MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Written news maintains staggering 97 per cent reach and delivers deep, frequent audience engagement

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-May-24

Readership figures from Roy Morgan show that written news reaches 97% of Australians aged 14+ (21.5 million) each month. The figure reflects the evolving and deepening landscape of news media titles and readership behaviours across print and digital formats, and demonstrates to advertisers the breadth of audience accessible via news media. The Roy Morgan figures also show that readers across all demographics are actively leaning into news, with 67 million interactions per week. Australian news readers are also consistently engaged across multiple sources of written news to satisfy diverse interests, with three in five news audiences reading three or more categories in addition to general, breaking news. Further analysis reveals that state and territory mastheads enjoy large readership numbers outside their local markets, due to digital accessibility. Roy Morgan produces the Total News data on behalf of ThinkNewsBrands.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, THINKNEWSBRANDS

Free TV networks push for anti-siphoning laws to include streaming services

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Original article by Parker McKenzie
The New Daily – Page: Online : 14-May-24

Australia’s free-to-air networks have joined forces to launch the ‘Free for Everyone’ advertising campaign. The networks are urging the federal government to update the nation’s anti-siphoning laws to specifically include streaming services. They argue that the existing laws only guarantee that major sporting events are broadcast on linear TV rather than the streaming platforms of FTA networks, and at present there is nothing to prevent companies such as Netflix from buying the exclusive digital broadcasting rights to flagship events. The networks note that many consumers now watch broadcast TV via the internet rather than using a traditional aerial.

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NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Network 10 is in total turmoil and may not survive as Australia’s third commercial broadcaster

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Original article by Shannon Molloy
News.com.au – Page: Online : 8-May-24

Professor Amanda Lotz from the Queensland University of Technology believes that one of Australia’s three commercial free-to-air TV networks will not survive until the end of this decade. She says the sector is in a "death spiral" and it possible that just one network will be viable in the long-term. The three networks had combined advertising revenue of $7.7bn in 2006, but this had fallen to $3.8bn in 2020-21. The Ten Network’s future in particular is uncertain, given that it may not be very appealing to potential buyers of parent company Paramount Global. Media commentator James Manning says a private equity firm seeking a "bargain buy" might be the most likely buyer of Ten.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, PARAMOUNT GLOBAL, QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Why Foxtel faces its streaming apocalypse

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 26-Apr-24

Foxtel boasted annual earnings of nearly $1bn a decade ago, when nearly one in every three households had a pay-TV subscription. However, Foxtel has been hard hit by competition from subscription video-on-demand services. Analysts expect Foxtel’s earnings to fall to about $390m in the 2026 financial year, while its own streaming platforms will lose key HBO content if Warner Bros Discovery proceeds with plans to launch its own SVOD service in Australia. Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany says the company is now essentially two separate businesses, focused on streaming and its legacy pay-TV operations. Foxtel’s 3.1 million SVOD users account for 66 per cent of its customer base, but just 23 per cent of group revenue; in contrast, its 1.5 million pay-TV customers contribute 63 per cent of revenue.

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FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

ABC ombudsman clears 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson of breaching impartiality rules in an interview with an IDF spokesman

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: Online : 23-Apr-24

The ABC ombudsman Fiona Cameron has examined an interview between 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson and an Israel Defence Forces spokesman, after 52 complaints were received about the interview. Ferguson had told the spokesman that she did not accept claims that the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers was a mistake, with Cameron reviewing the complaints against Ferguson against the ABC’s editorial standards for impartiality. Cameron has come out in support of Ferguson’s comments, noting Ferguson had a duty to conduct a testing interview that does not allow the interviewee "to use the occasion as a political platform".

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC and triple j revive One Night Stand music festival

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Apr-24

The ABC’s youth-focused radio station triple j will team up with Music Australia to relaunch the One Night Stand music festival. The event was held annually from 2004 to 2019, but it was put on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Triple j will run a competition to decide which regional town will host the one-day festival in 2024. The decision to revive One Night Stand follows the cancellation of popular music festivals such as Splendour in the Grass, Groovin the Moo and the Falls Festival.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, TRIPLE J PTY LTD, MUSIC AUSTRALIA

Musk joins Dick Smith in stoush over ABC fact-check

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 26-Mar-24

Dick Smith has threatened to sue the ABC for defamation if a report issued by the RMIT ABC Fact Check unit is not corrected. The report was issued in response to an interview between Smith and 2GB host Ben Fordham, in which he stated that "no country has ever been able to run entirely on renewables – that’s impossible". Smith claims that the report basically made him out to be a liar, and that "fact checkers are traitors to Australia". Billionaire Elon Musk has weighed in on the issue, claiming in a tweet on his X social media platform that "having government ‘fact-checkers’ is a giant leap in the direction of tyranny"

CORPORATES
RMIT UNIVERSITY, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Southern Cross rejects ARN Media takeover

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 17 : 8-Mar-24

Southern Cross Media Group has formally rejected a takeover offer from ARN Media and Anchorage Capital Partners, contending that it undervalues the TV and radio stations group. However, chairman Rob Murray has indicated that Southern Cross would be open to a revised offer. He adds that the group’s radio stations and digital audio platforms are its key focus; it owns 99 radio stations across Australia, while ARN Media owns 58 radio stations.

CORPORATES
SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, ARN MEDIA LIMITED – ASX A1N, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD

Job losses and potentially dire impact on regional media from Meta’s news exit

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 8-Mar-24

Australian Community Media executive chair Antony Catalano contends the decision by Meta to refuse to pay for Australian news content could have a "dire impact" on what is Australia’s largest regional newspaper publisher. Catalano said there would certainly be job losses at ACM if an alternative source of funds cannot be found, while he says he always felt as if Meta was not committed to the media content funding deals. Public Interest Journalism Initiative CEO Anna Draffin has suggested that tax reform could help make up the revenue gap resulting from Meta’s decision, suggesting it could take the form of a research and development-style rebate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA PTY LTD, META AUSTRALIA LIMITED, PUBLIC INTEREST JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

Facebook ‘damaging communities’: News Corp CEO

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 2 : 6-Mar-24

News Corporation’s CEO Robert Thomson has criticised Meta Platforms for opting against renewing its revenue-sharing deals with Australian news publishers. Thomson has told a media and telecom conference in San Francisco that Meta’s decision shows a blatant disregard for the Australian community, especially as Meta is a company that talks about ‘community’. Thomson has also questioned Meta’s claim that news comprises less than three per cent of the content people see on their Facebook feed; he contends that while there is core news, 100 per cent of the contemporary factual information on Facebook is news, and this is what Meta should be focusing on.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK