Browsing: Sky

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TVNZ and Sky release financial results, plus Igloo subscriber numbers revealed
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Late last week, TVNZ sent out a release on its financials for the year ended 30 June 2014, showing an overall profit after tax of $18.1 million, up 25 percent on the figures posted the previous year. These results also came with the announcement that the company has sold its remaining stake in Igloo to Sky, which also took its financial report as an opportunity to reveal Igloo’s subscriber numbers for the first time.

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I stream, you stream, we all stream for various streaming services
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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?

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Slingshot tries to turn Sky, TVNZ and MediaWorks advertising snub into marketing coup—UPDATED
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Yesterday, Slingshot sent out a release to the media saying that Sky had taken the “unjustified and petty” step not to play any ads from the internet service provider (ISP) that feature references to global mode, a new service that hides the IP addresses of users and gives them access to international video streaming websites such as Netflix and HULU. And now, in a follow-up announcement, Slingshot has confirmed that TVNZ has followed suit by also pulling the plug on ads that reference the controversial service that was unveiled a few weeks ago.

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Comedy Central and Brandspank embrace localised toilet humour for new channel idents
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Channel idents have come a long way in recent years, with a lot more time, effort and investment being put into them in an effort to create signposts for the channel’s personality. And Brandspank, which has earned a reputation for its stellar work on channel brands, has just done its thing for Comedy Central New Zealand, with six very Kiwi, openly immature stop-motion idents that feature sliced kiwi, mangled sausages, turds in bags, flaming cow bums, brick-shitting possums and over-excited tomato sauce bottles.

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Want to reach Kiwis? NZ On Air media consumption study shows the old dogs are still dominant, but digital is nipping at their heels—UPDATED
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When it comes to reaching New Zealanders, ye olde traditional broadcast media is still on top, with the results of NZ On Air’s independent media consumption study showing the majority of Kiwis are still consuming lots of linear television and live radio every day. But music audiences, the young and the Asian community are leading the charge to digital platforms.

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When colonialism meets commercialism: Sky and ANZ aim to spark interest in the Commonwealth Games—UPDATED
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There’s no better way to celebrate centuries of oppressive colonialism than with a series of sporting contests. Thankfully, we’ve got the Commonwealth Games for that. And while they might not be quite as prestigious (or popular) as the Olympics, official broadcaster Sky TV and NZ Olympic Committee sponsor ANZ are doing all they can to draw attention to the upcoming Glasgow games.

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Cannes 2014: Trois bronze for Kiwis in Cyber
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Three of the local campaigns many hoped would appeal to the Cannes judges didn’t get the golds they were hoping for, but they did come away with bronze overnight, with DDB taking two bronzes for Sky’s #Bringdowntheking and Paw Justice’s Animal Strike and Colenso BBDO getting one for Samsung’s Smartphone Line.

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Sky and DDB celebrate 20 years of ad marriage
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In an industry renowned for its chopping and changing, there aren’t too many agency/client relationships that can claim to have lasted 20 years. But Sky and DDB have found their happy place and they’re breaking out the china to celebrate one of the country’s longest-running—and most successful—unions.

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Fellet’s fake feistiness
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Sky’s chief executive John Fellet likes to keep a fairly-low profile. But he’s decided to play his part for a skit on The Crowd Goes Wild that indicates life at Sky is akin to The Office and shows Fellet giving Mark Richardson and “that other guy” a good (fake) bollocking for telling fans on-air that Kiwi fighter Brice Ritani-Coe could get a wild-card entry into Sky Arena’s Super 8 event.

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#Bringdowntheking brings home the bacon
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One of the benefits of social media is that, when used well, it can get punters to do something, unlike the vast majority of typically one-way commercial messages. And, as Simon Veksner wrote recently, “it’s well known that getting people to do something makes them more likely to buy”. To launch season four of Game of Thrones, Sky and DDB asked fans to tweet #bringdowntheking and help topple a seven-metre statue of the despised King Joffrey that was constructed in Aotea Square by Finch. And, judging by the big numbers, it would have to rank as one of the country’s most engaging social campaigns in recent memory.

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HRV rides on Game of Thrones’ coattails, Hell Pizza gets meta
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Season four of Game of Thrones screens in the US today and on SoHo in New Zealand tonight. Sky and DDB have ensured Kiwis know about that with its very well-received, social-media fuelled campaign to bring down a statue of the much-despised King Joffrey. But HRV is also getting in on the act with a tactical spot called ‘Winter is Coming’ that’s set to run in the slot just before the premiere. Plus: Hell Pizza supports the bad guy and other entertaining parodies of the show.

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Sky and DDB gather the crowds to bring down King Joffrey
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Sky and DDB have some good news for haters of King Joffrey, the most despised character from the SoHo-screened series Game of Thrones. As the fourth season looms, fans won’t actually be pushing down a seven-metre-tall replica of Joffrey, but they can use their social media voice to the same effect.

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A matter of faith? Why broadcasters don’t release minute-by-minute ratings
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There was a fair bit of chatter in the market last year after the Great Ratings Drop of 2013, something the broadcasters and their research partner Nielsen put down to a range of factors, including an improving economy, a mild winter and changing media consumption habits. Not surprisingly, the broadcasters remained confident that TV was an effective—and cost-effective—option for advertisers. But, in an age of supposed accountability and measurability, why don’t they release minute-by-minute ratings data to the market to prove it?

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Sky and DDB illustrate the wonders—and dangers—of portability
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Sky launched Sky Go, the long-awaited update to its online and catch-up service iSky, in October last year. And, after a fair bit of social media activity to promote the new website and mobile apps, it’s now launched a print and TV campaign via DDB that shows how easy—and potentially perilous—it is for subscribers to ‘Watch On’.

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MediaWorks partially rekindles its Fox romance, Sky swoops in and snaffles some big shows
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After cancelling its expensive output deal with 20th Century Fox, just as it had with the other big studios, MediaWorks was forced to stop screening some of its most popular shows in November last year. But in late December it announced it had struck up a new relationship with the big US studio that will see many of the shows it lost returning this year, although they won’t all be back, because Sky has nabbed some of the studio’s big shows for itself.

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SkyGo app puts Sky in your pocket—UPDATED
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SkyTV, one of New Zealand’s biggest broadcasters, has followed in TVNZ’s footsteps by launching SkyGo, an iOS app that enables Sky subscribers to stream content on compatible laptops, mobiles or tablets. But rather than including an on-demand streaming feature, the new app limits viewers to pre-recorded content and live channels. While this is sure to be hit with sports fans, it will do little to appease those who want an on-demand mobile option.

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All Blacks continue to aim global with first-ever YouTube broadcast
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New Zealand Rugby conducted something of an experiment last week when the Bledisloe Cup test between the All Blacks and Australia was streamed live and made available on-demand on www.youtube.com/allblacks to more than 45 countries where the digital rights hadn’t been allocated exclusively to a broadcaster. So how did it go? And should Sky be worried?

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Why so serious? Sky and DDB ramp up the drama with cinematic, poetic brand ad
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Over the past few years, Sky has favoured the humorous approach in its ‘My Happy Place’ advertising. Its new ‘Come with us’ brand was rolled out around the start of August and, while a series of relevant movie quotes dotted around HQ certainly gave the brand a sense of whimsy, its big, cinematic and poetic TVC by DDB and Ruskin is a much more serious, intriguing and emotive affair that’s designed to showcase the range of quality content subscribers can access.

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