Is MediaWorks’ massive investment in Simon Barnett paying off? Ryan Bridge’s big return to screens; RNZ budget cuts - what’s under threat? Global rock star signs off on Kiwi ad campaign; Ted Lasso meets Drive to Survive in new Auckland FC docu-series; C-word fallout set for the Media Council; Markets
Media Insider: Breakfast shake-up - Mike Hosking and ZB’s record reign, Simon Barnett’s early rises and falls, Ryan Bridge’s new show; RNZ budget cuts - what’s in the firing line?
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Radio hosts Mike Hosking, Simon Barnett and Ryan Bridge - new ratings are released while Bridge is set for an extended broadcast role. Photos . Michael Craig, NZME
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The watchouts for MediaWorks will be drops in audience share for the show in Auckland, Tauranga and Waikato, and a flat result in Rotorua.
In Auckland, the show has dropped 0.9 of a share point - NZME’s Jono, Ben and Megan Hits breakfast show (up 0.1) now sits alongside More FM as the fifth most popular breakfast show in the city.
Industry insiders reiterate that it will take time to see the full impact of Barnett’s return and that the latest ratings in all of the markets still contain previous, carried-over good and poor results in the overall total.
MediaWorks director of content Leon Wratt said the company was “very pleased” with the performance of Barnett and Cochrane-Searle.
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“To be honest, it’s so great just to see him and hear him happy again, given the incredible challenges that he’s had.
“We’re really stoked. We expect the show to continue to build but it’s a very competitive market. Things can change but certainly at this point we’re very confident that this is the right show for More FM.”
MediaWorks has invested heavily in drawing Barnett back to More FM after several years at ZB, where he co-hosted the midday-4pm show. Barnett features strongly in an extensive and ongoing billboard marketing campaign.
Wratt is also happy with the pick-up in digital engagement, citing social content such as Barnett’s recent trip to South Korea where he met his hero, movie star Tom Cruise.
Wratt also cited More FM becoming number one again for 35-54-year-old females.
Hosking reigns supreme
In my experience, radio executives and content leaders at NZME and MediaWorks are very skilled at showcasing ratings that suit a narrative. And nothing wrong with that - clients and advertisers are keen to know they’re reaching target audiences.
But you don’t need any PR wizardry to recognise that Hosking and Newstalk ZB rule the breakfast and commercial radio airwaves.
Hosking is number one in 10 of the 13 surveyed markets: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Waikato, Tauranga, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu, Nelson and Dunedin.
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He is second in Northland and Rotorua and third in Southland.
“We are so proud to once again have the two biggest breakfast shows in the country with Hosking on ZB and Fletch, Vaughan and Hayley on ZM,” said NZME chief audio officer Jason Winstanley.
Overall, Newstalk ZB is also the number one commercial station - a record 17th consecutive year in the top spot.
Winstanley said this was “a phenomenal achievement”.
Winstanley was also pleased that NZME now had three breakfast radio shows in the top six in Auckland, alongside three MediaWorks breakfast shows - in order they are ZB, Mai FM, Breeze, ZM and, in fifth equal spot, More FM and The Hits.
Leon Wratt, meanwhile, praised a huge lift in Mai FM’s cumulative audience (which is different from audience share) in Auckland. “Mai FM was a monster,” he said.
Wratt does not expect Hosking to be “trembling in his boots with the fun and frivolities” of More FM.
While Hosking has a massive 20% share nationwide, and is a clear leader, Wratt pointed out there was still another 80% of the market listening to music.
More FM and Barnett were more likely to grow audiences from the likes of MediaWorks’ Edge or Breeze music stations or NZME’s The Hits and ZM, he said.
“That’s the rough and tumble of the radio game,” says Wratt.
“We’ve got so many stations. It’s a competitive marketplace. So, you know, better to lose to yourself than to somebody else, put it that way.”
Ryan Bridge’s screen return
Talking of familiar faces returning to their roots - sort of - Ryan Bridge‘s new livestream breakfast news show launches on Monday.
Herald Now is the NZ Herald’s foray into FAST TV (free, ad-supported streaming television) - it’s a two-hour show that will livestream on nzherald.co.nz from 7am-9am each weekday.
Bridge will continue to host Newstalk ZB’s 5am-6am Early Edition radio show each morning before moving into a specially built new studio in the NZ Herald newsroom to front the streaming show.
Expect a pacy and lively two hours, featuring plenty of interviews and panels involving newsmakers, journalists and experts.
