[LINK] The Australia Network

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Imho, it's $20 million bloody well spent ..
 
Australia Network: sorting fact from fiction

By Bruce Dover (Chief Executive of the Australia Network) Dec 9, 2011
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-09/dover-australia-network/3721202


The Australian (newspaper) is entitled to its views about the Australia 
Network process, but its hysteria about the outcome should not obscure 
the facts.

The feature article by Christian Kerr contains numerous errors and 
displays an ignorance of the fundamentals of international broadcasting.

For example, there is a claim that the Australia Network has an audience 
of just 140,000 a week across the Asia Pacific region. Fact: The TAM 
India Audience Reach Data based on "people meters" across 36 urban Indian 
markets, indicated that up to June 30 this year, an average 1,178,730 
people watched Australia Network each week – more than CNN and slightly 
less than the BBC.

Moreover, the latest Synovate Pan Asia Cross Media Survey (PAX ) reveals 
that about 277,193 top income earners in nine measured markets across 
Asia watch the channel each month. Given that the PAX universe represents 
less than a quarter of the Australia Network audience, the independent 
analysis required by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade puts the 
total reach at almost 1.2 million viewers.

By way of comparison, this audience is only slightly smaller than that 
reached by the Al Jazeera service (which has a budget in the order of 
$600 million a year, compared to Australia Network's $20 million), bigger 
than both the BBC Entertainment and BBC Knowledge channels and 
significantly bigger than every other rival government-funded 
broadcaster, including TV5 Monde (France), NHK World (Japan), Deutsche 
Welle (Germany) and Arirang (Korea), Russia 24 and Euronews.

Kerr's article quotes unnamed sources suggesting that the Australia 
Network programming line-up caters largely to expatriates. Yet the PAX 
survey, which is the most comprehensive in the region, shows that less 
than 10 per cent of the measured Australia Network audience is expat, 
with the vast bulk of viewers comprising citizens from regional nations. 
Furthermore, the demographic data shows the channel is hitting its target 
market of Asian "aspirationals". Australia Network viewers are more 
affluent and elite than the average PAY TV viewer in the region, and more 
likely to be in the primary target group of university-educated business 
decision-makers aged 24 to 64.

Also off the mark is the claim of client dissatisfaction. Last year, the 
DFAT conducted a comprehensive independent review of the service's 
performance over the first four years of its operation by the ABC.

The review determined that the ABC had "met or exceeded" every Key 
Performance Indicator set down by the department. These KPIs are set and 
adjusted by DFAT annually.

The ABC also established an Australia Network Editorial Advisory Board in 
2006, which includes in its membership a DFAT Deputy Secretary and a 
senior bureaucrat. At no time has DFAT raised either concerns with the 
programming or questioned the "clear focus" of the service.

The article also makes various comments about current programming on the 
Australia Network schedule. Yes, it does currently contain a high degree 
of repeats of Australian drama and some imported documentary series. What 
was not made clear is that due to the extended tender process (scheduled 
originally to have concluded last May) the ABC has been asked by DFAT to 
continue to operate the service in a "caretaker" mode with significantly 
reduced funding available for program acquisition.

The contractual arrangements with DFAT require set amounts of children's 
programming, English Language Learning, drama, documentary and news which 
must be carried every day. This is as determined by DFAT – not the ABC.

The ABC rejects any suggestion that Australia Network funding is used to 
cross subsidise other parts of the ABC. The service is examined by the 
ABC's own internal auditors, reviewed by independent external auditors 
and its annual financial statements, provided to DFAT, are subject to 
scrutiny by the Australian National Audit Office every year. Every dollar 
received from DFAT, or earned by the service, is invested in the service.

With a budget of about $20 million a year, Australia Network ranks just 
14th in the hierarchy of G20 international broadcasters. 

Yet its distribution across 46 countries and territories of the Asia-
Pacific is unrivalled by any other government broadcaster, with the 
exception of the BBC. 

In the four years to 2011, when the service was disrupted by the tender 
process, regional audiences had increased by around 20 per cent. Annual 
audience surveys continue to list Australia Network as the most dominant 
international television service in the Pacific.

Australia Network, by any objective measure, continues to deliver value 
for money to the nation.

Bruce Dover is the Chief Executive of the Australia Network.

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