Ben Willee, Executive Director – Media and Data at Spinach Advertising, talks to Evan Lucas on Nine Radio’s Money News about Streaming quotas, changes at 10 News+, social media bans and more.
Listen to Ben speak here:
Check out the podcast here:
Money News: Ben Willee, Executive Director of Media & Data for Spinach Advertising
Or read the transcript:
Evan Lucas (Host)And there could be a win for local media content makers soon, with proposed changes to streaming quotas by the government under the plan. Streaming services would need to spend 10% of local costs on Australian content, opening up the door for more action for producers, editors and actors here at home in this country. Not a bad idea, but will it work? Ben Willee is the Executive Director of Media and Data for Spinach Advertising, and as he does every fortnight, he joins me here on Money News. Ben, good to talk again.
Ben WilleeG’day Evan great to be here.
Evan Lucas (Host)So the government wants streamers to produce more local content. This can’t be a bad idea, but will it actually move the dial? And what actually qualifies under the law changes?
Ben WilleeWell, it’s a great question and it would appear that the streamers are being given the choice between investing more than 10% of their local expenditure on commissioning Australian content, or 7.5% of their local revenue. So, let’s look at Netflix as a good example, we’ve got about a billion dollars worth of revenue here in Australia, so they would be obliged under this new regime to spend approximately 100 million creating local content. Now, some estimates are saying that this is going to increase the industry in excess of around $300 million so great news for the local industry, and also for anyone who’s been sitting on a half written script about a quirky regional cop with a dark past.
Evan Lucas (Host)So, that brings on do we actually want to consume local Australian productions? I think one of the greatest things about streaming is being the access to TV from every part of the world, is it going to work?
Ben Willee
Well, we’re certainly going to create more and it’s a really good question, how do you define local content? The listeners might remember films like The Matrix and The Great Gatsby that were filmed here but weren’t Australian movies but if we go by the screen Australia rules, it probably means it’s got to be Australian content. And I think to pass the pub test, it’s got to feel Aussie, not just filmed here while the production company pockets a rebate and flies back to the US first class.
Ironically 7, 9 and 10 aren’t happy about this new arrangement because they have a view that there are limited local resources in production and that this is going to increase their cost of doing business.
Speaking of local productions, 10 News+, meant to be the shiny/serious replacement for the project, has had already a bit of a run in. It’s only months old, it’s been cut down from an hour to half an hour, is that going to fix the program’s already troubled issues?
Ben Willee
Well, yeah, I mean this is 10’s third crack at fixing news and four months ago they’ve launched a new show called 10 News+ and the ratings have been terrible, there’s no way you can spin it. They’re trying to say they’ve got a high share of young people, but as my dad would say, they’ve got two fifths of five eighths of stuff all.
What this really comes down to is, they’re competing against the stalwarts of news, which are really 7 and 9 and the real problem here is changing news. Changing habits for news is very, very difficult.
So, this 10 News+ replaced the project which was apparently too costly but it had a higher rating. Now they’re in a bit of a death spiral, so what happens in January is 10 News+ will go from one hour to half an hour.
They’ve said they don’t want to replicate a show like A Current Affair, given the way that TV show rates and how successful it has been, don’t you think they’d want to learn from that success rather than trying to distance themselves from it?
Ben WilleeWell, you would, but they’re taking a completely different tack. And so no A Current Affair, but certainly deja vu. And you can make the argument that nostalgia is cheaper to produce then the news and A Current Affair so the shortened news will now be followed by a game show (surprise, surprise) called Deal or No Deal, presented by Grant Denyer and we’ve seen that in the schedule a lot before. But also at 7pm, Rebecca Gibney will host a sort of new version of Millionaire Hot Seat, which was popularised by Eddie McGuire and had previously been on the Nine Network. So, yeah, they’re going back to proven formats that are certainly cheaper to produce than News and A Current Affair.
Evan Lucas (Host)One thing that you and I have been talking about probably over the last six months is Seven West, and everything that’s going on with it. They’re also in the news again this week, Seven West has had its strike against its remuneration at its AGM. Is there worry about the direction, particularly now that that merger with SCA looks quite tricky as well?
Ben Willee
If that merger goes ahead, and it’s not confirmed yet, you know Kerry Stokes possible last AGM is always going to be lively and I think it’s lively because it’s eight years now without a dividend and that’ll fire up your shareholders a bit. Maybe they finally got their money’s worth in drama at Thursday’s AGM where more than 35% of shareholders voted against the 2025 remuneration report. Listeners probably know that a vote of 25% or more of shareholders triggers what’s defined as a strike so they haven’t been paying bonuses to their executives for the last two years because they haven’t been hitting their targets.
There’s a lot of people saying the real benefit of this merger actually is to Seven shareholders at the expense of Southern Cross shareholders. A reminder that Southern Cross is the radio group that owns the Triple M network and the Hit Radio network. So, on the surface, there’s a few more hoops to jump through but, you know, they’re in a difficult place Seven, and some big changes need to happen for them to sort of move forward.
Talking about big changes, Foxtel has announced its changes to its board after its takeover by Dazn earlier this year, are we expecting bigger changes yet or will they approach things a bit more slowly?
Ben Willee
No, we’re definitely expecting big things from this mob. And we’re impressed with Foxtel, you could make the argument that they’ve been the most dynamic media company in Australia in the last ten years. They’ve pivoted from a set top box company to a streaming company and they’re maintaining just under 3 billion AUD in revenue, and they’ve held on to the AFL, the NRL and F1 and in that short time, brands like Kayo and Binge have become household names. They’ve added a few new people to their board, one of which is a former communications minister turned lobbyist, Stephen Conroy, and the Amaysim founder Peter O’Connell.
So, if you pardon the pun, they’re going to take some big swings and they might not always get it right, but they’re backed by billionaires who’ve got a global appetite for sports broadcasting. I expect they’re going to continue to go for it and I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like.
And just finally, we’ve now seen seven social media companies being banned out of the government’s plan for under sixteens. Were you surprised by who made that list and who was left off?
Ben Willee
Not really. The government on Tuesday night finally revealed the list of nine tech companies, and it’ll only be a month away, they’ll be forced to block signed in access to their services or risk paying a fine of oddly numbered 49.5 million. The final list is Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, X, Reddit, and Kick.
So, the government’s drawn a line in the sand but we’ve got to remind ourselves we’re talking about teenagers, Australia’s most morally flexible generation, and they’ve probably already found a way to put a VPN tunnel under that line in the sand. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a legal challenge and I wouldn’t be surprised if kids find a workaround for this, because they love technology and they want to keep using it. And certainly a lot of that older group have already been conditioned, and feel like that can’t live without it so we’ll all no doubt be watching very closely.
Ben Willee, as always, thank you for joining Money News.
Ben WilleeThanks very much for having me, Evan.
