The winner takes all, it's the thrill...
Who will come up with the goods, and assure themselves a sweet, sweet victory?
This is the finale of Content Survey Live for 2023.
Welcome to the final night, of Content Survey Live for 2023, after last night's performance by Perth: it is openly feeling more and more like things will go Melbourne's way tonight.
The scores after last night:
Melbourne, 7/10 (requiring a night score over 3.75/10 tonight to claim the Content Survey Live title for 2023)
Melbourne, 7/10 (requiring a night score over 3.75/10 tonight to claim the Content Survey Live title for 2023)
Perth: 10.75/20.
But first, for one last time:
The rules of combat... I mean survey are as follows:
The Ground Rules:
Our focus, in Content Survey Live will be monitoring Ten’s five capital city news services (a benefit of technological change, now allowing us to watch interstate bulletins on delay), using the same criteria we used in the “Great Local News Study” from Kuttsy's Pitch XI in August, 2019.
-Locally sourced stories: that is stories reported by local journos. Really big local market stories with national impacts, also fit here. Voiced over local stories are counted separately.
-Live crosses: stuff that is used to embellish a story.
-Weather is not counted.
-Sport is not counted if it’s done by obviously freelance journos, or voiced over pieces: you gotta have dedicated reporters there, with their mug on air reporting a sports story for it to count.
-And finally: Ten Brisbane will have it’s Gold Coast content tracked during it’s nights: something that has become a tradition in itself.
Melbourne on Monday night, showed it's bravado. The fact it stared down the beast that was Perth, and took home the lead, is nothing short of a miracle. Melbourne knows Fridays well: when this journey began in August 2020, the city drew a Friday night, and came close to winning the first of these events: back when Sydney and Brisbane still had standalone bulletins. Tonight is a task not many dare to answer... but after Perth's performance, this year, has proved that even the best has their weak points sometimes.
For the last time in 2023...
Are you ready to survey some content?
We open tonight's bulletin with a raid on a illegal casino in Melbourne's suburbs, followed by a verdict on a attack outside the MCG last year involving a didgeridoo (both replayed after six), a piece on tomorrow's Warrandyte by-election, a extensive piece on the completion of the Run For Road Trauma, a marathon effort by a highway patrol officer running from Mildura to Melbourne, followed by the announcement of a second Long Walk from Melbourne to Canberra by AFL Hall of Famer Michael Long.
Melbourne on Monday night, showed it's bravado. The fact it stared down the beast that was Perth, and took home the lead, is nothing short of a miracle. Melbourne knows Fridays well: when this journey began in August 2020, the city drew a Friday night, and came close to winning the first of these events: back when Sydney and Brisbane still had standalone bulletins. Tonight is a task not many dare to answer... but after Perth's performance, this year, has proved that even the best has their weak points sometimes.
For the last time in 2023...
Are you ready to survey some content?
We open tonight's bulletin with a raid on a illegal casino in Melbourne's suburbs, followed by a verdict on a attack outside the MCG last year involving a didgeridoo (both replayed after six), a piece on tomorrow's Warrandyte by-election, a extensive piece on the completion of the Run For Road Trauma, a marathon effort by a highway patrol officer running from Mildura to Melbourne, followed by the announcement of a second Long Walk from Melbourne to Canberra by AFL Hall of Famer Michael Long.
One national story however caught our attention. The Greek surrogacy scandal (which broke yesterday), has seen 10 go to the effort to fly someone out to Crete in Greece.
Voiced-over pieces include, one about a upcoming senate inquiry into the 2026 Commonwealth Games cancellation, more arrests in the Ziebell attack last weekend, a truck crash in Warrnambool, a VIC MP investigated for assault (no relation to the ongoing case in WA) and a Altona double fatal car accident.
Tonight's sports coverage, is what you'd expect of Melbourne on a Friday night this close to the business end of the AFL season, including a couple of live crosses (one post 6pm), and even a brief mention of the return tomorrow night of Ryan Papenhuyzen to the Storm after a 400 day+ layoff due to injury.
