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.
Perhaps it’s just us, but the year seems to be flying by and between the Rugby World Cup, Christmas and that little ‘ole thing called the general election, the second half will inevitably go faster. And if you’re an advertiser, ThinkTV says it’s you who’d better speed up to get “plum” advertising positioning.
TVNZ’s head of news and current affairs Anthony Flannery has said in the past that Breakfast’s popularity comes down to a good combination of “light and shade”. And the balance will be tipped in favour of light come September 3 when a new Saturday edition of the show that will be co-presented by Rawdon Christie and Toni Street is launched.
Just eight days to go until this year’s game changers are announced at the TVNZ-NZ Marketing Awards. All the smart people have already bought—or scavenged—their tickets, but there are still some available. And, if you’re hoping to make the most of the night, which is once again being MCed by Te Radar, TVNZ is here to help.
During winter, TV becomes something a BFF for many hibernating New Zealanders. And more of them are snuggling up with Ondemand, with figures released by TVNZ showing the worm has been heading swiftly upwards in the past few months.
3 News has already had a swipe at TVNZ’s poor coverage of the Christchurch and Japanese earthquakes with some comparative advertising earlier this year. And it’s keeping the pressure on the national broadcaster with a new campaign to promote the variety of news offerings available throughout the day.
It’s fair to say that South Pacific Pictures has been on a bit of a roll lately. Its success in developing likeable and sometimes dodgy characters (typically of Shortland Street origin) continues, this time with new TV ONE show Nothing Trivial. According to TVNZ, Wednesday night’s debut episode set a new millennium record for a New Zealand drama debut on television, with an average 516,300 viewers watching the first episode.
… (except from vending machines) as Karl Fleet departs Colenso to sit on a throne in the Campaign Palace, Interbrand welcomes a new senior designer, Andrew Spear takes up the rod at NZ Fishing World, PPR shacks up with big comms behemoth Burson-Masteller, Frucor drinks in a new chief executive, Keiran Frost moves up the Orange chain and TVNZ renews its free-to-air deal with Warner Bros.
We left the best until last, but Kiwi agencies picked up three Lions on the last night at Cannes, with Colenso taking home five of the six local Lions won in this year’s festival of creativity.
The nominations were up considerably in comparison to 2010, but the medal hauls were similar this year, with local agencies taking one gold, four silvers and three bronzes at the Clio Awards and two bronzes at the One Show. And in other awards news, Traffic Group won a gold, silver and bronze at the Summit Creative Award competition and AUT Adschool grads take home the Aussie edition of the Cannes Young Print Lions.
Given the slightly difficult period youth-oriented media seems to be going through at the moment, with MTV packing up the local office, a few well-established magazines folding and MediaWorks deciding to grey up its demographics on TV3 and FOUR, there were questions about whether the decision to launch a youth-focused commercial channel called U to replace TVNZ6 was wise. Well, the first cumulative Nielsen numbers are in and TVNZ are stoked with the results, with 1,392,400 viewers—or 34 percent of Kiwis—tuning in to the new channel at some point in the four weeks ending Saturday May 14.
It’s a funny old world. While tens of thousands of New Zealanders got overly excited about KFC’s Double Down late last week (if you want a real heart stopper of a meal, check this one out), over half a million Kiwis also tuned in to see two amateur cooks creating the exact opposite of that for the final of MasterChef. We’ve already talked about how much of a commercial juggernaut the show is for TVNZ and its owners, both because of its heavy commercial slant during the show and the ad dollars able to be raked in during the breaks, and with improved ratings numbers on the first season, that looks set to continue
It’s been a week filled with movings and shakings, including the fine folks at Tangible Media who have relocated offices to the mighty Mt Albert. But the movings and shakings are widespread. MSN has taken on three new hires while TVNZ’s publicity team makes way for motherhood and an appetite for travel. And although its Australian offices are already open, communications Agency The Church has only recently found its Australian general manger. There’s a new chief at the helm of mobile software and services experts, Run The Red, and Lightfarm Studios gets a touch of G-force with its new marketing and client manager.
TVNZ and MediaWorks are always competitive, as the rather confrontational comparative promo TV3 ran after the Japanese earthquake showed very clearly. But this was taken to a new level on Sunday when TVNZ sent out a press release saying 60 Minutes had “lost almost half its audience since March and almost 300,000 viewers per week since February”. Embarrassingly, the figures TVNZ used were wrong and, understandably, MediaWorks is none too pleased.
When it rains it pours. After a brief dry spell on the new ad front, numerous newbies have recently been set free. So, for your viewing—and possibly even critiquing—pleasure, a selection of the freshest TV cuts, including Mitsubishi’s new brand ad by Clemenger BBDO, Meridian and Assignment Group’s polar expedition, TVNZ’s new patriotic promo for its news and current affairs offering, State Insurance and Colenso’s fireproof box promo, Sealord and Saatchi & Saatchi’s wonderous condiment contraptions, DraftFCB’s latest work for Genesis Energy and Gregg’s and Lumino and Wag the Dog’s extended, nationwide tonsil hockey tour.
… as Air New Zealand brings one of our boys back into the fold; Acumen Republic appoints a new head honcho; TVNZ says goodbye to Good Morning—and up to 12 fulltime staff; Thick as Thieves enlists a new award-winning director; Air Asia hits the runway running and announces a national marketing manager; another All Black endorses something; AJ Park gets a taste for internal promotions; and two films made by the Media Design School strike Hawaii gold.
