip pockets hit as hard as behind-the-scenes staff?Plus, Trinity P3's Darren Woolley joined the Mumbrellacast to talk through the changing nature of the client-agency relationship (53:01). He reveals that, surprisingly, a number of marketers have enquired about running a pitch, what a self-isolation pitch even looks like, and what marketers should be focusing on if they are to emerge on the other side of this crisis with a successful brand.

It was another big week in the media and marketing industry: print was the latest victim of the coronavirus-economy, more pay cuts and redundancies were rolled out, April Fools’ Day was cancelled and Easter, would you believe, is on the horizon.This week Mumbrella investigated the rights and responsibilities media employees have when it comes to protecting their incomes. With job and pay cuts continuing to roll out across the industry, the team chats through the implications of standing employees down, and really giving them no choice but to accept less money. Is it employer versus employee, or are we all in this together?Plus, Bauer Media closed its New Zealand operation, a week after the ACCC cleared its acquisition of Seven’s Pacific Magazines. Given the tough economic conditions created by coronavirus, the team speculates on Bauer’s local future. Meanwhile, News Corp suspended 60 community newspapers and Nine paused many of its lifestyle print sections.And, Ad Standards CEO, Fiona Jolly, joined the Mumbrellacast this week to discuss how the industry body is rolling on through the COVID-19 crisis (39:53). She gave a behind-the-scenes view of a community panel deliberation over ad complaints, how rulings will come about in the age of social distancing and an update on the Kinder Conditions campaign.

It's been the hardest week the modern media and marketing industries have ever seen. Media owners and agencies are fighting to protect their staff and businesses as COVID-19 has brought Australia to a standstill. Redundancies, forced leave, pay cuts and trading halts: is the industry that is meant to lead in creativity being creative enough [...] The post Mumbrellacast: Media's most difficult week appeared first on Mumbrella.

This week's Mumbrellacast comes to you from three different suburbs of Sydney (and San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge) as the team has started working from home and experimenting with recording video conferencing. Content director Tim Burrowes and editor Vivienne Kelly chat through the Mumbrella events that have been postponed over the next six months as [...] The post Mumbrellacast: COVID-19, government communication and what's happening to Mumbrella's events appeared first on Mumbrella.