KEY POINTS:
Media bosses are facing an uncertain advertising market as advertisers gaze into crystal balls and stall marketing commitments.
Rick Osborne of ad industry lobby group Caanz insisted that some advertisers - including big brands - were not cutting back.
But industry veteran Martin Gillman of media buyer Total Media said that agencies - which get some of their revenue on commission on media spending - are out of pocket in the uncertain market.
It is not just media and advertising that face a jittery period as they wait to see how hard the global crisis will directly hit the New Zealand economy.
But it is especially nerve-racking for an industry that makes a lot of its revenue in the fourth quarter.
Newspapers were already facing a big shakeup from the growth of online media, so they are at the cutting edge in this advertising downturn.
APN News & Media - publisher of the Herald - announced this week it was reviewing staff levels, joining rival Fairfax Media, which is already making job cuts.
APN New Zealand chief executive Martin Simons said cuts across the group were due to the downturn in the economy and noted a fall in job vacancies and property sales - both staples for newspaper advertising.
Television ad time is sold more in advance. A well-placed source said the fourth quarter had been sold out but with lower yields to the broadcasters.
Television Broadcasters Council chief executive Rick Friesen said television would not be immune from an advertising downturn. "Everybody just has to tighten their belts a little."
But Friesen said advertisers who were cashed up and had no problems with the credit squeeze had an advantage in gaining market share.
Radio, magazines and billboards are also facing an uncertain time, although online advertising promoters - some part of traditional media companies - are still talking double-digit growth.
Interactive Advertising Board chief executive Mark Evans said the increase might go from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.
Magazine Publishers Association executive John McClintock said the market had definitely changed and marketing spending was being cut.
Car advertising, a staple for many magazines, was down. But some niche magazines had low overheads and were weathering the storm.
Radio Broadcasters Association executive director David Innes said the market had been difficult since July and national advertising through the Radio Bureau was hit harder than local advertising.
STRIDE STEPS DOWN
Nick Stride has stepped down as editor of Fairfax's business newspaper the Independent and is moving to a solely writing role.
Stride, who is responsible for the Indie's "Chalkie" column and who in a previous role at National Business Review wrote the Shoeshine column, will replace the Indie's senior writer Denise McNabb, who has been appointed Australian correspondent for Fairfax New Zealand on a three-year contract.
Fairfax Media managing editor of business David Gadd said the change had been planned for several months and the company would be advertising for a replacement.
One name being mentioned as a possible replacement for Stride is Nick Bryant, a former news editor at NBR whom Stride made wine columnist.
Gadd declined to comment and said he did not know who would be applying for the role.
MANA FROM HEAVEN
Maori Television faces its biggest challenge yet with a $5.4 million taxpayers' investment in a new 13-part drama series of half-hour episodes based on the Margaret Mahy book Kaitangata Twitch that will begin at 8pm on July 27 next year.
Maori Television currently attracts a tiny audience so the series is a big call from the funding agency New Zealand On Air, which is putting in $3.5 million, with $1.2 million coming from Maori funding agency Te Mangai Paho and a further $585,000 from Maori TV itself.
NZ On Air chief executive Jane Wrightson said part of the appeal of the project - which is produced by Yvonne Mackay - was that it would run in prime time at 8pm, when it was difficult to get broadcasters to show drama.
She said that the terms of the arrangement meant that the series had a long life and would receive a number of showings.
Maori TV said the series would include around 30 per cent Maori-language content.
NZ On Air pumped millions of dollars into the early days of TV3 when it had tiny audiences.
HOLMESY AHOY
Paul Holmes will be taking over Mike Hoskings' role as Saturday morning host on Newstalk ZB after Hosking takes over Holmes' breakfast spot on January 16.
Newstalk ZB general manager Bill Francis said Holmes would also provide a one-minute taped commentary each weekday.
Francis - who is himself to retire soon - said Holmes' last day would be December 19.
Meanwhile, it is understood that Holmes is still coming to terms with his new role once he leaves Newstalk. Come June, he will be hosting a "private cruise" with his partner, Deborah, on the North African coast. Guests will pay $23,000 plus.
Organisers for the cruise on the MV Callisto described Holmesy as "an entertaining conversationalist and excellent travelling companion".
DRESSING DOWN
Television New Zealand is telling its image makers to rethink the way they are dressing up One News presenter Wendy Petrie.
It is understood the move follows a marketing focus group which suggested designer gear was damaging her image and credibility with serious news watchers.
Bosses want her to wear more serious business suits.
TVNZ went down a similar road, allowing Kate Hawkesby to become a clothes horse for designers to the point that her designer flurries started to detract from the news. I'll bet that was an issue Tony Veitch never had to worry about.
SIXES AND SEVENS
I have become a convert to the free-to-air digital platform Freeview - due in part to the fact Freeview has loaned me a flash Sony high-definition television set that allows me to watch TV One, TV2 and TV3 in crystal-clear digital HD images.
In particular, though, I've shifted much of my television news viewing to TVNZ 7.
But the success of the channel - and the fact I spend more time watching small free-to-air-channels like C4 and Prime - got me wondering about the rationale behind Freeview and its two taxpayer-funded channels TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7.
The aim of the two digital channels, given $78 million of Government funding, is to provide an incentive for people to buy a Freeview tuner so that once there are enough digital homes at Freeview and Sky TV the Government will be able to switch off the analogue TV signals which can then be sold to mobile phone companies, giving the state a big payoff.
Well, that's the theory. But after a little while it has become apparent that TVNZ wants its channels to succeed, but not too much.
It would not take a lot of money spent on repeat shows to make TVNZ 6 and TVNZ 7 even more popular than they are now. But the last thing TVNZ needs is to take viewers away from its other channels.
The reality is TVNZ will not want its ad-free digital channels to become so popular they start to undermine its main channels TV One and TV2.
TVNZ has a huge vault of programming repeats that it could run on digital channels and which would attract a niche audience.
Another repeat of the entire Sopranos would - I'm sure - have a small audience but it would attract viewers to the digital channels and that would hasten the digital uptake.
But TVNZ digital boss Eric Kealey says that is not the business plan. Digital channels are focused on local content, minority audiences and TVNZ public service responsibilities.
MISQUOTED
Radio New Zealand spokesman John Barr had good reason to be aggrieved after a sub-editing error in last week's column.
This columnist's comment about the relationship between RNZ and Labour was wrongly attributed to the RNZ public relations man.
The state broadcaster did not say Labour had a sense of ownership towards RNZ.
The error was corrected in the Herald last week, but the correction deserves repeating this week.
