Stories about TVNZ published on StopPress – Aotearoa/New Zealand’s daily news site for the advertising and marketing industry.
Around the world, broadcasters are using their talents to make more than just promos for their own shows or idents for their own channels. And TVNZ’s Blacksand is no exception. So should agencies be concerned by the multi-skilled employees, the quick turnaround, the increasing interaction with clients and the improving output of this inhouse creative department? Or can everyone get along?
This week there were moves and shakes at MediaWorks, CAANZ, TVNZ, Image Centre, Idealog, Intelligent Ink, LiveSport and AD2ONE
Like previous years, TVNZ shows made up the vast majority of the top 20 most-watched programmes list for last year, with a magician, a talent show and two current affairs offerings luring the most eyeballs in 2013.
TVNZ Blacksand’s microsite for the Step Dave show could be the forerunner to further efforts to complement on-screen viewing. The site has character information, video, extra scenes and a virtual version of the fridge that features on the show.
TVNZ is having a fairly rough time of it at the moment in terms of PR, with the Shane Taurima saga, the fake abuse own goal, Brian Edwards’ attack on Fair Go and, adding salt into its wounds, even a bit of a slap from overseas with calls from an ex-head of TVNZ telling the BBC not to replicate New Zealand’s public broadcasting model. But, according to its half-year earnings report, the finances aren’t looking too bad at the state broadcaster, with a net profit after tax of $20.8 million for the six months to 31 December, up 47 percent on the same period last year. Plus: TVNZ’s disappearing Igloo?
Fair Go is one of the great survivors in the world of TV and it kicks off its new season tonight at the new time of 8pm. But while the ratings remain solid, not everyone’s enamoured with the show, with Brian Edwards writing a scathing piece and offering some advice to those who come in for some unwanted attention.
Social media has given normal humans the chance to bypass the gatekeepers and hear directly from sports stars, actors and others in the public eye. It’s also given them the chance to hurl some extremely harsh online abuse, which means having thick skin is nigh-on essential. And, in a similar style to Jimmy Kimmel’s Celebrities Read Mean Tweets (and Y&R’s love letter to DDB), a few TVNZ reporters and presenters have taken to film in an effort to draw attention to online bullying by reading out some of the bile that gets directed at them.
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.
New romances blossom at TVNZ, MediaWorks, InWaiting, Xero, Breakfast, Blockhead and PR Partners.
Attitude Pictures is taking to its website to stream video after securing broadcast rights to their year’s Paralympics. Attitudelive.com, built by Pitch, has features that cater for an audience that includes those with disability.
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?
The corporate shuffle continues at Scoop, Bauer, Lily & Louis, The Radio Network, the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand and TVNZ.
Starring Toyota, TVNZ, Andy Lark, Andy Williams, Jennifer Duval-Smith and Nicholas O’Flaherty, Pandora, Beryl, Harald van Heerde, Bauer, Belowtheline, Kea and More FM.
Sky, Vend and TVNZ each leave a memorable imprint on another week in adland.
Generally speaking, humans try to steer clear of anything related to exploding number twos. But TVNZ has fully embraced them in a series of new channel idents for TV2 via Blacksand.
On 27 January a new-look Seven Sharp will see Mike Hosking and Toni Street joining the sole survivor of last year’s Christmas shuffle, Jesse Mulligan, as they take to Kiwi televisions for the first time. But Mulligan isn’t the only one returning to the Seven Sharp fray, because TVNZ has also announced that RaboDirect, the online bank, has re-signed its sponsorship agreement with the show.
For most New Zealanders, there’s been a high rate of food consumption over the past few months. And the nation’s broadcasters are hoping there will be plenty of food-related TV consumed this year as well, with TVNZ’s MasterChef NZ making a few changes to its format and MediaWorks hoping for big things with its new show The Great Food Race.
TVNZ has caved in to public pressure and will now broadcast the Grammy Awards twice on 27 January: first live on TV2 at 2pm and then delayed on TV ONE at 9.15pm.
Building on the success of 2013’s campaign that required fans to guess who died in the last episode, TVNZ has now launched Shortland Street Car Park, an interactive multimedia campaign that has been initiated in conjunction with Holden.
Media companies around the world are increasingly trying to cut out the middle men and profit from clients’ thirst for content. TVNZ’s in-house production team at Blacksand is no different and, as well as doing plenty of quality work for the mothership, like the launch of and promotional campaign for Seven Sharp and the Shortland Street end of year campaign, it’s doing a lot more work on production partnerships, like Telecom’s ‘Tech in a Sec’ and Mitre 10’s ‘Easy As’. Here’s Blacksand’s executive creative director Jens Hertzum’s highlight reel for last year.
With many joining the media diaspora and leaving the couch in favour of online entertainment options, it hasn’t been an easy year for television broadcasters. But instead of simply admitting defeat and watching the viewers head off into the distance, TVNZ’s head of sales and marketing Jeremy O’Brien led an innovative team that pinched popular shows, further developed on-demand streaming options and took quite a few risks. Here’s what O’Brien has to say about 2013.
Bill Peake is renowned as a marketing visionary, a team man, a great leader, and a successful entrepreneur. Now he can add marketing hall of famer to the list.
Mike O’Sullivan, 64, has never been one for following rules. He’s more about making new ones. His 40-year career has been forged on the ability to think differently and innovate in a way that drives sales. And this has allowed him to become a veritable legend in the industry.
TVNZ will air an apology to Colin Craig on Seven Sharp tomorrow night after an item about Conservative Party leader Colin Craig was judged to have breached the fairness standard. The Broadcasting Standards Authority says some remarks in the Jesse Mulligan-presented “Guide to Making Fun of Colin Craig” were legitimate satire, but some were “personal abuse masquerading as satire”.
In an effort to maintain viewers’ curiosity levels while Shortland Street is on hiatus, TVNZ has devised an interactive crime mystery that will give fans a daily fix until the show returns on 13 January. The campaign is based on the premise that one of the characters died during the 11 December finale. And since the identity of the deceased is still unknown, TVNZ aims to keep fans interested by posting one revealing clue each day before the premiere of the 2014 season. PLUS: see Jono and Ben’s parody.
Saatchi & Saatchi, Blacksand and Trade Tested clink eggnog glasses in the last round of 2013.
Changes at Seven Sharp, OMD loses an experienced campaigner to MBM, Bruce Matchett leaves his Singaporean post, another Fairfax shift and the NBR announces its new front page tenant.
With little awareness, a tight budget and a whole range of complexities, MediaWorks TV tapped into the country’s passion for DIY and created a nation of ‘Block-a-holics’.
A complete overhaul of the Heart Foundation’s brand and fundraising initiatives led to increased donations and donor engagement.
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.