Browsing: TV

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TVNZ plays up rivalry with Aussies for The Amazing Race and enjoys ratings success with Resurrection
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Over the course of the last few weeks, TVNZ has been riling up support of the Kiwi masses via a serious of humorous TVCs in anticipation of the cross-Tasman battle that will soon see team from New Zealand take on Australia in the latest rendering of The Amazing Race. The campaign has now been shifted into its next stage, which features a cross-Tasman tug of war and a mini Amazing Race featuring local celebs. PLUS: see which records were broken by the premiere of Resurrection.

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TVNZ wins with Germany as over 400,000 Kiwis tune in to watch the World Cup final
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Many of those who drove to work at the right time on 14 July claim to have found the Kiwi roads free of the traffic jams that usually typify the morning commute. This fortunate state of the road was largely attributable due to the nation’s universities and schools being closed for the winter break, but the fact that 419,000 people (according to Nielsen TAM) tuned in to TV One to watch Germany take on Argentina in the final of the World Cup definitely also played a part.

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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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TRN launches Auckland radio station, extends ZM brand onto TV
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TRN has announced the launch of a new Auckland-based radio station and the extension of the ZM radio brand onto TV in the same week that MediaWorks is set to unveil the Edge TV. We chatted to chief content officer Dean Buchanan about these moves. PLUS: Radio Sport relegated to AM and TRN crashes The Edge TV launch party.

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A tale of rates and ratings: TVNZ and MediaWorks take divergent paths on price
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As Jeff Bezos says in his book The Everything Store, there are two types of companies: those that exist to raise prices and those to exist to try and lower them. Amazon is in the latter category, of course, whereas most media companies would be in the former. But Q3 has proven to be something of an anomaly, because TVNZ has decreased its ratecard prices while MediaWorks has increased them. So what’s the rationale behind those decisions?

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‘Sage advice with a modern lens’: Sneddon launches indie media agency Super, GoPro experiment gives insight into modern media consumption
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After 11 years with Mr Smith, Ron Sneddon has cut the ribbon on his own independent media agency, Super, which has a heavy focus on digital media and branded content. And, after a small experiment involving GoPro cameras and a few Kiwi families showed him that traditional thinking around media consumption wasn’t keeping up with the reality, he says it was time for a different approach.

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Sky becomes more democratic, extends Sky Go app to (some) Android users—UPDATED
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The wait for mobile viewing is over for Sky subscribers who don’t own iPads, as the broadcaster has just announced the launch of a new version of the Sky Go app that’s compatible on certain versions of Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Since launching in December last year, the Sky Go app has only been available to subscribers via Apple’s products—and the popularity of this initial release has led Sky to increase the inclusivity of its offering. Updated with statistics from Nielsen and with comments from TVNZ’s general manager of on-demand Jason Foden.

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C4 to make way for The Edge TV—UPDATED
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MediaWorks announced yesterday that it would be extending its radio brand The Edge onto television by launching a new TV channel on the Freeview and Sky platforms later this year. Described by The Edge programme director Leon Wratt as “radio with pictures on steroids,” the Edge TV will feature Jay-Jay Feeney, Mike Puru, Dom Harvey, Guy Williams, Sharyn Casey, Clint Roberts and other presenters on a daily basis. Updated with comments from MediaWorks group comms manager Rachel Lorimer and MediaWorks radio group programme director Andrew Szusterman.

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BuzzDial: inside a local start-up’s mission to become ‘the Google analytics of TV’
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You can tell by the particularly un-Kiwi job title on Ross Howard’s business card (Senior Vice President of Product & Design) that BuzzDial, the fledgling tech start-up he co-founded with similarly accomplished digital media bods Tom Cotter and Geoff Devereux, is looking much further afield than the small local market. And with M-Com’s Adam Clark coming on board as chairman, Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 fund investing in the business and positive responses to the product from a number of global broadcasters, it seems to be off to a pretty good start.

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Yet another helping of food TV: My Kitchen Rules NZ on the menu
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Viewers could’ve been forgiven for believing that the food cooking format had reached its capacity on Kiwi TV with the addition The Great Food Race. But the networks beg to differ, and TVNZ recently announced that it has acquired the rights from Endemol to produce a New Zealand version of My Kitchen Rules, the popular Australia show that enters its fifth season this year. Plus: find out which shows are being dropped by the broadcaster.

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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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The great food ratings race kicks off
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Last night, the inaugural episodes of The Great Food Race and the fifth season of Masterchef New Zealand aired on TV3 and TV One, respectively. And with this started what could potentially turn into a ratings battle for food format supremacy in 2014.

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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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NZ’s Got Talent loses a quarter of its viewers in second season
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Last year, New Zealand’s Got Talent (NZGT) enjoyed an average viewership of 839,209 over the course of 13 weeks, but the follow-up season couldn’t even match that amount in the final episode, with only 726,900 viewers tuning in on Sunday night to see season-ending episode. These results from Nielsen bring a disappointing end to the second season of TVNZ’s show, which was originally tipped for further success when it was announced.

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TVNZ bolsters growing Media Solutions department with new general manager and additional customer insights resources
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As the rise of content marketing changes the way some clients are choosing to advertise, integration/media solutions/native advertising/branded content/advertorial/*insert another buzzword here*, is a big growth area for TV networks—and other media. And TVNZ has referenced that shift by appointing Lyndsey Francis as general manager of media solutions and customer insights and adding some more research firepower to the team.

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What’s the story? TVNZ’s Andrew Shaw on TV content trends
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The first instalment of TVNZ’s Future Now series, which aims to showcase some of the company’s big broadcasting brains, Dominic Corry interviewed head of digital Tom Cotter to find out how technology was changing the face of TV. And next on the list is Andrew Shaw, the straight-shooting general manager of commissioning, production and acquisitions, who waxes lyrical about TV content trends and the reinvestment in high concept, cinematic drama series in the US.