Act leader David Seymour and Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick will feature together on a regular Monday political panel; National’s Erica Stanford and Labour’s Willie Jackson will do the same on Fridays.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be on the first show on Monday.
Through the week, there will also be business and sports panels and news updates and weather.
The show will feature prominently on the Herald website’s homepage and it will be streamed live on YouTube. Its various segments will also be sliced and diced for broader digital and social distribution.
Bridge saw the new show as growing new audiences and tapping into existing Herald audiences rather than cannibalising any other broadcast shows.
“The people that perhaps weren’t engaging as much with morning breakfast television, your business leaders, your self-employed, those who are on the go and busy ... there is a bit more of a news and business bent to this show that hopefully might appeal to them as well.
“It’s a brave new world. Here’s a new product - let’s see who likes it.”
For Bridge, it’s a return to being in front of the camera. We last saw him on TV screens at the end of 2023 as host of Three’s AM show. He left that position to create a new 7pm show, called Bridge, but it never eventuated because of the Newshub closure.
Rehearsals for Herald Now have been under way this week. This weekend, Bridge and his husband Ferg will be staying with friends in a DOC hut on a Hauraki Gulf island.
“I plan to step back. It’s been balls to the wall and preparing and rehearsing and doing Early Edition. This will be a bit of decompression before we get into it.
“It’s a big undertaking and there’s a lot riding on it, so I’m a little bit nervous, but I’m also just really excited.”
RNZ budget cuts - what’s in the spotlight?
After two years of budget increases, taxpayer-funded RNZ now suddenly finds itself in a similar position to commercial media, and facing some hefty cutbacks.
The Government announced in the Budget yesterday an approximate $18 million cut to RNZ over the next four years - essentially, its funding is being cut by about $4.6m a year, or 7% of its annual budget.
RNZ did not respond to a Media Insider request yesterday for an interview with chief executive Paul Thompson.
In a statement, RNZ chair Jim Mather said the organisation was “naturally disappointed” but understood the Government’s fiscal challenges.
“We will now carefully review our plans to ensure we continue to strengthen trust with audiences and provide outstanding public media that matters for New Zealanders.”
In 2023-24, under the previous Labour Government, RNZ’s annual budget was boosted by almost $25 million, from $42m a year to $66.6m. That funding injection was maintained by the National-led coalition for 2024-25.
RNZ has previously said the new levels of funding – its first material increase since 2009 – have been critical for catch-up work and as it transforms into a digital-first media organisation.
The budget has also helped RNZ lift staff numbers from 309 to 347, while those earning more than $100,000 have increased from 107 to 145.
The company’s overall salary budget increased from $32m in 2022-23 to $37m in 2023-24.
Industry observers believe staffing numbers and the overall wage bill will have to come under the spotlight, perhaps even from the top down.
While this might be a blunt comparison, there is an argument that for its size, RNZ has a hefty executive-to-staff ratio.
According to its annual report, RNZ has nine executives whereas TVNZ - with some 500 staff - has six executives. NZME, with more than 1100 staff, has been overhauling its executive and will shortly land on 11.
RNZ will also need to ensure its cost controls for its big move into the TVNZ building in Auckland later this year are watertight.
There will be all sorts of areas that RNZ’s board and executive will be able to delve into, if they have the appetite and are up for some tough decisions that might provoke some vocal public opposition.
For example, is there a new model for Concert FM? Is its Asian media unit resonating as strongly as it could be with audiences?
Stay tuned.
In his announcement yesterday, Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith said the “savings initiative recognises that government-funded media must deliver the same efficiency and value for money as the rest of the public sector”.
“I expect RNZ to improve audience reach, trust and transparency. I am confident the organisation can do so while operating in a period of tightened fiscal constraint.”
Open Justice, Local Democracy reporting boost
In happier news for the media industry, Goldsmith announced new funding for regional journalism initiatives, such as NZME’s Open Justice programme.
“Regional journalism helps keep communities informed and holds decision-makers to account,” he said.
“Budget 2025 will invest $6.4 million over four years in council, community and court reporting across New Zealand. The funding will be distributed through NZ on Air.
“Open Justice and Local Democracy Reporting have been successful programmes with an emphasis on reporting, rather than opinion. This funding expands them.
“It will get funding into regional newsrooms so that more local frontline journalists can report on the things that matter to their audiences.”
