news articles 23 march

[Inside Australian Idol]

Britney still on top
March 23, 2004

Songstress Britney Spears maintains her number one spot this week with her single Toxic.

The Black Eyed Peas debut at number four with Hey Mama, while Australian Idols Shannon Noll and Guy Sebastian both fall three spots with their singles What About Me and All I Need is You.

In the albums chart, George Michael's latest release Patience makes its debut at number 2.

Australian Singles chart

1 (1) Toxic - Britney Spears (JIVE/BMG)
2 (2) Superstar - Jamelia (CAP/EMI)
3 (4) Turn me on - Kevin Lyttle (EW/WAR)
4 (-) Hey Mama - Black Eyed Peas (INI/UMA)
5 (12)Suga Suga - Baby Bash (INI/UMA)
6 (3) What about me - Shannon Noll (BMG)
7 (8) The Way You Move - Outkast (BMG)
8 (9) My Immortal - Evanescence (EPI/SONY)
9 (5) Milkshake - Kelis (VIR/EMI)
10 (7) All I Need Is You - Guy Sebastian (BMG)

Australian albums chart

1 (1) Sunrise Over the Sea - The John Butler Trio (JAR/MGM)
2 (-) Patience - George Michael (EPI/SONY)
3 (2) Feeler - Pete Murray (COL/SONY)
4 (3) That's What I'm Talking About - Shannon Noll (BMG)
5 (4) Fallen - Evanescence (EPI/SONY)
6 (5) Feels Like Home - Norah Jones (EMI)
7 (9) On and On - Jack Johnson (MOD/UMA)
8 (6) Elephunk - Black Eyed Peas (A&M/UMA)
9 (11)Get Born - Jet (CAP/EMI)
10 (7) Blink 182 - Blink 182 (GEF/UMA)

AAP

www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079823285186.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Ten hit by reality check
By Christian Catalano
March 23, 2004

Ten Network says the dismal ratings performance of its new reality series The Resort and The Hothouse is likely to cost it more than $1 million in make-good advertising spots to its clients.

The admission followed the latest TV ratings release yesterday, which showed the all-conquering Nine Network had extended its lead among 16-to-39-year-olds, a demographic Ten has dominated in recent years.

Nine, which snared nine of the top 10 programs last week, has 35.9 per cent of this key audience group for the year to date, compared with 34.1 per cent for Ten. Seven Network has just 30 per cent, but media buyers noted that its new push into reality TV led by My Restaurant Rules was also affecting Ten.

Ten Network's corporate relations manager, Jim Carroll, said that despite disappointments such as The Resort - which was axed last week - the new programs had allowed Ten to attract new advertisers that would stay with the network.

"There is a make-good situation. But it's about maintaining those customer links for when other product comes along."

Mr Carroll said he still believed the network would come out on top among younger viewers this year "when our core products like Big Brother, Australian Idol and the AFL start to kick in."

Media buyer Harold Mitchell said that while Nine had been the tearaway ratings winner so far this year, it was Ten that had recorded a 20 per cent rate increase from clients, well ahead of the other two networks.

"That's because Ten is a much lower-cost operation," he said. "Even though Nine might be getting more of Ten's target audience, it might charge 30 per cent more for that spot because they're attracting lots of other viewers as well."

The official figures for week six of the ratings season show Nine scored 39.6 per cent of the prime-time commercial audience, with Seven getting 31.5 per cent of viewers and Ten 28.9 per cent.


www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939580020.html

[Inside Australian Idol]

Idol beats off the competition
23 March 2004

By JANE BOWRON
One is spoilt for choice for Sunday night tube watching and you are one sorry so-and-so if you don't own at least two televisions and two videos to record the 7.30pm slot.


TV One's Sunday programme screened a gripping interview with Louise Nicholas and her family and TV3's 20/20 investigation into allegations of a corrupt and violent culture operating within the New Zealand police force was also a must-see. But TV2's NZ Idol, as commercial and gladiatorial as it might be, is still the only game in town.

With sour notes being struck over the cost of text voting, reckless punting and questions being asked over the wisdom of NZ on Air providing funding, the ratings started to fall. But they picked up this past Sunday, shooting up by nearly 100,000 from the previous Sunday (in the five-plus age demographic).

NZ on Air has grub-staked the show to the tune of $18,000 an episode and with the show running to approximately 30 episodes over three months, that comes to about half a million dollars. I have to say approximately here because the programmers may decide to slip more shows on midweek in the manner of Australian Idol, where the focus was on the dynamic of the Idol house and the relationships between competitors.

NZ on Air money was granted to the show on the proviso that if Idol was a hit, the money would be given back, which must be a somewhat novel, almost speculative, practice for a government funding agency.

We have had only the larger Idol shows from Australia and America broadcast here, but it is highly unlikely that those shows received any government funding.

Though it was wonderful to see that Sunday night's Idol theme was home-grown music, which means that local songwriters would have received 50 per cent of the royalties from those performances, this may be the only real effort during the next few weeks to promote local songwriters.

In the first show of the final 10, three New Zealand songs were picked by the singers, which demonstrates there has been a shift in the consciousness, that homegrown is now accepted as world class, mainstream even, and that young Kiwi crooners are officially culture cringe-free.

The final 10 Idol competitors recently recorded their "hit" single, the song Yesterday Was Just The Beginning Of My Life.

It matters not that this song was sung by Kiwi entertainer Mark Williams and made famous by him when he released it in 1975 – it was written by George Young and Harry Vanda of the Australian band the Easybeats, so the royalties for this latest recording will be Aussie-bound.

What a pity. If NZ on Air has been generous enough to put up the bridging money for NZ Idol to evolve, then it should have been able to call a few shots.

Such as? An emphasis on singing New Zealand songs, thus promoting and nourishing the local culture and talent.

One has only to look across the ditch to see how well Shannon, the runner-up in Aussie Idol, did by belting out emblematic songs by his countryman Jimmy Barnes. He wasn't my cup of tea but it was easy to see why he came to represent to many Aussies the quintessential Australian Idol.

Sunday night's show with guest Annie Crummer, who out-communicated the judges and gave such great and good-natured advice, was humming along nicely till Luke took to the stage and just tore it up.

Saddled with the reputation of a one-trick pony, he ripped into his song like a wild hungry bear, shook it by its neck, threw it round the room a couple of times and finally brought it home to a stunned audience left reeling in their plastic seats.

Crummer "nailed" it in her judge's summing up, saying Luke had just done a two-hour concert in two minutes.

How right she was and how sorry I was that my VCR was whirring away on another channel.

I'd give anything to see Luke sing that song again. He's not a star, he's the Benmore Dam, the Ross Sea, the Pink and White Terraces and Krakatoa all rolled into one. What a fantastic eruption.

www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2853344a1869,00.html