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Commercial TV’s bloodbath · The Front

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  Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker
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  Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here's what's
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  Speaker 1: on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Thursday, August fifteenth.
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  Speaker 1: There's been a fifty percent rise in episodes of mental
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  Speaker 1: ill health among young people. It's part of a huge
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  Speaker 1: study led by Australian psychiatrists and they say the economy
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  Speaker 1: and technological change are contributing to distress. Psychedelic mushrooms as
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  Speaker 1: a possible treatment for cluster headaches. That's a new clinical
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  Speaker 1: trial kicking off in Sydney using the drug silas cyburn
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  Speaker 1: to treat the debilitating condition. That story is live now
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  Speaker 1: at the Australian dot Com dot You a truly shocking
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  Speaker 1: set of numbers for seven West Media, the owners of
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  Speaker 1: Network seven. So is the clock ticking for commercial television
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  Speaker 1: in Australia. That's today on the front on commercial TV.
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  Speaker 1: There's a major drama going on, like my fears and
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  Speaker 1: my doubts.
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  Speaker 2: I don't feel comfortable just spilling all my emotions.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not coming in for the drama. I'm just coming
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  Speaker 1: in for a bit of jolly farm, bit of light.
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  Speaker 2: Hardeners changes the whole concept of what my shower screen
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  Speaker 2: looks like.
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  Speaker 1: Well, there's always a major drama going on, but this
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  Speaker 1: one relates to the very existence of the TV networks.
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  Speaker 1: The media sector was stunned on Wednesday when seven West
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  Speaker 1: Media released its annual results.
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  Speaker 2: Net profit before taxes is down sixty nine. Group revenue
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  Speaker 2: overall has slipped five percent. There's not much silver in
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  Speaker 2: any of the linings at seven.
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  Speaker 1: That's The Australian's Media editor James Madden, fresh from an
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  Speaker 1: interview with Seven's boss, who was keen to assure James
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  Speaker 1: he's not panicking you.
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  Speaker 2: CEO Jeff Howard, who's been in the job since April,
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  Speaker 2: so just over four months, was definitely sought to put
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  Speaker 2: a positive spin on these numbers, which by any measure
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  Speaker 2: are shocking.
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  Speaker 1: Seven still made forty five million dollars in profit for
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  Speaker 1: the year to June thirty, but still a sixty nine
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  Speaker 1: percent profit slump.
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  Speaker 2: So his characterization of the results as disappointing was a
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  Speaker 2: soft euphemism, if ever there was one.
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  Speaker 1: Some of it can be explained by restructuring costs, and
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  Speaker 1: Seven's news division is going through a giant cultural overhaul
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  Speaker 1: after some very unpleasant headlines. But the big worry for
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  Speaker 1: seven is a problem that's ravelaging commercial media right now.
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  Speaker 1: Ads are down, way down. The advent of streaming services,
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  Speaker 1: which generally get their revenue from subscription fees rather than sponsors,
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  Speaker 1: means you can enjoy a full marathon binge without having
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  Speaker 1: to watch a single ad. If you watched any of
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  Speaker 1: the Olympics on linear TV, you might have encountered ads
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  Speaker 1: for the first time in a while, and you'll have
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  Speaker 1: noticed they were on high rotation five decades Australian furniture
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  Speaker 1: de sign I've got a ton of job lads from
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  Speaker 1: high pages. Thank yo with ay. And those ads are
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  Speaker 1: part of a slightly more optimistic story for nine. Seven's
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  Speaker 1: major commercial rival, which will report its annual numbers on
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  Speaker 1: August twenty eight, nine is already talking a big game,
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  Speaker 1: reporting it's generated over one hundred and forty million dollars
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  Speaker 1: in revenue from what is believed to be a one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty million dollar investment in the Olympics. But
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  Speaker 1: things look grim at ten. In May, they announced the
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  Speaker 1: masked Singer and the Bachelor would be rested, a show
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  Speaker 1: being rested is a bit like when a family pet
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  Speaker 1: goes to live on the farm. Life without the bachelor,
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  Speaker 1: Where will we get the next generation of influences and
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  Speaker 1: relationship role models. I love how Rich makes me feel,
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  Speaker 1: you know, he makes me feel alive and safe and
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  Speaker 1: he just makes me so happy. At least we still
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  Speaker 1: have married at first sight. Ten is the third player
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  Speaker 1: in Australian media, and it's a tiny fragment of its
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  Speaker 1: global parent company, Paramount, which has just been sold from
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  Speaker 1: one family of American billionaires to another. They of course
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  Speaker 1: want more profit. That means reducing costs in the range
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  Speaker 1: of three billion dollars across global operations. How will that
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  Speaker 1: play out for Ten, Well, we'll have to wait and see.
