Despite the ubiquitous nature of digital communications and millennials spreading their time across a range of screens, television remains a hugely valuable platform for delivering emotive content with the scale, impact and the effective frequency required to create meaningful business impact.
Browsing: Freeview
Freeview’s recently appointed chief executive Jason Foden sits down for a chat with StopPress about where the business is heading.
We tested StopPress readers’ knowledge of modern media consumption. And the results indicate that things aren’t always as clear as what they seem.
Media consumption is changing. But by how much? Test your knowledge with the StopPress/Freeview TV quiz.
With an endless library of overseas programming on offer online, where can New Zealanders go to get a fix of content that’s relevant and familiar to them? Freeview’s free-to-air TV offering is the answer and advertisers that understand the cultural connection local broadcasters have with New Zealand audiences stand to benefit.
We all like free things. However, the rise in SVODs has made audiences accustom to paying for entertainment. Stepping in to remind Kiwis that content doesn’t have to come at a cost is Freeview, with a ‘How good is free’ campaign by TVNZ Blacksand.
Tiny mobile screens. Precarious cables traversing a room. Shared headphones and a laptop in bed. All familiar scenes to anyone who has delved into online streaming. And while any of these examples are acceptable in certain circumstances, a new campaign from Freeview NZ shows there are some advantages to the bigger television screen, particularly when watching a show with someone else.
Far gone are the days where we got to the best point in our television show only to hear “cccsssshhhh” and see our screens produce an unnerving display of black and white fuzz as we frantically wrestled our bunny ear aerials into the most awkward and weird positions to get the picture back (only to have missed the best part). Luckily this hasn’t been a problem for a while, and our options for viewing television are always getting better, and today Freeview announced the launch of its new digital TV platform, FreeviewPlus, which allows Kiwis with the right technology to access on-demand video on new smart televisions.
Spark Ventures’ Lightbox subscription video on demand service officially launched last night, and, not surprisingly, its arrival seems to have been the catalyst for a fair bit of activity in the streaming space, with TVNZ now offering online box sets of Orange is the New Black, Freeview’s Sam Irvine talking up an integrated broadcast and broadband offering, Quickflix claiming that more competition is a good thing and Sky, which recently announced another big profit increase, getting set to launch its own streaming service for non-Sky customers. So who’s got the best offer?
There’s been plenty of discussion about the rise of subscription video ondemand services recently, with Spark’s Lightbox getting set to launch, Sky announcing it is planning a new Netflix-type service and Slingshot offering a controversial workaround allowing Kiwis to access overseas providers. But sitting relatively quietly in the background is Freeview, which is now being used in 67 percent of New Zealand homes and is hoping to launch an ondemand service later in the year that will cater to the increasing number of New Zealanders with connected TVs. General manager Sam Irvine says it will offer “the seamless integration of linear broadcast TV and TV over the internet”, so what does it mean for the gogglebox scene?
True opened its doors in 2011 after a few senior protagonists from .99 felt the need to go it alone and break away from the nurturing bosom of The Clemenger Group. Like any new business, the first few years were tough going and it focused on growth rather than profit, but it’s gaining momentum, it’s working with big brands like Air New Zealand and Vodafone, it’s moving into areas outside traditional advertising and it currently employs 25 staff. Managing director Matt Dickinson spills the beans on its philosophy.
Freeview is set to launch Worldnet TV, the niche Asian-focused channel, free to viewers using home broadband. Freeview says the channel is technically ready to go, with launch timing to be determined by WorldNet.
ANZ, Countdown, Briscoes and Yellow have gone public about withdrawing advertising from RadioLive after an interview by the station’s hosts Willie Jackson and John Tamihere with a caller ‘Amy’ who said she was friends with an alleged victim of the Roastbusters gang.
In June last year, Pio Terei hit the screens as Freeview’s new mascot and, with the help of its agency True, he attempted to convince those Kiwi TV viewers clinging to their analogue signals to buy a box and get their content for free. And the man of many acting talents has channelled Eddie Murphy in a new ad shot by Greg Page of Flying Fish to showcase the kind of shows that are available on the platform.
Father Time gets with the programme, John Lewis and the Kiwi connection, AA Insurance keeps on sorting, Dulux channels Muto, Mountain Dew goes 3D, and Freeview shares some love.
Freeview, True and Flying Fish launched the new ‘To be fair, it’s got to be Free’ campaign in June and, more recently, Pio has been explaining the joys of its personal video recording system MyFreeview. After the response to the last competition we ran on StopPress to celebrate the coming of the digital switchover, Freeview has offered us another Panasonic DMR-XW380 MyFreeview HD recorder valued at $800 to give away. So tell us what Olympic event you would record and why and the most creative answer will get the spoils.
Freeview has just launched a new campaign starring Pio Terei and announced some snazzy new interactive features. And to celebrate the imminent digital switchover, we’ve got a MyFreeview digital TV recorder worth $700 to give away to one lucky StopPresser. The Panasonic DMR 380 has a 250gb hard drive, one touch HD recording from Freeview’s eight day electronic programme guide, twin tuner and live pause. And, if you’re in Auckland, it means you can watch and record 16 TV channels and listen to three radio stations. So tell us about the best free thing you’ve ever received and you could get yourself something else for free.
Who’s it for: Freeview by True and Flying Fish
Why we like it: In the final promotional push before the digital switchover begins in four months, the free-ness of Freeview is being hammered home once again, this time with some great animation and a nostalgic and patriotic …
It’s getting to the business end of the digital switchover and there’s just four months to go until the first two regions—the West Coast and Hawke’s Bay—pull the plug on New Zealand’s analogue TV signal. So Freeview has launched a campaign with its new agency True starring Pio Terei that aims to capture the 16 percent of homes still to make the leap to digital–and to convince them to choose the newly pimped out Freeview platform rather than its nearest competitor, the soon-to-launch Sky/TVNZ joint venture Igloo.
Good news: World TV is launching a new English-language Freeview channel. Bad news: The plug has already been pulled on TVNZ 6. TVNZ 7 will be gone by June, replaced with a shopping channel run by Ogilvy. And Stratos TV closed down with nary a whimper on 23 December 2012, leaving the writing on the wall for Triangle.
They’re often seen as arch-rivals, but, in what appears to be a prime case of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, TVNZ and Sky are thought to have snuggled up for a new digital TV product called Igloo that could be launched before the end of the year.
The goals have been achieved and the speculation was correct: public broadcasting is largely deemed a ‘nice to have’ by the current Government. And, having already turned TVNZ6 into a commercial youth station, TVNZ7 is next on the chopping block after it missed out on the next round of funding.
Who it’s for: Freeview
Why we like it: Half the office said they vomited in their mouth and changed the channel when this chirpy old duck and her grumpy old curmudgeon husband graced their screens to tell everyone about Freeview, and the other half said they quite …
All the snippets, bites and nuggets needed to ensure your dog maintains a shiny, healthy coat.
Yoghurt! MOVE! Birds, fish and Jazz! Barnes, Catmur and even more friends! Adstream, Karma and Freeview! Star Awards!
Numbers are very handy things (particularly when they’re working in your favour). And Freeview, Mindfood magazine and the Healthy Food Guide have employed their services to show off a bit.
Telecom and Hybrid TV, the exclusive licensee of TiVo products in NZ and Australia, have struck a mighty deal – but only for Telecom broadband customers.
From November they can download all the movies and shows they want from the TiVo media device without paying more for their monthly data allowance …