Killer Bits: May 2002

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Naked Ambition at the MADC awards

With acceptance speeches banned this year, Alistair Coyne's streak to the podium spoke for itself at Friday night's function. M&C Saatchi's Nick Cave look-alike Tony Banks scooped the pools during the night, which was quickly and quiply hosted by Nova 100's breakfast team.  The MADC website promises to reveal all the winners and wonders from Friday night's Awards evening at Crown Casino.(Although not as much as Alistair!)

While we're on the subject of awards, the Golden Stylus awards run by Commercial Radio (FARB) are going monthly according to CEO Joan Warner. Warner told AdNews (26 April 2002 p30) that Commercial Radio has decided to become a gold sponsor of AWARD, to build closer ties with the advertising industry. That means the radio-specific Golden Stylus awards will be announced each month, with possibly a quarterly function in each state, held in conjunction with the ad industry.

Congratulations to SAFM's Terry Webb and 5AA's Mark Murphy who both won gongs at the recent Radio and Production Magazine awards in the US. Terry was first runner up in the Medium Market - Commercials with his spot for North Adelaide golf links and Mark was second runner-up in the same category for Mushrooms SA.  

Other awards with entries still open:

London International advertising awards - Entries now open. Deadline 17 June 2002.

Mobius Awards - Entries open August, deadline 1^st October 2002.

ACNielsen's contract to deliver the radio ratings has been extended to the end of 2004 while Commercial Radio looks for a new ratings system to replace diaries.  Alternative options include getting the listeners to wear electronic wrist devices which will monitor the stations. The decision on the new data collection method is expected in January 2003.

In the latest radio ratings,  2GB's moving up from struggle street with Alan Jones' breakfast shift largely credited with the station's 3.3 rise to the number two Sydney spot, behind 2DAY.  Jones' former home of 2UE now languishes in third spot on single figures.  Only point four of a percent separates Melbourne's top three with Nova 100 still number one. Virtually no movement in Perth and the usual ups and downs in Brisbane and Adelaide. Full results on the ACNielsen site. 

TV Advertising Blamed for Home Wrecking  

The Audio and Video Post production industry has produced a 32 page submission in response to the Australian Broadcasting Authority's inquiry into the loudness of advertising on television. 

Contributors to the submission (the largest presented on the issue) included AAV Digital Pictures, David + John, Flagstaff, Flint Webster, GAS, Rowlands and Song Zu. 

The ABA's inquiry was prompted by legislation introduced to Federal Parliament last August by Launceston MP Michelle O'Byrne. Her bill is called "Quieter Advertising - Happier Homes Bill 2001." Her submission to the ABA inquiry is 4 pages long.

The ABA's report is due mid 2002. 
You can view the submissions, including comments from induvidual audio and post-production studios on the ABA website.

The No Case 
"Australia is not having a recession and there will be advertising growth. Don't let anyone tell you different, especially if they are an expert." So says Harold Mitchell (AdNews 12 April 2002 p13.) According to Mitchell, advertising follows a regular up and down trend, and advertising revenue is still going up this year, after a 5% drop in 2001.

The Yes Case
Robert Gottliebsen (The Australian, 29^th April, p32) says the drop in advertising is evident from poor earnings reported by TV and radio networks and publishers, who rely heavily on advertising. He says given the economy is growing at 4%, media stocks should be expected to do well. The reason they're not is that the boom economy has been driven largely by housing. Now, the banks are doing a McDonald's - using their customer contact base, to sell more to their mortgagees- holidays, cars etc. Traditionally big spenders such as telcos and car companies are also turning to direct marketing and retailers such as Woollies are using low-priced petrol as a form of advertising. In short, Gottliebsen says the days of mass marketing are ending.

And another thing 
Following this theme, The Australian Financial Review front page (Monday 13th May 2002) says the increase in direct marketing follows good research reviews for junk mail. Radio had the lowest rating in the survey, with only 4% saying they enjoyed advertising on radio. It's worth keeping in mind that the research was commissioned by Australia Post.

And the numbers?
For the year ended December 2001, the figures from the Commercial Economic Advisory Council (CEASA) show a 6.2% drop in main media advertising from 1999 - 2000.

Television   9.3%	Cinema 7%
Newspapers 6.8%	Magazines 6.2%
Outdoor 1.8%	Radio  1.6%

Your Bits

Perhaps the most important audio introduction of 2002 is the brand-new Pro Tools HD system. HD stands for high definition. We'll be installing our system later this week. It not only expands DSP possibilities and gives sampling rates of 96Khz or 192Khz, but it uses state-of-the-art digital clocks that should significantly reduce jitter and give better sound quality at all sampling rates. The downside is that existing plug-ins will not work in the new system. Many are available on an upgrade basis. I don't know whether many of the new systems have reached down under yet, but they will soon, no doubt.

The two new satellite radio services here, XM and Sirius, are up and running. Though they're signing a decent number of new subscribers, they're both still losing frightful amounts of money and their stock prices are falling.

Meanwhile, we are due for tests very soon of the new IBOC DAB system for radio broadcasters from Ibiquity Digital Corp. It offers in-band digital broadcasting for AM and FM bands. Good News: You can still receive analogue broadcasts on your old receiver. Bad Killer Bits: You will need a new receiver for digital, the bandwidth is still far from sensational, broadcasters must pay a licensing fee and typical cost to a station is about $75,000 for new equipment and the licensing fee. Though this change is overdue, it is still a day late and a dollar short, but is endorsed by the National Association of Broadcasters. Thus, it will get every chance to succeed.

AudioNET® thought for the day 

"The radio business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where pimps and thieves run free while good men die like dogs. Then there's a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson

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