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  Speaker 1: For now, all eyes are on seven. Seven West Media
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  Speaker 1: is part of a bigger organization, Seven Group, which does
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  Speaker 1: a whole lot of other things, particularly in mining. They're
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  Speaker 1: owned ultimately by the billionaire Stokes family, Kerry Stokes and
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  Speaker 1: his son Ryan. How much do you think they're concerned
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  Speaker 1: about one year's shocking results, as you say from seven
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  Speaker 1: West Media.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you'd have to assume there is significant concern about
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  Speaker 2: this arm of the business. There's long been speculation about
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  Speaker 2: the future of seven West Media as part of the group,
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  Speaker 2: as many analysts see it as the least valuable arm
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  Speaker 2: of the business. However, it's understood that Kerry Stokes is
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  Speaker 2: very fond of heading up a media company, so as
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  Speaker 2: to whether there will be any push on to offload
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  Speaker 2: it in the short term is unlikely.
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  Speaker 1: Stokes seems to have a high tolerance for massive outlaighs.
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  Speaker 1: He's been financially backing Ben Roberts Smith, the Victoria Cross
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  Speaker 1: winner who's denied being a war criminal in his defamation
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  Speaker 1: trial against nine.
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  Speaker 2: It is a devastating blow for the decorated former soldier
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  Speaker 2: after one of the biggest and most expensive court battles
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  Speaker 2: in Australian history.
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  Speaker 1: Robert Smith is appealing, which means that tab will just
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  Speaker 1: continue to grow for Kerry Stokes. When James spoke to
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Howard on Wednesday, he was very keen to talk
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  Speaker 1: about the future of linear TV. That is old fashioned
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  Speaker 1: Channel seven on your television set rather than its streaming
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  Speaker 1: service which they call BVOD b VOD or broadcast video
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  Speaker 1: on demand.
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  Speaker 2: Media executives are quite defensive about the future of linear TV.
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  Speaker 2: They continue to talk it up because the linear arm
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  Speaker 2: of the business still remains at the core of these
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  Speaker 2: television networks.
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  Speaker 1: So presumably one of the reasons they love linear TV
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  Speaker 1: is that it's more difficult to avoid the ads, right,
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  Speaker 1: is that what it's about.
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  Speaker 2: That's a large part of it. Claire, However, it would
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  Speaker 2: seem that the advertisers are catching up and want more
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  Speaker 2: bang for their buck. Advertisers are waking up to the
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  Speaker 2: fact that audiences, the key demographics, have largely moved to
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  Speaker 2: digital and have left linear TV behind.
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  Speaker 1: All media companies are suffering a downturn in advertising right now,
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  Speaker 1: and in part they're blaming giant tech platforms which have
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  Speaker 1: scooped up vast volumes of ad revenue in recent years.
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  Speaker 1: That's part of the reason companies like our parent News
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  Speaker 1: Corp Australia want the government to force tech giants like
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  Speaker 1: Meta to negotiate fair payments to media companies for the
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  Speaker 1: news they use on their platforms.
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  Speaker 2: Mister Howard, like a raft of other media CEOs in Australia,
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  Speaker 2: has been very vocal that the time to is now.
