Stories about TVNZ published on StopPress – Aotearoa/New Zealand’s daily news site for the advertising and marketing industry.
In February, TVNZ and NZ on Air announced they would be adding to the cacophony of reality talent competitions on TV with a multi-million dollar production of New Zealand’s Got Talent. NZ On Air committed $1.6 million in funding and TVNZ went hunting for commercial partners to add to its own $1.6 million contribution. And the first major sponsor has been announced, with Toyota signing up as a key commercial partner.
TVNZ was left to lick a few wounds after its $15-ish million TiVo blow-out. And there’s also been plenty of movement among senior staff since then, with the broadcaster still operating without a chief executive or a head of news and current affairs. But despite those difficulties, it’s managed to turn things around, with a half year unaudited net profit after tax of $19.2 million, an increase of $14.3 million on the prior year.
TVNZ Ondemand launched on 20th March 2007 as Australasia’s first catch-up television service. Five years on and the TV industry is nigh-on unrecognisable and while all major broadcasters face plenty of challenges coping with the rapid change, TVNZ’s ‘inspiring New Zealanders on every screen’ philosophy means there are also plenty of opportunities for the growing online platform.
News surfaced this week that Sky and TVNZ had a date with the Commerce Commission after a complaint was laid about their joint venture Igloo and whether it met merger obligations under Section 47 of the Commerce Act. So if the decision goes against it, will it put the kybosh on the new mid-play TV network?
As an array of talent shows fill our screens, the sound of wannabes is nigh-on inescapable. But whatever your opinion on the worth of such content, there’s no denying they’re popular. And TVNZ is planning to add to the melee with a multi-million dollar local production of NZ’s Got Talent that will screen on TV ONE.
Nielsen has now implemented its new Unitam model, which takes into account both overnight viewing and time-shifted viewing and also features an expanded panel, so it marks a new step in the way TV ratings are gathered in New Zealand. Added to that, the two major broadcasters are both back into full swing and many of the big new and returning shows that were trumpeted at the vastly different new season launches last year are now on the box. So how is New Zealand watching? And how are the new season ratings stacking up?
When we found out Sky and TVNZ were building an Igloo together, we heard Barnes, Catmur & Friends and Sugar were the two agencies in the hunt for the account. And Sugar has come out victorious.
In defiance of the threat posed by digital to television, MediaWorks is taking a huge risk and premiering one of its top new shows online. As crazy and contradictory as this approach seems, when FOX did the same thing last year, it got some surprising results: despite over two million people watching the show before it was broadcast, it rated through the roof on the night, up 20 percent from its lead-in show Glee, way beyond the network’s wildest dreams.
With public broadcasting increasingly seen as a ‘nice to have’ by the National government, it’s all about the money for TVNZ these days. The $14-ish million TiVo mistake was obviously on the wrong side of that ledger, but the national broadcaster also had some big wins in 2011 and, judging by the extravagance of the 2012 new season launch, confidence is high for more success—both for ratings and ad spend—this year. General manager of marketing Annemarie Duff offers her two cents.
First it’s One, nek minnit it’s 60 Minutes. But do not adjust your sets. TVNZ political editor Guyon Espiner will join TV3 in the New Year, as a journalist on the current affairs programme 60 Minutes.
While all the talk in broadcasting land is about Sky and TVNZ’s Igloo, TVNZ has just announced the arrival of a new addition to its OnDemand family called Ad Hover, “a dynamic, customisable and fully interactive advertising opportunity” created in conjunction with DraftFCB that aims to give viewers a more engaging and immersive video experience and claims to significantly up the brand recall measures for advertisers.
When we asked TVNZ’s head of digital Eric Kearley in early November whether TVNZ was working with Sky and would launch a set-top box before the digital switchover, he flat out said no. But last night Sky and TVNZ brought out the big PR guns and officially launched “New Zealand’s worst kept secret”, Igloo, the mid-play TV network that offers both pay and free-to-air channels. And while there’s plenty to shout about with the new offer, there are still questions lingering about its modus operandi and whether MediaWorks will play nice.
New Zealanders voted with their remotes during Saturday’s election night coverage, with viewers in key demographics choosing to watch TV3’s ‘Decision ’11’ programme over other televised election coverage.
Sky and Television New Zealand have confirmed they are indeed launching a joint pay TV service. Not wanting to say we told you so or anything, but we predicted this weeks ago. TVNZ will be taking 49 percent of a new pay TV platform called Igloo – with Sky holding the majority 51 percent, effectively freezing out the competition.
