Edinburgh loves a Murdoch
Liz Jaques
Elisabeth Murdoch took to the stage last night to deliver the 37th MacTaggart lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival (MGEITF) - the first female speaker to do so in 17 years. Her father, and more recently her brother, have been on the same stage… as she pointed out: "Edinburgh loves a Murdoch".
She gave a polished performance and received a standing ovation by a few, obviously led by Matthew Freud and a host of Shine personnel. She took a much more liberal stance than the rest of the Murdoch clan, praising the BBC and focusing on the value of creative content. She touched on the need for freedom of speech, hours before The Sun became the first UK newspaper to publish naked pictures of Prince Harry. Elisabeth Murdoch also tried to justify and correct provocative statements made by her younger brother James three years ago.
Elisabeth was - unsurprisingly - the least controversial Murdoch. She distanced herself from News International issues, winning a warm response from the television industry by talking about her love of TV. But she is just a small part of the three day TV festival, which finishes tomorrow. Other highlights include Greg Dyke and Lorraine Heggessey debating the BBC in-house production and commissioning, funding issues and the pressures and challenges facing the incoming BBC DG George Entwistle, recently previewed by Raymond Snoddy in Newsline.
Deloitte revealed key take-outs from its 2012 State of TV Report; while Zeebox, YouView, Xbox and Google demonstrated new connected TV and second screen products (more coverage to follow in Newsline and Connected Consumer shortly). Keith Lemon opened the festival with a very vulgar Celebrity Juice: Bang Tidy Edinburgh Special. All credit to ITV's Peter Fincham and fellow TV colleagues for being such good sports alongside team captains Holly Willoughby and Emma Bunton - the session certainly provided some of the funniest moments of the conference.
MGEITF really is a celebration of all that is good about TV - and who can argue with that!
Television
Television viewers are forecast to watch nearly a trillion ads in 2012, according to the "TV: Why?" report, published by Deloitte on behalf of the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
As Netflix pursues its assault on the UK market, Raymond Snoddy analyses the four-way OTT battle, as well as the latest Thinkbox and Deloitte research studies.
Matthew Breen, head of video / vision account manager at MPG Media Contacts, on the latest X Factor series.
90% of linear TV viewing in the UK was of live, scheduled TV channels during the first half of 2012, according to figures from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB).
Connected Consumer
NOW TV, powered by Sky, is now live on Xbox 360.
James Grant, UK country manager, Vindico, says great content on the TV, great devices that allow personal and immediate interaction, and great communication apps all demonstrate the continued growth of 'second screening'.
The rise of 'second screening' - the use of other screens, such as laptops, smartphones and tablets while watching TV - is a source of excitement and concern for many in the TV and technology industry according to a new report from Deloitte launched this week.
National Newspapers
The National Readership Survey (NRS) has confirmed that NRS PADD (Print And Digital Data) - its new dataset of combined print and website readership figures - will launch on the 10 September.
Glossy Girl & Paper Boy review the latest ABC Consumer Magazines, National Newspaper data and NRS figures.
Digital
Founder and CEO of Proxama, Neil Garner, examines what sort of impact Google's wallet proposition will have on the market.
Netflix has reached the one million subscriber milestone in the UK and Ireland.
The Future Foundation's Jason Mander gives an insight into the behaviour of Facebook fans who "like" a brand.
Google is running a series of print ads in a bid to demonstrate that online ads are more effective.
Mobile
Alistair Hill, CEO of On Device Research, says mobile brings advertisers and users closer to real world commerce transactions, providing the opportunity to bring mobile advertising CPMs in line with online CPMs.
Bryan Scott, marketing communications director at Metro,on why many brands are now ensuring that mobile is not just part of their marketing mix, but core to their purpose.
Research
The UK public have felt increasingly more proud, patriotic and happy about Britain hosting the Olympics as the 17 days of the Games progressed. Their excitement towards the forthcoming Paralympics has also intensified during the Olympics, but positivity towards sponsors has fluctuated, according to the official research provider to London 2012, Nielsen.
Opinion
Michael Bayler, strategist and author, Bayler & Associates, on automated value.
