Latest news with #MediaWorks
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- Automotive
- NZ Herald
Media Insider: MediaWorks wins massive AT outdoor advertising contracts, valued in hundreds of millions of dollars
The four contracts are to look after advertising on street furniture (such as shelters), vehicles (such as buses and trains), transport hubs and stations, and billboards. The new deal comes into place on October 16. MediaWorks is now 100% owned by Australian outdoor firm QMS, and the announcement will lead to inevitable speculation about whether its New Zealand subsidiary retains its radio arm, or spins it off to focus on its outdoor advertising business. MediaWorks - which owns a suite of entertainment radio brands including the Breeze, More FM, The Rock, and The Edge - has been adamant that it is an integrated company. MediaWorks currently looks after advertising on AT buses and some billboards and was long rumoured to be the frontrunner to win the lion's share of the AT contracts. But there have been a number of other industry players who have also been in the running, such as OohMedia – which currently looks after advertising at bus shelters – JCDecaux and Go Media. The announcement today will be a blow for OohMedia, especially, which has had the co OohMedia currently has the contract to look after advertising at AT bus shelters. 'We are thrilled to announce our partnership with MediaWorks to manage what is New Zealand's largest out-of-home asset portfolio, following a very competitive process,' said AT chief financial officer Mark Laing. 'The out-of-home media industry is experiencing exciting growth and MediaWorks' proposal demonstrated strong delivery capability and alignment with AT's strategic objectives.' Laing says the partnership with MediaWorks will deliver a substantial increase in advertising revenues and is an excellent outcome for ratepayers. 'Under the new agreement AT expects to receive a minimum of $220 million revenue over the next ten years. Revenue will be higher than this if the market continues to grow as forecast.' AT currently receives around a quarter of the gross advertising revenue generated from its Out of Home media assets. Under this new partnership AT will receive more than half. 'Last year AT earned $7 million in advertising revenue. This coming year this will more than double,' says Mr Laing. 'Every additional dollar brought in through advertisements across the public transport network helps to offset the costs of operating our services and gets Auckland closer to meeting the Government's 'private share' targets for public transport.' MediaWorks chairman Barclay Nettlefold and chief executive Wendy Palmer. MediaWorks chief executive Wendy Palmer saidthe company was 'absolutely thrilled'. 'This win is a game changer and re-shapes the way New Zealand out-of-home will be planned and bought by advertisers. 'Our team approached the tender strategically to demonstrate the value and growth we can provide both Auckland Transport and our clients with a new exciting offering that sees street furniture integrated into our existing Auckland Transport portfolio.' Drawn out process The tender process has been a long, drawn-out affair, with today's announcement marking almost a 12-month delay. The new deals were due to be operational from January 1 this year but AT has been taking the outdoor companies on a not-so-merry ride. In December, when AT suddenly pulled the pin on the already 18-month RFP process, it refused, publicly, to say why. A media manager said at the time this was 'confidential'. AT's decision left the industry outraged and bamboozled, although few of the companies have been prepared to go on the record for fear it would harm future opportunities. 'It's been a clusterf***,' one source told Media Insider. 'They've had no idea what they've been doing. They had no idea of the scope of the project. And that is very evident in the fact that we are now going back to an RFP [request for proposal] again with new parameters after 18 months.' XXXX MediaWorks currently has the contract to run bus advertising for AT. AT had taken almost three months to release to the NZ Herald limited official information, including a notice that it sent to outdoor companies on December 10. In that notice, AT told RFP participants that it had decided to 'extend' the procurement process based on a 'further review of market dynamics and transition risk as well as market feedback. This review also suggested the RFP process would benefit from some modifications'. The use of the term 'extend' might be considered a stretch, given that the RFP will be reissued with 'modified evaluation criteria and bid structure'. The process essentially had to start all over again, although AT said in the notice it would 'endeavour to minimise any additional effort required from participants'. The notice said, 'This is not a decision that AT has taken lightly, considering the amount of effort to date from all parties involved. We understand that this is disappointing for participants and the out-of-home media sector.' 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. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Spinoff
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Spinoff