The latest TV viewership figures for March are out and, amid the many regularly overused adjectives (primarily staggering, dramatic, massive and all-important), both warring parties are, as per usual, claiming victories, with TVNZ’s news audience increasing substantially and MediaWorks trumpeting a big rise in more lucrative eyeballs since the launch of FOUR. And while there’s always a bit of press release-based argy bargy when these numbers are set loose, it’s pistols at dawn when it comes to the morning news figures.
The Axis Awards are now available to view on TVNZ Ondemand in glorious technicolour, so fill you boots with an edited package of the creative hoedown that includes red carpet highlights, as well as numerous interviews with gold winners, industry luminaries and the esteemed international judges explaining why they awarded certain campaigns. And, not to let an chance go by, TVNZ has also explained some of the creative opportunities the medium allows, with an explanation of Ad on Pause and the joys of the ‘Companion Banner’ chucked in for good measure.
The brief from TVNZ to the young advertising whippersnappers was to get more viewers to tune into ONE’s flagship 6pm bulletin. And Jono Fox and Jack Delmonte of Adschool took the win with their smart integrated campaign ‘Make Sense of it at Six’. The other finalists were Jen Waldron and Ben Polkinghorne of AdSchool and Adam Martin of AUT University’s Creative Advertising School.
Disappointingly, there were no golds dished out in these categories, but Colenso’s ‘Real Stories’ for TVNZ’s The Pacific took silver in the Outdoor Campaign section, as did DraftFCB for Prime’s ‘Eating Out’ (this campaign also won a bronze in the Transit Advertising—Single category). DDB and Sky’s rather nifty ‘Through Someone Else’s Eyes’ for the Travel Channel won bronze in the Outdoor Campaign section and also took a bronze for the Billboard—Special Build.
Colenso BBDO swept this category, receiving both of the awards that were handed out. Having received a silver at the AWARD awards for its ‘Dog Fight’ campaign for TVNZ’s mini-series The Pacific, it went one better this time round and picked up a gold. As well as staging a fighter plane spectacle in Auckland’s Mission bay, the campaign also featured a mural on Auckland’s Symonds Street adorned with hundreds of copies of authentic letters sent by marines, along with photos. Colenso’s other win was a bronze for its ‘A Rubbish Idea’ campaign for Heart of the City and Auckland City Council. ‘Flowerbeds’ were created on rubbish hotspots to discourage dumping and Auckland businesses given an education kit, including some of the floral rubbish bags.
In the Direct Response section, Colenso took gold for Yellow Chocolate and a silver for ‘A Rubbish Idea’, while Special Group also took gold for ‘Orcon Business Banner’. And in the Direct Campaign, Colenso came home with both awards, a gold for Yellow Chocolate and a bronze for TVNZ’s ‘Real Stories’ to promote its show The Pacific. In the Direct Mail category, ‘A Rubbish Idea’ and ‘Real Stories’ both took silver, as did DDB’s Catalogue & Tee Shirt Folding Machine for AS Colour.
Colenso BBDO took all three awards handed out in the Integrated category, with gold for ‘Yellow Chocolate’ and a bronze apiece for Frucor’s ‘V Ladders’ and TVNZ’s ‘Real Stories’ to promote its show The Pacific. It also cleaned up in the Titanium category, with ‘A Rubbish Idea’ taking bronze and ‘Yellow Chocolate’ turning gold once again. Special Group took the only Interactive Axis, winning gold for the ‘Orcon Business Banner’.
New Zealanders seem to have something of a love/hate attitude when it comes to marketing and advertising. Some despise it because it tricks people into buying things they don’t need, makes the nation fatter/drunker/more dangerous and is an industry supposedly filled with wankers. But others seem to be able to look past all that and simply enjoy biting into the fruits of the industry’s labour. Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt Kiwis are interested in it, as evidenced by the fact that the Fair Go Ad Awards is regularly among the country’s top rating shows. And CAANZ and TVNZ are hoping to tap into this interest and showcase the creative, innovative side of the business by filming the Axis award show and screening it on Ondemand.
TVNZ’s half-year numbers have been released and while the national broadcaster is understandably chuffed with a 136 percent increase in operating earnings for the six months to December, there are also a couple of fairly big wounds to lick after a $14.8 million TiVo misfire and an 18 percent drop in taxpayer equity.
Trumpet blowing, back-patting and self-congratulation are par for the course in the world of marketing. But it’s always more interesting if there’s a bit of healthy confrontation involved, as this promotional number for TV3 shows.
TVNZ launched its new youth-centric digital channel U on Sunday. And while there’s plenty of talk about breaking ground, filling gaps and New Zealand firsts, there’s no talk about ratings data just yet. And there may not be any in the future, either.
Three weeks into its run, 3 News: Firstline may be the network’s first morning show to find the yellow brick road. StopPress understands that earlier this week 3 News: Firstline ratings rested around the 18,000 mark compared to the approximate 140,000 boasted by TNVZ’s breakfast. While …
A number of contenders this week, but in PC gone mad Kiwi fashion, why choose one winner when you could have three winners instead?
Who’s it for: Tui by Saatchi & Saatchi and Flying Start
Why we like it: Kiwis pride themselves on their storytelling. And a wee …
TVNZ corporate affairs’ Megan Richards didn’t want to say much, but told StopPress that there hasn’t been a formal announcement yet and the broadcaster has had no advice from the Government, and right now, all the talk is just speculative. But several media releases and a John Drinnan …