This year marked the 40th year of Māori Language Week, which celebrates New Zealand’s indigenous language. We look at the brands that got on board, as well as whether companies should be making more of an effort to be a part of it.
Despite all the hype, reality food show Masterchef NZ’s first episode of the season has failed to deliver in the ratings department, no doubt another blow to Mediaworks as it struggles to compete with TVNZ which is still dominating with the most-watched shows on television.
Modern media is awash in restructures. NZME is currently grappling with a multi-headed beast. MediaWorks TV is haemorraging viewers at primetime and trying to integrate its various platforms. Fairfax is in the throes of its News Rewired programme. And TVNZ, despite benefitting from the troubles of its free-to-air broadcast rival and clocking in with record share for One News and Seven Sharp, obviously doesn’t want to miss out, so it has embarked on a proposed restructure that aims to make it a fully digital media business and those changes are set to affect approximately 30 roles.
TVNZ has launched two new OnDemand short-form offerings, youth-led magazine show Yours TV and short documentary series Loading Docs which the broadcaster says is part of its focus to support up-and-coming New Zealand talent.
You don’t have to look far to find someone willing to express an opinion on the state of Kiwi television. Whether it’s something as simple as volume of television ads or something a bit gruntier like the legality of Global Mode, Kiwis have over the last few months shown themselves to be very interested in expressing their views on the evolution of the medium in the local context. And now, in a bid to collate all these opinions in a single place, TVNZ has launched the TVNZ Greenroom, an online initiative that allows Kiwis to share their thoughts on how the broadcaster is doing.
Today One News launched its new digital offering called One News Now, a multi-device platform which delivers “up-to-the-minute” news with a focus on video content.
Kiwis will soon have a couple of new shows to take their pick from, one reality TV show and one of the lifestyle genre as TV3 releases new TVCs to promote upcoming MasterChef New Zealand featuring some fancy food-related visual trickery while TV ONE’s Kiwi Living gets set to kick off this Friday.
Finalists for the 2015 TVNZ New Zealand Marketing Awards have been announced after marketers were invited in April to submit their best initiatives that represent the full scope of marketing.
TVNZ and Kiwibank are calling for nominations for the 2016 New Zealander of the Year Awards and showing off a refreshed visual identity developed by Assignment Group in a new TVC made by Blacksand.
Television has had quite the facelift over the past few years. Reality television has taken over the episodic drama, with its cheap production cost and malleable format, which viewers can easily tune into without any kind of backstory. What else is changing is our current affairs shows, the days of the solo renegade hosting style of John Campbell and Paul Holmes seems to be over as a softer format with multiple hosts is nudging its way in. With all these changes we thought we’d do a bit of an overview of the top shows on telly to see how they’re performing amongst this difficult and ever-changing media climate.
A solemn nod of the head for Gregg’s, Tip Top Bread, Vodafone and Burger King.
Recently, the One Weather sponsorship served as a pre-roll battleground for major car brands, as Ford touted the superiority of the Ranger over the Hilux through a faux weather reporter moulded on the lovable pie-eater from Toyota’s advertising. The car brands have since put away their monobrows, and Vodafone has now stepped into the One Weather slot—and the telco is also hoping to give its sponsorship a distinctly Kiwi feel (hopefully, without the monobrows).
News from Fairfax, Tourism New Zealand, Marketo, Film Construction, TVNZ, Colenso BBDO, Exposure, Pure SEO and Countdown.
Facebook has become a hugely important traffic source for many publishers. And last week Facebook announced the launch of a new feature called Instant Articles, which allows users to view articles from other websites (particularly enhancing mobile experience) without leaving the site. This is hoped to make for a faster loading time, more data about what users like to consume and therefore an enhanced overall user experience. And there are also benefits for the publishers. It’s very early days for the scheme, but we thought we’d find out a bit about the initiative and whether New Zealand’s main media outfits are keen on the idea.
Today, MediaWorks announced via a story published on 3News that John Campbell would be leaving Campbell Live and that the show would be replaced by an alternative current affairs programme in the 7pm slot. The new show is expected to start within the next six to eight weeks and will run Monday to Thursday, with a yet-to-be-announced entertainment show running on Friday evenings.
The ageing process is an area of fascination for many (as evidenced by a recent Getty Images campaign showing the ravages of time on four celebrities). And Y&R found some success with its last reunion campaign for Land Rover. So in a powerful illustration of the fact that that crashes don’t just cost lives, they can take futures, road safety charity Brake, Y&R NZ and Weta Digital brought some joy to five grieving families by showing what young crash victims would look like if they hadn’t been taken early.
News from Ogilvy & Mather, Go Media, TVNZ, AdHub, Competenz, ASA, PRINZ and Electrolux.
It used to be so simple. Find an audience (usually from someone or something with enough money to own mass media), put an ad in front of that audience and roll around on a bed laden with cash, laughing maniacally. These days, there is huge media fragmentation, constant distraction (AKA ‘obesity of the mind’), more good content on offer than ever before and numerous ways for consumers to dodge ads. That makes reaching audiences much more difficult, but the rise of digital technology and the rapid changes in the way people are consuming media has meant broadcasters and advertisers have had to embrace more creative methods of storytelling to maintain the audience’s attention, something Blacksand’s senior digital producer Amie Mills discussed recently at the first TVNZ Outtakes event.
Changes at ASB, Starcom/ZO, TVNZ, Ambient Group, MediaWorks and Fonterra.
The Make-A-Wish foundation has made history by releasing its first ever TVC, with TVNZ Blacksand’s Our Little Heroes campaign celebrating the heroic nature of children suffering life threatening medical conditions in the hope of gaining further reach to grant more wishes.
As we’ve seen with the Campbell Live debate, fans believe the importance of the show can’t be reduced to ratings because it also serves an important social function. And broadcasters seem to be saying something similar when quantifying the success of reality shows that include a high level of sponsorship integration because they are leading to commercial results for advertisers. So is that also the case for the inaugural season of Our First Home, which wrapped up earlier this week after three live auctions?
Gold stars for Monteith’s, Air New Zealand, Burger Burger and TVNZ this week.
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.
Rarely do the players in the TV market set aside their fierce competition and come together in support of a common cause. However, the emergence of global mode options on internet service providers Slingshot, Orcon and other companies has risen sufficient concern for MediaWorks, Sky, TVNZ and Spark (the owner of Lightbox) unify. A joint statement by the quartet of companies today stated that they are “taking action against internet and technology companies who sell and promote services that enable access to international geo-blocked TV and movie services.”
Industry happenings at FCB, TVNZ, MediaWorks, RadiumOne, ApolloNation, Raydar, Ad2one, Snakk Media and Pead PR.
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.
Industry happenings at JustOne/.99, PHD, Designworks, TVNZ, Springload, DDB, Interbrand and Cannes Lions.
The overall ad spend pie grew by 4.2 percent to $2.39 billion in 2014, according to the Advertising Standards Authority’s figures for the 12 months ended December 31. And once again it was interactive leading the charge, overtaking newspapers and getting close to TV.