With shareholders voting overwhelmingly in favour of splitting Telecom in two at the annual general meeting recently, the fall out from the “Abstain for the Game” campaign and the appointment of new marketing boss Jason Paris, change is most definitely in the wind for Telecom at the moment. And it’s thought the first phase of that change is cranking into gear.
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.
MediaWorks revealed its new season line-up in fairly understated fashion last week. But TVNZ was ‘avin it large on Wednesday night and took it back to the good old days with a big, expensive, Hollywood-esque launch event for its 2012 season.
Ondemand is proving very popular with Kiwi audiences, with the stream view worm heading swiftly upwards for both major broadcasters and online video content on the major news sites going through the roof. And TVNZ is aiming to replicate the success of its interactive, digital Emmy award-winning, Ondemand-only show Reservoir Hill with a follow-up along similar lines: a new spoof comedy show called Auckland Daze.
MediaWorks TV launched its new season line-up in Auckland this morning. And there’s sure to be some gasps, both of horror and delight, following the much anticipated announcement of the return to screen of controversial broadcaster Paul Henry.
In a world where the internet is rarely more than an arm’s length away, broadcasting is becoming increasingly social. TVNZ’s youth channel U claimed to offer New Zealand’s first technology-based integration of social media into TV with its U Live Facebook application and, as part of its Rugby World Cup ‘One Love’ campaign, TVNZ is tapping into the ‘second screening’ trend once again with Grandstand, “a pioneering web-based chat-room” built by Tequila\.
The RWC semi-final was watched by 1.9 million viewers across the country, according to the official agency that monitors television ratings, AGB Nielsen. This means it took over as the number one TV event ever from the opening ceremony and All Blacks vs Tonga game, which lured 81 percent of all viewers.
…as Robert Harvey gets set to take up Philip O’Neill’s slack, DB’s Rene de Monchy departs for Singaporean shores, MEC announces a new arrival and a couple of internal promotions and TVNZ’s head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery gets set to head back to Australia.
Traditional power retailers seem to see their job as providing a commodity to unengaged consumers. But Powershop, ‘the world’s first online energy store’, flipped the script when it launched in New Zealand in 2009 and started selling electricity as a simple and exciting fast moving consumer good to highly engaged customers and using marketing to revolutionise the way Kiwis interact with their supplier.
It may barely be a year old, but TVNZ’s 100 percent local content channel Heartland has undergone a visual makeover, albeit nostalgic. The new look features a range of Kiwiana phrases embedded in some retro Kiwiana images designed by Jon Chapman-Smith from creative agency Fuman.
As you’re all hopefully aware, the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards were handed out last week, with Progressive Enterprises and NZ Lotteries nabbing the big ones. And to celebrate all the gamechanging bar-raising shapeshifters that won we’re going to publish a short case study each day, along with a few comments from the judges that were filmed by TVNZ. But if you can’t be arsed with just one a day, they’re all available in the latest edition of NZ Marketing and the first 20 humans to subscribe here will receive a copy of James Hurman’s new book The Case For Creativity, valued at $40.
Internet users from around New Zealand, over 278,000 of them in fact, have been busy singling out their favourite websites as part of the 2011 People’s Choice NetGuide Web Awards. The results have been tallied and while there were a few repeat offenders, this year’s overall winner isn’t even of local origin. Mega social networking site Facebook took out the top honour for Site of the Year, taking the crown from last year’s winner stuff.co.nz. The site also nabbed the Best Social Networking Site award.
On the back of some solid advertising revenue increases, TVNZ has reported underlying earnings of $32 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2011, a $19.8 million or 164 percent increase on the previous financial year. And across town, Sky also announced impressive financial results and subscriber numbers.
You marketing types can’t resist pulling out a blue steel or two in a photo booth after a few wines. Click the expand button on the bottom right to see all the glamour shots/compromising evidence up close. And if you want the wonderous machine to come to your next event, check out the Amazing Travelling Photobooth website here.
The 2011 TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards were dished out last night at the Langham in Auckland in front of around 450 industry bods and a host of game changers and bar-raisers—some well-accustomed to collecting such awards, some venturing up on stage for the first time—were announced. But it was Progressive Enterprises that came away with the most coveted award of the night for merging three of its supermarket brands into one and forging a bold new positioning based on an enhanced definition of consumer value.