The Halftime Of Our Lives.
(That’s My Team 2007 launch: from Shadow Archive on Youtube).
(The Chaser's sketch on Andrew Johns's drug problems, 2007: from Morsedog on Youtube)
(Hoodoo Gurus 2007 NRL GF performance, from stormrules917 on Youtube)
And, yes: Sterlo's right: That's My Team, is the best campaign for rugby league ever produced... that wasn't sung by Tina Turner.
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However, why would you spend the money on flying a reporter in, 10: when you could have gotten a fresh angle from the Australian Ambassador in Athens in person, instead of using a social media video released by the Australian Embassy in Athens?
Voiced-over pieces include, one about a upcoming senate inquiry into the 2026 Commonwealth Games cancellation, more arrests in the Ziebell attack last weekend, a truck crash in Warrnambool, a VIC MP investigated for assault (no relation to the ongoing case in WA) and a Altona double fatal car accident.
Tonight's sports coverage, is what you'd expect of Melbourne on a Friday night this close to the business end of the AFL season, including a couple of live crosses (one post 6pm), and even a brief mention of the return tomorrow night of Ryan Papenhuyzen to the Storm after a 400 day+ layoff due to injury.
It is fitting, we cap off tonight's survey and the Content Survey Live series of 2023 with another Must Do Melbourne segment highlighted by 10's graphics department promoting a half marathon (21.1km)... by calling it a marathon (42.2km).
Overall, Melbourne have again shown the story choice, coverage depth that has gotten them to the final week. This week has shown that Melbourne is no longer stuck to Adelaide, but not only can take it to Perth, but succeed at overtaking them: despite the absence on some nights this survey of some of 10 Melbourne's heaviest hitters on-air (and probably the best assets 10 have right now): in Jennifer Keyte and Stephen Quartermain.
The scores:
Six local stories (two rerun post-6pm)
Five voiced over stories, none rerun post-6pm
Two live crosses, one from Greece, and one from the MCG.
Sports coverage, absolutely kicking it tonight.
On Monday night, Melbourne scored a 7/10.
The score on Monday, has not changed one bit at the end of the week. 7/10, for a overall score this week of 14/20, to win the Content Survey Live Grand Final convincingly.
The final overall scores:
Eliminated in Semi Final 1: Brisbane 1.5/20
Eliminated in Semi Final 2: Sydney 4.25/20
Eliminated in the Preliminary Final, yet winning bronze: Adelaide (SF2 9/20, PF, 11.3/20)
Losing the Grand Final, yet winning silver: Perth (GF 10.75/20)
Winning the Grand Final, and the gold medal for Content Survey Live 2023, the tribe that called the loudest, and also held on the longest: Melbourne.
(SF1 17/20, PF 11.4/20, GF, 14/20)
The scores:
Six local stories (two rerun post-6pm)
Five voiced over stories, none rerun post-6pm
Two live crosses, one from Greece, and one from the MCG.
Sports coverage, absolutely kicking it tonight.
On Monday night, Melbourne scored a 7/10.
The score on Monday, has not changed one bit at the end of the week. 7/10, for a overall score this week of 14/20, to win the Content Survey Live Grand Final convincingly.
The final overall scores:
Eliminated in Semi Final 1: Brisbane 1.5/20
Eliminated in Semi Final 2: Sydney 4.25/20
Eliminated in the Preliminary Final, yet winning bronze: Adelaide (SF2 9/20, PF, 11.3/20)
Losing the Grand Final, yet winning silver: Perth (GF 10.75/20)
Winning the Grand Final, and the gold medal for Content Survey Live 2023, the tribe that called the loudest, and also held on the longest: Melbourne.
