The 25 most influential people on television
AFTER a week that changed the industry forever, Annette Sharp ranks the new order of local television’s most bankable stars.
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- Why Nine believes Karl Stefanovic is worth more than Lisa Wilkinson
- How Lisa Wilkinson wanted about $400k less than Nine CEO
LISA Wilkinson’s shock defection from the Nine Network to Ten shook the very foundations of the television industry last week.
With executives across the business calling her new $2 million contract with Ten a “game changer”, Wilkinson had effectively overturned the scales of power in a business that has long valued men over women and paid them accordingly.
Ten’s coup also catapulted her to the top of television’s power list. She today sits at number three on The Sunday Telegraph’s TV Power List, having leapfrogged all other breakfast television personalities thanks to her new deal, one that will see her move away from the breakfast slot and into television’s more lucrative prime time viewing zone.
Along with Eddie McGuire, Hamish Blake, Rebecca Gibney and Scott Cam, Wilkinson is regarded by industry stalwarts as one of the most bankable, most popular, most influential stars on the Australian TV.
1. EDDIE MCGUIRE
He returned to The AFL Footy Show in 2017 to help Nine tackle Seven’s offering The Front Bar, which Nine successfully did, and remains Nine’s undisputed game show king with his 5pm weeknight program Millionaire Hot Seat still rating strongly, though of late not as strongly as Seven’s The Chase in the same timeslot. He lives up to his reputation as “Eddie Everywhere” with AFL commentating commitments and a successful radio show on Triple M in Melbourne and owns a private television company, JAM TV, that produces sports shows across the board for Seven, Nine, 10, ABC and Foxtel.
2. HAMISH BLAKE
The funnyman presenter of Nine’s True Story With Hamish And Andy docudrama series, is beloved of young and middle-aged viewers alike. Along with his television partner Andy Lee, Blake can pick and choose when and where he wants to work, which isn’t quite as often as television audiences and executives might like. Although he and Lee stepped down from their radio program at HIT FM this year, their popularity and marketability on that medium boosts the nation’s affection for them. Warner Bros is currently pitching the True Story With … program format at MIPCOM in Cannes.
3. LISA WILKINSON
She told Nine to show her the money and they said no but within two hours the Ten Network confirmed it had signed the popular breakfast television star to prime time in 2018. The jump will put $2 million in Wilkinson’s pocket and stands to make her the highest paid woman on Australian television. She also maintains an online contract with HuffPost.com and is now bringing hope and courage to women in media around the nation. A magazine icon.
4. REBECCA GIBNEY
We didn’t need proof Rebecca Gibney remains the most bankable actor on Australian television but she gave it to us anyway this month at the International Emmy Awards when her show Wanted, aired on Seven, received Australia’s only nomination for outstanding drama. Gibney created, produces and stars in the show and has a triumphant history on TV in dramas including Wicked Love: The Maria Korp Story and Packed To The Rafters. Ratings gold.
5. SCOTT CAM
The multiple Gold Logie winner remains a favourite with audiences thanks to his hosting gig on Nine’s The Block which has topped the TV ratings in recent years and continues to be the most reliable lifestyle hammer in Nine’s ratings bag.
6. JULIA MORRIS
Ten’s I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! host has been enjoying a purple patch in recent years. Prior to Celebrity she presented Australia’s Got Talent on Nine while simultaneously appearing in the drama, also on Nine, House Husbands.
7. AMANDA KELLER
The host of Ten’s The Living Room is television’s quiet achiever. She also makes regular appearances on Ten’s other panel programs and has hosted and appeared on a range of programs including Talkin’ ’Bout Your Generation, Good News Week and Rove Live and in her 34-year career, has virtually never been off TV. This month she was inducted in radio’s Hall Of Fame at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards.
8. KARL STEFANOVIC
Stefanovic likes to wander the corridors of Nine’s executive third floor, putting his nose to the wind for opportunity and it has worked to date, with
the journalist moving freely from Today to Nine’s 60 Minutes, to A Current
Affair as a fill-in host and
into prime time with a variety of shows including The Verdict and This Time Next Year, which has been renewed for 2018.
9. ANDY LEE
The easygoing Lee plays straight man to his partner, Hamish Blake, which is the only reason Lee and Blake aren’t in opposite spots on this list. All the world loves a clown and that honour goes to Blake in this partnership.
10. CARRIE BICKMORE
After nine years on Ten’s The Project, Bickmore takes her job very seriously.
She won the Gold Logie in 2015 and her success at the helm of The Project has contributed to the show being stretched across six days after its strong ratings revealed it had become a viable alternative to mainstream commercial news bulletins for younger audiences.
