In this week’s column, we crunch the numbers on the ratings battle between Nine and Seven news, and reveal some of the high-profile movements in SA’s PR industry.
Reporting for the dole?
South Australian journalists were more than curious when employment services organisation Workskil advertised “work for the dole” supervisor positions in three major regional towns.
The ad appeared just before Fairfax announced redundancies across its South Australian regional newspapers, which include titles in the three towns listed in the Workskil ad.
In response to queries from Media Week, Workskil said the timing of the ad was coincidental and had no connection to the Fairfax announcement.
The work-for-the-dole jobs in journalism will involve helping a charity to produce a magazine, Workskil says.
Nine closes the gap
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Seven news in Adelaide had a year of extraordinary dominance in 2014, beating all comers on every single night.
Over at Nine, the once-dominant news service trailed far behind Seven all year – but evidence is growing that a shift is on.
An analysis of OzTAM ratings data comparing the ratings so far this year with the same period last year shows the extent of the change.
During this year, the ratings gap between Seven News and Nine News has closed to around 0-15 per cent from a high of around 40-50 per cent. On Sunday night, Nine News out-rated Seven in Adelaide, securing an average of 147,000 viewers compared to Seven’s 141,000, off the back of a special about the tragic death of Crows coach Phil Walsh.
As we’ve discussed in this column before, the success of Ten’s game show Family Feud in the 6pm slot is a big factor in the news ratings. [As an aside, some TV insiders trace the rise of Family Feud to the first of the high-profile Islamic State beheadings in August last year – maybe the news became too horrible for some viewers?]
Apart from Family Feud’s performance, there are some signs that Nine’s investment in a bigger newsroom has started to pay off.
So far this year, Seven has dropped an average of 20,000 viewers compared to 2014, while Nine’s average has improved marginally.
Seven still dominates (and it pulled huge numbers in the lead-in to the football last night) – but, on average, the gap is closing.
Work for InDaily
InDaily is hiring a business editor.
We’re looking for an experienced journalist to lead our coverage of South Australian business and the economy.
Details here.
McClusky rebrands
Leigh McClusky’s PR firm has rebranded.
Stay informed, daily
From this month, McClusky & Co is known as the McCo Group.
As well as a new name, the company is pushing the diversity of its services, which go beyond PR to include events management, training and video production, among other things.
McClusky told Media Week the rebrand was designed to more accurately reflect the breadth of the company’s services – and also the strengths of her team.
“I really wanted to take some of the focus off me personally; I wanted to acknowledge the talents and skills of the whole team,” she said.
Jill Bottrall takes down her shingle
Former Rann Government adviser Jill Bottrall has been working for several years as a communications consultant – but that’s about to change.
She’s been appointed as the SA and NT corporate affairs manager for the NBN.
Michelle Prak hangs up her shingle
Michelle Prak, meanwhile, has jumped out of corporate communications back into PR consultancy.
Prak spent just over a year as the corporation communications and policy manager for the Motor Accident Commission, but decided she wanted to work for herself again.
She made a name for herself as a social media expert, but she tells Media Week that her new consultancy is focusing on the broad sweep of PR activities.
Naughty corner
Coverage of the death of Phil Walsh has been mostly exemplary this week. It’s been sensitive, without being syrupy. In relation to the details of the alleged crime involved, it’s been handled appropriately.
However, there were a couple of contributions this week which added very little to the public’s knowledge or understanding of the tragedy.
Crikey writer Guy Rundle wrote a confused and mean-spirited piece criticising the public mourning of Walsh’s passing. News Corp thunderer Andrew Bolt also weighed in, first arguing it would be unfair to speculate about what happened – and then doing just that in the most superficial fashion. He appears to have reviewed Cy Walsh’s social media presence and performed an amateur psychological assessment. Unnecessary.
Top of the class
The weird world of political lobbying is uncovered in the most extraordinary way in this piece by veteran journalist Mike Seccombe in The Saturday Paper. I won’t spoil the punchline for you – but it’s astounding.
Media Week is published on Fridays.