Ted Lasso meets Drive to Survive
It has all the ingredients to be a tantalising combination of Ted Lasso and Drive to Survive.
Auckland FC’s hugely successful first season as an A-League football club is the focus of a new eight-part docuseries produced by the matriarch of New Zealand reality television, Dame Julie Christie.
Off the field, there is a headline-grabbing list of investors - US billionaire Bill Foley; high-profile Auckland entrepreneur Anna Mowbray and her former All Black husband Ali Williams; multimillionaire shoe entrepreneur Tim Brown; NBA star Steven Adams; and football legends Winston Reid and Noah Hickey.
On the field, of course, is a team of players who dare to dream - they have already made history by becoming premiers in their first season and they are on track to reach the A-League final on Sunday week. (They play the second leg of their semifinal in Auckland tomorrow, with a one-goal aggregate lead).
The no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes docuseries, Forever Auckland FC, will screen later this year on Sky Sport, Sky Open and Neon.
Consider it a local version of the Netflix Formula 1 series Drive to Survive, mixed with the drama of Apple TV+’s fictional hit, Ted Lasso.
“Documentaries often claim to be ‘all-access’ but I don’t believe New Zealand sport has seen access like this,” says Christie, whose production firm NHNZ Worldwide is behind the series.
Christie, of course, is one of our most successful business leaders - the former newspaper sub-editor who later developed her own television company and took many of her reality TV hits, including Treasure Island, to the world.
“It’s remarkable. From three months before their first A-League game, we have had unrestricted behind-the-scenes access to the club, management, owners, the dressing sheds and the players.
“Head coach Steve Corica has worn a radio mic throughout the season and therefore we have ‘warts‘n’all’ insight that is unprecedented. And it wasn’t all about the joy of winning, there were tough times too, and our cameras were there through all of it.”
Auckland FC investor Anna Mowbray said the new series was produced for fans.
“I believe sports fans have been waiting for this sort of insight into the blood, sweat and tears that go into a start-up and success story. It’s happy, sad, funny, gritty.”
The series is timed to screen ahead of the team’s second season.
Cameras were rolling before the team even took the field. The camera crew will also be present this weekend and hopefully next weekend for the final.
The show’s producers promise the series will give viewers “insights into the owners’ and players’ private and professional lives, cut-throat decisions made in both the changing sheds and the boardroom, and the beating heart of Auckland FC, the team’s dedicated fan club, The Port”.
Sky New Zealand Originals senior commissioner Nick Ward said the series was documentary-making at its “finest”.
Auckland FC chief executive Nick Becker said fans deserved to know the “true story” of the club - “a story they are very much part of”.
“We welcomed the cameras into the club to capture that, for our community. Having cameras and microphones around all the time does mean that sometimes you feel exposed, but it is worth it for the fans.”
C-word fallout
Andrea Vance was named political journalist of the year at the Voyager Media Awards, and took to the stage to the backdrop of Shania Twain‘s Man I Feel Like a Woman.
She suggested that award attendees were “all really worried what I’m going to say, aren’t you?”.
She thanked her editor Tracy Watkins and chief executive Sinead Boucher for their support but steered clear of the controversy of her recent column in which she referenced the c-word in talking about female politicians who had been involved in the Government’s decision to halt pay equity claims, in favour of an overhaul of the system.
The sequel to the column seems set to play out at the Media Council.
“The NZ Media Council has had a comparatively high volume of complaints about the Sunday Star Times and The Post‘s opinion column by Andrea Vance - we have currently received eight complaints,“ council complaints director Katrina Reinsfield told Media Insider.
“These are at various stages of our process. On at least two other occasions in the last five years, other publications have led to a comparable number of complaints. However, there may be more complaints to be received.”
As per standard procedure, complainants need to take their concerns to the publisher first. Stuff then has 10 working days to respond - if a complainant is still unhappy, they can head to the council.
“The complaints that merit being assigned to a full council review are likely to be considered in the 21 July, 2025 meeting,” said Reinsfield.
How flash! Kiwi creatives soar
One of the world’s biggest rock stars has signed off on one of his most recognisable tracks for a new Kiwi advertising campaign that launches this weekend.
Queen lead guitarist and backing vocalist Brian May and his team have allowed Auckland-based independent creative agency Federation - the geniuses behind a new DoorDash advertising campaign - to remix the Queen hit Flash.
Stand by for the rollout of Dash - a larger-than-life food deliverer with charm and one-liners. The new ad campaign features him with the Flash music - remixed as Dash - in the background.