(SF1 17/20, PF 11.4/20, GF, 14/20)
Melbourne, have finally claimed a prize that has eluded them since this format's inception in 2020. And it's fitting that it's happened, the year after the plug was pulled on Melbourne and Adelaide sharing news production as a hybrid bulletin: a potential message to 10 executives concerning the future of the hybrid experiment in Brisbane and Sydney.
For Melbourne... Content Survey Live's title has finally come home, and hopefully next year... it can set up a magnificent title defence, much like what Perth has pulled since the dark days of 2020.
They will be dancing in Chapel St outside Como Centre with this news (just don't get hit by a tram doing so).
For Melbourne... Content Survey Live's title has finally come home, and hopefully next year... it can set up a magnificent title defence, much like what Perth has pulled since the dark days of 2020.
They will be dancing in Chapel St outside Como Centre with this news (just don't get hit by a tram doing so).
It is fitting, that we farewell, four weeks of content survey, with a look at how a Australian classic became the song the NRL turned to after so many ideas for promotion post Super League.
Starting with a Chumbawamba cover, to promote the new NRL in 1998, poet Thomas Kenneally in 1999, spending big on Tom Jones in 2000 (only to see thousands march through Sydney’s streets just after the Olympics in support of South Sydney which had been ejected from the NRL in late 1999… only to be reinstated to the NRL in 2002 after a legal fight), the NRL had a struggle promotion-wise to get something to stick: and it didn't help the NRL one bit that the Bulldogs salary cap issues (leading to the first significant decision by then new NRL head David Gallop: to strip 37 points from the team just weeks away from finals and a potential minor premiership win, with the Bulldogs gaining the 2002 wooden spoon) had become the dominant league story of 2002 (even eclipsing Souths's return at the start of the season)…
And, then along came a eighties track, with a band that had become iconic. 1987’s What’s My Scene, by the Hoodoo Gurus, was remixed and reborn into the “That’s My Team” campaign, with a heavy focus on the fans. David Gallop with the Hoodoo Gurus, had somehow done a repeat of what John Quayle did with Tina Turner in the late eighties: in only his second year running the NRL no less: a rugby league marketing campaign that had broad national appeal.
And, then along came a eighties track, with a band that had become iconic. 1987’s What’s My Scene, by the Hoodoo Gurus, was remixed and reborn into the “That’s My Team” campaign, with a heavy focus on the fans. David Gallop with the Hoodoo Gurus, had somehow done a repeat of what John Quayle did with Tina Turner in the late eighties: in only his second year running the NRL no less: a rugby league marketing campaign that had broad national appeal.
That's My Team 2003 Launch from Tape Ape on Youtube
(That’s My Team 2007 launch: from Shadow Archive on Youtube).
The campaign, was so successful for the NRL, a clever business in Brisbane that had risen from a merchandise stand at Dolphins QRL games, branded themselves as “What’s Your Team”, and in turn became as iconic in rugby league merchandise circles as Peter Wynn’s Score in Parramatta in Sydney while avoiding the NRL’s tentacles concerning it’s sound alike name to the NRL’s slogan.
By the time 2007 arrived, the NRL had finally returned to the size it was in 1988, sixteen teams: with the admission of the Gold Coast Titans, and the “That’s My Team” campaign was going to end, not long after The Chaser tore it to shreds…
(The Chaser's sketch on Andrew Johns's drug problems, 2007: from Morsedog on Youtube)
So, on Grand Final day in 2007, we have the Hoodoo Gurus (inducted into the ARIA hall of fame in July of that year), performing the campaign for one last time, in front of a sold out crowd at Stadium Australia. A fitting farewell for a campaign that gave the NRL promotional stability, at the time it needed it the most: something it has lacked for nearly fifteen years.
(Hoodoo Gurus 2007 NRL GF performance, from stormrules917 on Youtube)
And, yes: Sterlo's right: That's My Team, is the best campaign for rugby league ever produced... that wasn't sung by Tina Turner.