11. DAVID KOCH
The finance journalist turned breakfast show anchor at Sunrise counts Seven’s chairman Kerry Stokes among friends which should ensure “Kochie” keeps his gig on Sunrise for as long as he wants it. As the chairman of Port Adelaide Football Club he wields some clout too in sporting circles.
12. DELTA GOODREM
Advertisers who spend thousands spruiking their wares to the nation are always keen to make their pitch as sexy as possible. The Voice on Nine has broad sex appeal thanks to its cast of good-looking judges. Goodrem was sidelined briefly in favour of Kylie Minogue but returned after network bosses realised she had more to offer. She will return next year.
13. SAMANTHA ARMYTAGE
The Sunrise show has been out-rating Today all year and Armytage has held on to her seat despite polarising some sections of the audience. Wilkinson’s departure from breakfast television after 10 years makes Armytage, who has been fronting Sunrise for four years, the new and undisputed queen of breakfast television.
14. RODGER CORSER
The success of Nine’s drama Doctor Doctor has seen Corser, who plays the compromised doctor Hugh Knight, sweep on to the list. Corser has a production credit on the drama and is an associate producer, meaning he has skin in the game. Previously best known for his work on dramas including Doctor Blake Mysteries and Puberty Blues.
15. SONIA KRUGER
When Nine poached Kruger from Seven in 2011, it was rumoured she had become one of the most highly paid women on Australian television with sources hinting she was paid $750,000 to jump to Nine. Since then she looks to have had her pick of Nine’s prime time shows, initially fronting Big Brother and more recently The Voice. She is on a shortlist of contenders for Wilkinson’s Today show job.
16. ANDREW O’KEEFE
Seven’s game show The Chase is one of the most pivotal shows on television at present. Its strong lead-in to the 6pm news allows Seven to claim more news victories than it legitimately should, as news hour ratings drop off steeply in eastern markets after 6.15pm. With a toe in the breakfast game on Weekend Sunrise O’Keefe is well placed as Kochie’s understudy.
17. LEIGH SALES
In a non-election year Sales’s stocks slip a little but she remains the biggest hitter on ABC-TV. However with new ABC boss Michelle Guthrie softening the ABC’s news portfolio and word 7.30 will soon become 9.30, Sales will lose her premium position in the ABC’s schedule in the quest for greater ratings.
18. RICHARD ROXBURGH
Rake’s fans waited with bated breath for the return of the fourth series of the drama in 2016 and were elated to hear Cleaver Greene would return again in 2018. But it was Roxburgh’s turn as Roger Rogerson that made the revenue wheels spin at Seven this year. Not the ratings success Seven was after but his association with Silvia Colloca, his wife, was enough for television bosses to approve her cooking series.
19. DAVE HUGHES
As Logies 2017 host he single-handedly revived the show. Then this week we learned he offered to take a pay cut in the drive slot at KIIS FM to ensure his broadcasting partner Kate Langbroek received pay parity. When they jump to Southern Cross Austereo’s HIT FM network at the end of the year, they go on the same money after Hughes told bosses he was not worth 40 per cent more than Langbroek. Popular and loved for good reason.
20. GRANT DENYER
Family Feud host Grant Denyer survived a car crash in March that could have ended his life but instead bolstered his popularity. Nominated for Gold and Silver Logies this year Denyer, at 6pm weeknights, holds one of the most hotly contested timeslots on television on 10 and has been driving viewers into The Projects 7pm timeslot.
21. WALEED ALY
After dominating media headlines in 2016 The Project panellist Aly has slipped a little in 2017 as mainstream media stopped obsessing with his religious status, a good thing really. That said he remains a popular political commentator whose views drive online traffic.
22. PETER HELLIAR
Helliar, known most recently for his work on The Project, signed a deal to anchor a new game show on Ten in 2017. CRAM is described as a new “quiz, panel, game, fantasy, family-drama, comedy program” produced by ITV Studios.
23. MAGDA SZUBANSKI
She has put herself at the centre of the same sex marriage debate and become a popular commentator on the subject in recent months. This week she returns to television in the 10 drama Sisters.
24. SHAUN MICALLEF
Five years after it wrapped on 10, Micallef’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation makes a comeback on Nine next year. The host of ABC-TV’s ABC’s Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell could be the best candidate for a serious tonight show on commercial television.
25. MARTA DUSSELDORP
From Crownies to Janet King to Jack Irish to A Place to Call Home, the Logie-nominated Dusseldorp has a loyal following who will watch her in any drama. She is currently shooting a new series of A Place To Call Home for Foxtel.