An open letter to Jacinda Ardern on open letters to Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern, I have a problem: people keep writing open letters to Jacinda Ardern. It has to stop. Hello Jacinda Ardern, Thank you for reading this letter, which I have sent in a genuine effort to contact you, and not as a hackneyed vehicle for a tedious, self-aggrandising sermon relitigating some bugbear from years ago. Anyway, I remember years ago, New Zealanders aired their disagreements the traditional way, by either getting drunk and arguing with each other or getting drunk and fighting. If the dispute was of national significance, it could be resolved through warring newspaper opinion columns, or in the case of Winston Peters, by calling someone a cuck in parliament. I yearn bitterly for those more sweet, innocent days. Back then I could go weeks or even years without seeing some minor gripe or whinge escalated into an open letter to the former prime minister of New Zealand, the Rt Honorable Dame Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda, hi, I'm sending this letter to see if you can do something about the scourge of people sending you open letters all the time. It didn't start with you, of course. Writers have been penning open letters for decades. Who could forget Paul's open letter to the Ephesians, Jacinda Ardern's open letter to MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon, or more recently, Spinoff fool's open letter to the Waitangi Dildo? But over the last six or so years, these missives have increasingly been addressed to one person alone. Open letters to Jacinda Ardern have been published by The Spinoff, The 13th Floor, the Herald, the Country, the Outdoors Party, the Taxpayers Union, and The Spinoff again. Whenever a New Zealander has a quibble or setback, their first port of call is to contact the nearest media outlet and fling a letter out in the general direction of our former prime minister. In 2021, Stuff published an open letter to Jacinda Ardern from a woman complaining she'd been forced to put her 'bi-hemispheral life' on hold and miss 'pea season' over the trifling matter of a global pandemic. Just last week, Sir Ian Taylor published what scientists estimate to be his 73rd open letter to Jacinda Ardern complaining that seeing your book in the airport made him spend 22 hours obsessing about the Covid response, which was definitely justified, your fault, and not cause for self-reflection. Enough! Jacinda, I know you're reading this. There has to be a way to put a stop to the madness. Maybe set up a PO Box where people can send their gripes about climate change and vaccines without subjecting the rest of us to their grousing. Lobby the government for a bespoke, financially crippling open letter tax. If all that fails, maybe quit politics and move to the US, where surely only the most desperate or deluded would continue to write you open letters. Dame Jacinda Ardern, I expect quick action over this issue. This letter is my attempt to effect meaningful change for our great nation. If it wasn't, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm shoehorning your name into the world's most parasocial media format for the sake of attention and clicks, and cloying, folksy, first-person sentences like this one are kind of a bit disingenuous and patronising. But we both know that's not the case, eh mate. How's the fam? Let's catch up soon to talk progress on this one.
Scoop
04-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Mediaworks Secures Major Waikato Regional Council Bus Media Contract Expansion, Boosting Reach Across The Region
Press Release – Mediaworks Advertisers will benefit from greater coverage throughout the Waikato region with the contract boosting the current fleet offering from 60 to 100 buses. This includes exclusive access to routes covering Raglan, Cambridge, and Taup. MediaWorks today announced its successful bid for the new Waikato Regional Council bus media contract. This significant win solidifies MediaWorks' commitment to the region, securing a 3+2 year term for an expanded service that promises greater reach for advertisers across the Waikato public transport network. Having operated the advertising on Hamilton buses for the last decade and a half, MediaWorks has been instrumental in providing essential advertising solutions that connect businesses with the community. The new contract, awarded following a competitive tender process by the Waikato Regional Council, marks a substantial expansion of the current offering. Advertisers will benefit from greater coverage throughout the Waikato region with the contract boosting the current fleet offering from 60 to 100 buses. This includes exclusive access to routes covering Raglan, Cambridge, and Taupō. Brad Morgan, MediaWorks Outdoor COO, expressed his enthusiasm for the new partnership: 'We are excited to secure this contract and continue to deepen our long-standing relationship with both National and local Waikato businesses. This new chapter allows us to expand on our media offering, extending our reach and providing even more valuable advertising opportunities for businesses looking to connect with the people of Hamilton and the wider Waikato region'. To learn more about how to leverage this expanded network and book your next campaign, get in touch with MediaWorks. About MediaWorks: MediaWorks is New Zealand's leading radio and outdoor media company with over 2.4 million weekly listeners and over 5,000 outdoor touch points nationwide. The company owns and operates radio brands The Edge, The Rock, More FM, The Breeze, The Sound, Mai FM, George FM, Magic, Humm FM, Channel X and rova. MediaWorks brands and people are household names with local, highly engaged audiences.
