Mike's Minute: Linear TV in NZ is in trouble

The stark reality of linear TV in New Zealand, if Irene Gardiner was right on yesterday's show, is fairly simple. 

Here is how the calculation works: you make a product, you stick it on air, you get an audience, and you sell advertising based on that audience. 

Some programs can never hope to get the sort of audience to pay for the cost of the show. Enter Government support or brand sponsorship – in other words, a financial support mechanism to make a show that would not have otherwise been made. 

I made a show called ‘Sunday’ years back. It was on TV3 on the weekend off peak. It didn’t rate very well, but it was never going to, but it rated fairly well for what it was, which was a niche program talking about the arts. 

It was made with NZ On Air money. 

Now, does Treasure Island attract more viewers than that? Yes. 

So if you are going to toss money at something why not that? You get more bang for buck. 

But the money tree hasn’t got more money, so someone loses. Maybe it's an arts program. 

The really scary thing is the calculation around peak time i.e. prime time. 

This show makes money and quite a lot of it. Newstalk ZB is profitable. TVNZ and TV3 are not. 

So what about pay-per-view? SkyTV is profitable, but they have sport. 

What does TV3 or TVNZ have that you would pay for? Would you pay to watch Treasure Island? Of course you wouldn’t. 

So prime time linear TV is not profitable because the advertising dollars have vanished to Google and TikTok and Meta. 

That is not changing and that’s the problem, because all that's left is the taxpayer. 

The big question is to what extent should the taxpayer fund your evening's entertainment? And when I say you, I mean those who are left watching the TV as opposed to YouTube or Netflix. 

If linear TV can't make a buck at 7.30pm on a Wednesday, how long before the lights get switched off? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the stark reality of New Zealand linear television. If
Irene Gardener, who was on the program at this time yesterday,
was right, it's fairly simple. So here's how the calculation works.
You make a product, right, you stick it on air,
You get an audience, You sell advertising based on that audience. Now,
some programs can never hope to get the sort of
audience to pay for the cost of the show inter
government support or brand sponsorship, in other words, of financial

(00:21):
support mechanism to make a show that would not otherwise
have been made. Now, I made a show Sunday years back.
It was on TV three on the weekend off peak.
Didn't rate very well, but it was never going to.
But it rated fairly well for what it was, which
was a niche program talking about the arts. It was
made with New Zealand on air money. Now does Treasure
Island attract more views than that? Yes, it does. So

(00:43):
if you're going to toss money it's something, why not
toss it at that more bang for buck. But the
money tree hasn't got more money, so somebody loses. Maybe
it's an arts program. Now, the really scary thing is
the calculation around peak time, primetime This is what I
learned yesterday. See this show that My Asking Breakfast makes money,
lots of money, lot of money. Actually ZB is profitable,
TV and Z and TV three are not. So what

(01:04):
about pay for view Sky TV that's profitable, but they've
got the sport. What does TV three or TV and
Z have that you would pay for? I mean, would
you pay to watch TREASUREIL And of course you wouldn't.
So primetime linear television is not profitable apparently because advertising
dollars have vanished. A Google TikTok and meta Now that's
not going to change game's over and that is the
problem because all that has left, if you think about it,

(01:26):
is the taxpayer. The big question is to what extent
should the taxpayer fund your evening's entertainment? And when I
say you, I mean those who are left watching the
teally as opposed to YouTube or Netflix. If linear television
can't make a bucket seven to thirty on a Wednesday night,
how long before the lights get switched off? For more
from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talks

(01:47):
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