TVNZ

In 2013, the long wait for a Thunderbirds are Go revamp finally ended with the announcement that ITV Studios and Pukeko Pictures (in association with Weta) had agreed to remake the show under the title Thunderbirds are Go—and last night Kiwis watching TV2 got their first taste of the CGI-powered live-action model sets coming to life during the first episode of the 12-part first series. PLUS: Brains introduces the new show.

This year, 25 April marks the centennial anniversary of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli, a poignant moment that to this day serves a reminder of the solidarity that holds the Antipodes together. Given the national interest driven by the event, TVNZ has planned a range of programming dedicated to the infamous moment in history. And in an effort to spread early awareness, the broadcaster has launched a campaign called ‘Letters from our past … delivered to our future’ tells the stories of soldiers who fought in the battle.

Who’s hungry, has the appetite of a zombie, and could really go for some brains right now? The Auckland public apparently, as TVNZ proved when it promoted its new OnDemand exclusive show iZombie by hooning around the city in a food truck and handing out zombie-inspired food.

Mat Yurow, the associate director, audience development, at The New York Times, wrote a great piece on Medium recently about the publishing industry’s “iTunes moment”. And it could be argued that TV is having an iTunes moment of its own as viewers are increasingly able to consume the shows (or, increasingly, the sports) they’re interested in on their own terms, online, and without the need for a channel brand or an all-you-can-eat subscription. TVNZ is embracing that change with its soon-to-be-updated Ondemand platform. And we had a preview to see what’s instore.

At last year’s new season launch, TVNZ’s head of sales Jeremy O’Brien likened the business to having a shotgun—broadcast TV—and a rifle—its upgraded, registration-required OnDemand platform. And, ahead of the launch of the service in February, it’s unveiled a new brand via Blacksand.

In keeping with an ongoing tradition, a few industry players gave us their take on the year for our annual opinion harvest. Here’s what Jeremy O’Brien, head of sales and marketing at TVNZ, had to say about 2014.

We asked some stalwarts a simple question. Here’s what Kevin Kenrick, chief executive at TVNZ, had to say.

A few months back, TVNZ went to great lengths to promote the latest season of The Amazing Race and the fact that Kiwis were competing against the Aussies, with comedian Millen Baird being put to good use as a motivational coach. As part of that, Rush Digital and Ambient Experiential got together to create “a world-first activation”: a live-streamed game of tug of war. And these videos show how it brought the real world and the digital world together.

Earlier this year, TVNZ centralised control of its programming across TV One, TV2 and Ondemand and appointed John Kelly to the newly created role of general manager of programming. Kelly, who first joined the broadcaster as an editor in 1995, shifted across to the programming 2006 and was shortly thereafter promoted to the position of head of programming for TV2. While Kelly is certainly a TVNZ veteran by most definitions, the launch of the new season came with first for him in the sense that he found himself holding the reins of not only TV2, but also of TVOne and TVNZ’s rapidly growing on-demand offering. StopPress popped around to TVNZ’s soon-to-be-previous offices on Auckland’s Hardinge Street to chat to him about his favourite picks of the new season, his thoughts on TVNZ Ondemand, his programming strategy, cancelling shows and what the future holds for the government-backed broadcaster.

Good old fashioned interruptive display advertising is the golden goose that keeps laying for the local TV networks. But integration is so hot right now. And, whether it’s sponsorships, programme partnerships, production partnerships or one-off branded content projects, it’s a big part of TVNZ’s focus for the future. Following its new season launch this week, head of sales Jeremy O’Brien and general manager of media solutions and insights Lyndsey Francis talk turkey about its plans for next year and what the TV landscape might look like soon.

When StopPress recently asked players in the ondemand and subscription video on-demand (SVOD) market to share streaming stats on their top ten most popular shows, TVNZ was the only one that shared official numbers. And the reason for this is largely down to how successful the platform has been over the course of the last year. With an average of over five million streams per month, TVNZ has a great base to build on, and the broadcaster’s head of sales and marketing Jeremy O’Brien believes the service will offer more to both advertisers and viewers in 2015.