Well, the four week journey that is Content Survey Live 2023 is over. We have crowned a champion, in Melbourne (who beat the best ever to play this game and set records concerning the number of surveys done by a single city to do it) but before we leave you, we have some sharp words for the folks at 10, who have turned their once dominant position into a pile of sand in the last three years.
It is indeed time to end the hybrid nonsense concerning Sydney and Brisbane. The best option for news, is the locally presented and sourced option. It has been proven in spades this year, with the three locally focused bulletins being far higher quality than the second string product served up five nights a week to two markets that does nothing for neither market.
There is a very good reason why Melbourne, once stuck to Adelaide, chose to take the road less travelled, and walk out of this event this year as champion, despite one poor choice last week.
It is quite simply: consistency. The fact that the quality of Melbourne's news has soared with a extra 45mins to play with, is quite simply a achievement in itself: while Adelaide lifted itself from the edge of facing Brisbane for the wooden spoon in 2021 and 2022, to missing the Grand Final this year by the narrowest of margins.
I also believe, that some ideas from Perth (particularly in sports presentation) need to be taken up and embellished further by both Adelaide and Melbourne, now both news services are structurally separate, and need to become the basis of the foundation for structurally separate news services in Sydney and Brisbane.
There is a very good reason why Melbourne, once stuck to Adelaide, chose to take the road less travelled, and walk out of this event this year as champion, despite one poor choice last week.
It is quite simply: consistency. The fact that the quality of Melbourne's news has soared with a extra 45mins to play with, is quite simply a achievement in itself: while Adelaide lifted itself from the edge of facing Brisbane for the wooden spoon in 2021 and 2022, to missing the Grand Final this year by the narrowest of margins.
I also believe, that some ideas from Perth (particularly in sports presentation) need to be taken up and embellished further by both Adelaide and Melbourne, now both news services are structurally separate, and need to become the basis of the foundation for structurally separate news services in Sydney and Brisbane.
For Brisbane, it's even more important: On May 13, next year will mark the fiftieth anniversary of news on 10's Brisbane station: the last of the 1964-65 metropolitan television club in Australia to launch a full scale news operation, a product that cost $500,000 (1974 dollars) in equipment (today, adjusted for inflation: $5.1m) alone to set up. Revival for the house that John O'Loan layed the slab for five decades ago and Des McWilliam built into a powerhouse in the eighties, will need far more investment that what was required in 1974: especially as 10 Brisbane, has the worst access of all three Brisbane commercials to the stories shaped outside the capital.
Seven will call it's regional station newsrooms: all owned and operated by the network when a big story breaks outside the SE corner, Nine will either call WIN or send a journo themselves from Brisbane when a big regional story breaks , while 10 stays still, with no connections outside the SE corner: the first place that lost faith in 10's news output relevant to their state in favour of a news channel whose advertising revenue doesn't even go to the affiliate airing it (despite constantly rating a 4% share in Queensland, surely enough reason for News to let SCA have a lick of the revenue sugar cube).
Seven will call it's regional station newsrooms: all owned and operated by the network when a big story breaks outside the SE corner, Nine will either call WIN or send a journo themselves from Brisbane when a big regional story breaks , while 10 stays still, with no connections outside the SE corner: the first place that lost faith in 10's news output relevant to their state in favour of a news channel whose advertising revenue doesn't even go to the affiliate airing it (despite constantly rating a 4% share in Queensland, surely enough reason for News to let SCA have a lick of the revenue sugar cube).
If it isn’t Neighbours at 4:30, starting from mid-September that pulls 10 into line and reinstates standalone news products in NSW and Queensland with the investment required to keep pace with the competition… it may well be a Australian version of Tipping Point, coming soon to Nine (especially as the UK version at 3pm on Nine, now on some nights already now rates higher than 10’s news at 5 nationally) that will force some action.
Being beaten by coins dropping on your own turf, rather than being embarrassed beforehand: quite simply is the worst case scenario. It is up to the atomic playboys, in ivory towers both here and in the US, to turn the pile of sand… back into the promised land: with some squirreled away cash.
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