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  Speaker 2: He's not the only one saying it, but he did
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  Speaker 2: warn that if nothing is done in the very near future,
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  Speaker 2: we'll all be sitting around in ten to twenty years
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  Speaker 2: time saying well, we wish we'd acted when we could.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier in the New Zealanders saw their only commercial TV
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  Speaker 1: news service die. Could the same thing happen in Australia?
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  Speaker 1: That's next on the front. The Australian has the best
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  Speaker 1: coverage of media every day from James and his team.
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  Speaker 1: Check it out at the Australian dot com dot au
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  Speaker 1: and we'll be back after this break. Now, more than ever,
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  Speaker 1: you need news you can trust. Verse is three new Es.
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  Speaker 1: This is the story of a scrappy TV station that
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  Speaker 1: spent twenty five years trying to compete with a powerful
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  Speaker 1: government owned broadcaster and ended up on its knees. We
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  Speaker 1: have loved making the news. Thank you so much for watching,
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  Speaker 1: for having us in your homes. Come ony. TV three
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand's version of Network seven is a shell of
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  Speaker 1: its former self. Earlier this year, three's American owners, Warner
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  Speaker 1: Brothers Discovery axed three's news in a bid to save
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  Speaker 1: the whole station from a catastrophic AD revenue decline. There
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  Speaker 1: was no triumphalism from TVNZ three's rival when they reported
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  Speaker 1: the demise of their competitor. It's a sad day for
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  Speaker 1: democracy and journalism in New Zealand. Aunt Kiwi's nice. Now
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  Speaker 1: three's programming is jammed with American and British shows. Once
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  Speaker 1: the news was dead, the locally produced content was terminal,
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  Speaker 1: the block was act four couples are about to move
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  Speaker 1: into four rundown houses on Auckland's north shore, and so
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  Speaker 1: was married at first sight New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know where to go from here because I've
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  Speaker 2: worn my heart my sleeve.
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  Speaker 1: Hundreds of production jobs. Gone three has reintroduced a dramatically
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  Speaker 1: scaled down news service. But can we journos fear that
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  Speaker 1: won't last long? I mean, it's almost unfathomable that Australia
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  Speaker 1: could be left without commercial TV. But how serious is
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  Speaker 1: the problem here? Is that something that's actually potentially on
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  Speaker 1: the horizon, that one or more of our commercial networks
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  Speaker 1: could fault.
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  Speaker 2: It's certainly a possibility, Claire. There's a lot of talk
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  Speaker 2: that Network ten might not survive well into the future,
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  Speaker 2: leaving us with just nine and seven. The problem, as
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  Speaker 2: you say in New Zealand, or the consequence of the
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  Speaker 2: loss of a commercial TV presence, is that consumers, viewers
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  Speaker 2: and readers are inevitably forced to go elsewhere for them news,
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  Speaker 2: and the news available on social media platforms isn't subject
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  Speaker 2: to the same rigor as professional journalism, and thus misinformation
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  Speaker 2: and fake news, if you want to call it, that thrives.
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  Speaker 1: If Three's vestigial news service fails, New Zealand's broadcast media
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  Speaker 1: will be dominated by Radio New Zealand and TV and ZED,
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  Speaker 1: both state owned.
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  Speaker 2: One of the most common mantras in journalism is the
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  Speaker 2: need for a diversity of views, and if the only
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  Speaker 2: publicly aired view in a country is coming from a
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  Speaker 2: state owned media organization, it's far from ideal. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a case of you don't know what you've got
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  Speaker 2: till it's gone. On this front. Once these organizations fold
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  Speaker 2: or disappear or contract, it's going to be very hard
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  Speaker 2: to turn it around and return to the way things
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  Speaker 2: once were.
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  Speaker 1: James Madden is The Australian's Media it out. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the front. We'll be back right here tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, join our subscribers at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 1: com dot au