May is still performing, including recently alongside Benson Boone at Coachella.
“It’s not every day you have Brian May reading your brand’s script, and that song particularly has such a fantastic cult following,” Federation chief creative officer Brad Collett told Media Insider.
“There was a stretch of a few weeks where I woke up genuinely nervous. The song is such a core part of the campaign - every time Kiwis hear ‘Dash! Ahhhhhh!’, we want them thinking of DoorDash."
And even though Flash Gordon imagery doesn’t appear, the agency and DoorDash also had to clear visual IP given the song’s strong link to the original character.
“It was wild. Getting sign off on our scripts was cool enough but then we were also dealing with an Aussie based in Brazil, repping a New York legal team to figure out if a Kiwi-as superhero with no powers delivering kai in Auckland could possibly violate Flash Gordon’s IP,” said Collett.
“I never imagined this many people would be needed to bring Dash to life but every tricky conversation has absolutely been worth it.”
The new campaign is also a great sign that, in this day and age of AI, renowned Kiwi advertising creativity principles continue to shine through.
That’s also evident in other advertising campaigns at the moment, such as the new campaign featuring Tina from Turners, and more that are in the pipeline.
“New Zealand has always been really strong in the creative area - we punch above our weight,” says Collett.
“We’re perhaps given a little more freedom by clients. The rest of the world looks at New Zealand, a little jealous.”
Collett says advertisements that have character, charm and comedy play an important role in entertaining New Zealanders after several years of working through the Covid pandemic and the financial crisis.
With streaming prevalent, it was also critical that advertising had more cut-through. A hook, such as a great character or great music, were important for that, he said.
“Dash is the embodiment of everything DoorDash represents – fast, reliable, and always there when you need him,“ said DoorDash NZ general manager Bradley Thomas. ”Best of all, he adds a good dose of relatability and Kiwi humour to every situation he is summoned to."
The new DoorDash campaign will roll out across linear TV, BVOD, out-of-home, radio, print, social, and digital channels, starting on Sunday.
One Good Poll
Madison goes independent
Markets with Madison host Madison Malone is going it alone.
She has resigned from the NZ Herald and is taking her show independent.
“Inspired by all the entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed who’ve encouraged me to take a risk in life,” she wrote on LinkedIn last night. “I’m excited (and terrified) to try and take it global.”
She says she’s signed a syndication agreement so episodes will be available to watch at all the same places, including on the NZ Herald, “for a while”. It’s clear YouTube will be a big focus in the future.
She told Media Insider she had a great relationship with NZME “and have an enormous amount of gratitude for their backing of my next move”.
“Later this year, the show name will change,” she said.
“To what? I don’t know. I’d love some ideas!
“In time, I hope to go global and continue to build my audience internationally, by covering the most significant and interesting companies, ideas, technologies, and investment trends.
“I will always be the biggest champion of New Zealand businesses.”
Scam reporter gets scammed
Indefatigable senior Herald journalist Lane Nichols has certainly made his name in recent years as the go-to reporter for bank scam stories. He has fought the good fight for many a victim.
So imagine his shock when his own credit card details were obtained by fraudsters.
A few hundred dollars had been siphoned out of the account through several transactions in Canada.
Nichols is now dealing with his bank, and has no idea how his credit card details fell into the wrong hands.
I do feel sorry for the scamsters - Nichols is the type of guy who will hunt them down.
TV awards overhaul
New Zealand’s TV awards are receiving an overhaul and will become the NZ Screen Awards later this year.
The new format and ceremony will celebrate excellence across all screen content, including television and film.
“We’ve seen an incredible growth in the diversity of content being created in New Zealand, with many exceptional productions blurring the lines between television, digital and feature,” said New Zealand Screen Awards committee member Kelly Martin.
“Rebranding to the New Zealand Screen Awards is a natural progression as we aim to celebrate the full scope of our local screen industry.”
Funding agencies NZ On Air, NZ Film Commission and Te Māngai Pāho said they were excited by the expansion.
The agencies’ chief executives, Cameron Harland, Annie Murray and Larry Parr, said in a joint statement: “This is absolutely the right thing to do, acknowledging that those who work on the excellent films created in Aotearoa deserve recognition and that many people involved in creating screen content work across film and television.”
The inaugural new-look awards will take place in Auckland later this year. Entries will open on Monday, June 30.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
