Media Matters: Broadening demographics & shedding staff

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In this instalment of Media Matters, NBR Radio’s Jason Walls chats with Campbell Gibson and Nick Grant about the inner workings of New Zealand’s media industrial complex.

Mr Gibson gets things rolling by talking about an article in this week’s NBR print edition by Chelsea Armitage. It covers TVNZ’s latest research, ‘Is 65 the new 55?’, which explores the consumer habits and advertising perspectives of 1000 Kiwis aged 55 to 75.

The key demographic for TV advertising is 25-54, mainly because they’re considered the breadwinners and are harder to reach.

Mr Gibson notes one of the main findings of the research is that there is an acceptance of ageing and the need to seize the day at 65, which brings an invigorated approach to life, directly affecting the demographics’ view on advertising.

Essentially, the denizens of the older demographic say they’re sick of funeral ads and want a bit more humour injected in advertising that targets them.

New Zealand has an increasingly ageing population, so Mr Gibson reckons it’s a good conversation to have. Extending the key demographic would clearly be in TVNZ’s favour though, because it has an older audience than MediaWorks-owned TV3.

While TV3 didn’t respond to a request for comment, Mr Gibson believes the company would be less interested in broadening its key demographic, as its programming strategy tends to skew younger.

Shedding staff, hiring contractors

Mr Grant reports there’s nothing much to report regarding further anticipated departures from the NZ Herald, despite an internal email from managing editor Shayne Currie having promised another announcement early last week about people whose “roles have also been impacted” by changes at the NZME publication.

One thing he is happy to confirm, however, is that the media column written by John Drinnan – who it had been believed was among those about to be eased out of the door – will continue, although Mr Grant understands Mr Drinnan will now be supplying the copy as a contractor/contributor, rather than a staff member.

It seems likely he won’t be the only one to find his employment relationship changed this way. Indeed, there’s been an increasing trend of shedding staff and leaning on contractors for quite some time now in the New Zealand media industry – the evolution of Bauer Media’s Metro magazine has been a clear example of this.

Of course, such an approach makes perfect corporate sense from a cost-cutting perspective as it means savings on such staff entitlements as paid holidays, though it does carry the risk of journalists becoming disgruntled and leaving  the industry altogether.

Based on his own experience, Mr Grant notes being a freelance journalist can be a tough gig if you’re not especially inclined to take an entrepreneurial approach to your career (he wasn’t) and far from financially rewarding, given freelance rates in New Zealand have been largely static for almost two decades.

There are examples of journalists who appear to thrive as contractors, however. A case in point is Toby Manhire, whose local clients include the NZ Herald, The Spinoff, Radio NZ and, until recently in any case, the Listener.