KEY POINTS:
Sky Television is making a promotional push for its latest pornography channel Fresh TV with a tongue-in-cheek advertising commercial set in small town New Zealand.
The pay-per-view channel was launched six months ago.
Adult channels are a big earner on pay-per-view services and Sky is promoting Fresh TV with its new website thinkfilthy.co.nz.
The ad campaign made by DDB Advertising could be viewed as slightly coy or incredibly crass depending on the viewer's outlook.
Sky advertising by DDB has traditionally been one of the big winners in past advertising awards and has focused on a sharp sense of humour.
We wonder if Sky will be including the Fresh TV ad in its annual meeting later this year when it traditionally shows off its ads to sharebrokers.
DDB executive creative director Toby Talbot said the campaign - which does not show sex scenes but includes a number of raunchy double entendres - had been fun to make.
The ad was freely available on the internet yesterday morning but was off the web later in the day.
Certainly it is likely to be a hit with the advertising creative folk.
O'Brien said the advertising would be in male-focused magazines such as M2, Maxim and in Truth.
It is understood there is also a viral element to the campaign, though O'Brien would not comment on that.
O'Brien described the level of adult content for Fresh as "the next level" from Playboy but said he could not talk about the content because he had not seen it.
Sky has sought to keep its income from such adult fare low key and it is difficult to find any reference to pay-per-view adult fare on the Sky TV main website.
But it is understood that commercially adult fare has been successful with the content cheap to buy and offering high margins.
The greatest demand is believed to be during daytime mornings.
Chief executive John Fellet has said about half of Sky's pay-per-view revenue comes from its two adult channels.
Sky might be shy about talking about adult fare, but not so shy in promoting it commercially.
Sky-owned Prime recently ran a billboard in the Auckland CBD that included a large phallus promoting its show The World's Largest Penis.
The company is announcing its annual results today,
It's colder outside
Speaking of outdoor advertising, the Outdoor Marketing Association of New Zealand yesterday reported its first-half results for this year.
Net revenue for the group to June 2007 decreased by $1.9 million or 6 per cent year-on-year.
The Outdoor Marketing Association said the first half reflected the impact of an Auckland City Council billboard bylaw review combined with an uncertain economy.
All of the shortfall was recorded in the first quarter from January to March, when the industry was lobbying to stop the council banning billboards in the Auckland CBD.
Revenue rebounded in the second quarter, with good forward orders into the second half of this year.
Ready to pounce
Australian owners for The Greater Union cinema chain are cashed up if there is any play for the SkyCity Cinema assets.
SkyCity meets tomorrow and some brokers expect the firm will make it clear whether it will sell its cinema chain.
Across the Tasman, Amalgamated Holdings - which owns The Greater Union - has sold its half of movie distribution business Roadshow Distributors to Village Roadshow for A$129.4 million ($151 million).
Amalgamated has said the sale would not affect its cinema joint venture with Village Roadshow.
And it is is reported as saying the proceeds from the sale would be used to repay debt and fund property development.
But if it wanted to go into cinema acquisitions, now would be a good time.
The cinema business is in a state of flux, with SkyCity Cinema tipped for sale here and Hoyts likely to follow in Australia.
* An item last week referred to Greater Union as a US-based company. It is Australian.
Which way Rialto?
If SkyCity does sell it will be interesting to see what happens to its 50 per cent stake in Rialto Cinemas.
The arthouse Rialto Cinemas are operated by a joint venture between SkyCity Entertainment and Reading Cinemas.
The chain has six cinemas nationwide with a total of 23 screens in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin.
One view within the cinema industry is that a breakaway from SkyCity might be a good thing.
As it stands, according to a source familiar with the situation, Hamilton's future is in doubt. It is part of the Centreplace shopping centre, which is being refurbished.
Wellington has limits to its lease and is expected to have to move but at the moment has nowhere to go.
Christchurch is in need of work and Dunedin is earmarked to become a SkyCity cinema.
Given Readings 50 per cent stake it would be suprising if the chain were split.
Whatever happens the recently refurbished Rialto in Newmarket will be the jewel in the crown, the industry insider said.
We may know more about SkyCity Cinema plans on Monday, when the company announces its annual results.
Alternative ratings
It was mentioned last week that the Auckland radio ratings survey starts on September 1, setting the pricing structure for people advertising on radio.
The other new factor affecting radio ratings is that publicly owned and commercial-free Radio New Zealand - which does not take part in the RBA survey conducted by Research International - has begun conducting its own research through ACNielsen.
The new RNZ research on all radio stations listenership is nationwide so the sample sizes are too small for small centres and results not comparable to the RBA's.
Rather than being two short survey periods which can be affected by promotional activity, it is a rolling survey.
It might not be comparable but it would surely be useful to ad agencies who are selling ad campaigns in big centres or nationally. But RNZ will not be selling on the information it collects about commercial stations.
Not for sale
APN News & Media chief executive Brendan Hopkins has dismissed speculation that the company is looking to sell off its New Zealand Magazines division.
Apparently New Zealand Magazines staff were told as much yesterday. Speculation seems to have coincided with the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures.
These showed the Listener continuing to fall slowly - like other current affairs magazines - the NZ Woman's Weekly holding firm and the youth focused Creme up by 22 per cent.