Newsroom
02-06-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
MediaWorks' back to basics approach working
MediaRoom column: After a dismal few years MediaWorks looks like it is getting some of its mojo back. The company's audience share in the 25 to 54 age group, known in the industry as the money zone, is at its highest since 2020 and, at 58 percent, is well ahead of its rival NZME on 31percent. Strong performances from brands like Mai FM, The Breeze, More FM and The Rock have driven increased revenues as well as ratings. In its just-announced result for the year ending December 31, 2024, radio and digital revenue improved by $4m or nearly 3 percent to $150m. It was a good effort in a tight advertising market, but the rising star of the business is the 'out-of-home' (billboard) arm. Revenue was up nearly $6m (12 percent) to $51m. An increasing amount of that revenue came from programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) sales which jumped 83 percent compared with the market average of 23 percent. pDOOH is an automated system where buyers can set the conditions (ie. time of day, location, weather conditions etc.) under which they would buy slots and when providers agree the ads are automatically sent to digital billboards. Given that the radio market is mature and close to being maxed-out in revenue terms the out-of-home business is increasingly important to MediaWorks. Unlike other forms of media, out-of-home can't be blocked, muted or skipped. If you are in the vicinity of a billboard you are going to see it. MediaWorks' chairman, Barclay Nettlefold, who represents the owners, Australian private equity firm Quadrant, will be patting himself on the back for appointing Wendy Palmer to the CEO role in August 2023. Nettlefold took himself off the board after Cam Wallace, a former Air New Zealand executive, was appointed CEO in 2021. Wallace's two-year reign was marked by the expensive failure of Today FM. The talkback station was MediaWorks' challenge to Newstalk ZB but failed to fire despite millions being poured into it. After Wallace resigned to take up a role at Qantas, Nettlefold rejoined the board and hired Palmer. Palmer, who had previously been head of radio at MediaWorks when it also owned TV3, is known for her focus on revenue and deep knowledge of commercial radio. So far, Palmer has resisted the temptation to tackle Newstalk ZB head-on like Wallace did. It means a tantalisingly large pot of money is out of reach, but Palmer has stayed focused on the music brands and cut costs. The wages bill is down $2 million year-on-year. The company is still losing money, $16m in the latest financial year, but this is due to the high debt level if carries, a legacy of the company's past. The interest bill for the latest financial year was $20 million. Changing of the PR guard If further proof was needed that the world of public relations consultancies has evolved significantly in New Zealand it came at last week's PRINZ awards. Pead PR won the supreme award for its role in the promoting the world's biggest haka at Eden Park last year and other categories were dominated by newer firms like One Plus One Communications and Special PR. One Plus One won Large Consultancy of the Year. Last year it shared the accolade with Special PR which was runner-up this time. Some of the big-name firms of the past either didn't enter or didn't feature. In the past year, former heavyweight Senate has closed. And major players like Sweeney Vesty, Baldwin Boyle and Network PR don't operate at the scale they once did. Industry leaders Deborah Pead and Claudia Macdonald (Mango Communications) have recently eased back or retired. One Plus One's Kelly Bennett, Max Burt and Special's Kelly Grindle are at the forefront of the generational change flowing through the local PR industry. Anna Cottrell honoured Wellington journalist and documentary maker Anna Cottrell is made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King's Birthday honours list. Cottrell started her career as a TV reporter on 'The South Tonight' a regional news programme in Christchurch in 1978. Her passion for current affairs saw her quickly move to directing longer items on TV One's Close Up. In 1988 Cottrell became a freelance documentary maker and her work focused on the experience of immigrants in New Zealand. Her interest in military history led to a television series on The Great War and the impact it had on people's lives. The five-part series (33 episodes) screened on TV3. Most recently, Cottrell produced Shine On Katherine Mansfield a series about the legacy of New Zealand's famous short story writer. Cottrell, who is known for her dedication to the craft and humility told Newsroom 'I only accepted it [the honour] on the last possible day on behalf of the film crews, editors, graphic designers, and musicians – my colleagues over many years.'
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Mike Hosking, Newstalk ZB rule the airwaves as radio industry celebrates weekly jump in listeners
After ZB, MediaWorks music stations fill out the top five - The Breeze, The Rock, More FM, Magic. '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. 'Newstalk ZB has been the country's number one commercial radio station for 17 years – a phenomenal achievement.' The radio industry is celebrating an overall increase in listenership. Total weekly reach increased 2% to 3.5 million listeners. 'What a cracking way to start the year,' said The Radio Bureau chief executive Alistair Jamison. 'The first survey of 2025 shows growth in weekly listeners, growth in daily listeners, growth in time spent listening and growth in average audience. More people listening, more often and for longer has to be great for advertisers.' NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said: 'What we're witnessing in audio audience growth across many global markets is mirrored here in New Zealand. 'When great content reaches listeners on their terms, across any device they choose, it creates a powerful connection which is compelling for advertisers. 'These results are a testament to audio's enduring and evolving relevance in people's lives.' MediaWorks chief executive Wendy Palmer said: 'Three-quarters of NZ continue to listen to commercial radio each week and this is in-part due to the continued growth in accessibility of our content. Device-based listening has grown 7.7% since last year, with over 900,000 Kiwis listening on a device each week.'
