TV3 is marking the anniversary of the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake with special programming that will allow New Zealanders throughout the country to share in the day of remembrance.

On Wednesday 22 February, TV3 will broadcast Christchurch memorial services at 8am and midday, with Rachel Smalley, Mike McRoberts and John Campbell presenting coverage LIVE from Christchurch, on 3 News, 3 News Firstline and Campbell Live.

At 7.30pm on Wednesday night, TV3 will screen acclaimed feature documentary When A City Falls. Filmmaker Gerard Smyth has produced what many consider the definitive story of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and their aftermath. When A City Falls was released in cinemas late last year and was number one at the Christchurch box office for five weeks. This is its television premiere.

Leading up to Wednesday 22 February, TV3 will have extensive news and current affairs coverage of the Christchurch anniversary, both remembering the events of February 2011 and looking at the future of Christchurch. John Campbell will host Campbell Live from Lyttleton tonight (Monday 20 February) and Sydenham on Tuesday night.

Online, 3news.co.nz will have extensive coverage of the week’s events, including LIVE streaming of key television coverage and interactive timelines at a dedicated mini-site 3news.co.nz/Christchurch (Please note: the mini-site will go LIVE at noon Tuesday 21 February). Message boards will invite the public to share their memories and take stock of life a year after the quake.

Additional online video available at the site includes last night’s 60 Minutes piece ‘Aftershock’, a moving record of the quake as it happened, edited from the footage of five separate camera crews and the recordings of the 111 emergency calls, and Behind the Seen, a short film behind-the-scenes with the TV3 news crews as they scramble to cover the February events.

Linda Farrelly resigns as Director of Sales MediaWorks TV

Linda Farrelly said: “I have loved my time as Director of Sales, and have been privileged to lead one of the most dedicated and committed media sales teams in the country.”

Ms Farrelly has led the sales division through a number of important developments in the company, and has been part of the highly successful launch of MediaWorks Integration, a parallel sales team whose focus is on securing revenue through brand-funded content such as New Zealand’s Next Top Model and The Block, 2011’s successful relaunch of C4 as broad entertainment channel FOUR, and the appointment of Richard Fenner to the newly created position of Business Development Director.

Her announcement comes as MediaWorks reports year-on-year growth of +2.7% for the quarter ending December 2011, outperforming the market which had total growth of +1.3%.

“After more than 16 years of dedicated service, Linda certainly deserves this time out, and we accept and support her decision,” said MediaWorks Group Managing Director, Sussan Turner.

The recruitment process is being managed by Richard Manthel for Robert Walters New Zealand.

Who’s it for: Meridian by Assignment Group and Perendale.

Why we like it: Wells works very well as a quirky Meridian mascot and manages to spread its renewable gospel in a non-preachy, sensible and entertaining way. Plus, it shows off some of the best bits of New Zealand and there’s a pretty good story behind the ad too.

Rawdon Christie and Toni Street will be talking to Ronan tomorrow night, ahead of his only Auckland concert, held at Vector Arena.

The interview will air on Saturday morning, February 4.

Toni Street says: “I was a high school student when Boyzone was at its best in the late nineties, so to be meeting Ronan is awesome! He comes across really charismatic on television, so I can’t wait to find out what he’s like in person.”

Rawdon Christie adds: “Ronan is one of the biggest names in entertainment. He’s sold millions of albums, he’s sung with Elton John.. he’s sung for the Pope! Yet he’s also one of the good guys, raising millions of dollars for charity, and dedicated to his children. He’s a true world superstar – I can’t wait to meet him and share a glass of his favourite Irish tipple.”

In a twist Rawdon and Toni’s weekly challenge will be singing his number one hit “When You Say Nothing At All’ in front of Ronan…who will then judge the winner.

Ronan Keating is playing at Vector Arena tomorrow, Friday February 3rd, with special guest Sharon Corr.

Join Rawdon and Toni from 7am for Saturday Breakfast to catch the interview.

An unprecedented 2.5 million New Zealanders tuned in for the Semi-Final of the Rugby World Cup, a staggering 91.6% of the total Television audience, while 2.3 million tuned in for the Final, with hundreds of thousands more, unrecorded in the data, watching the games from bars, restaurants and Fanzones.

The Nielsen data released to the industry early this month shows other viewing spikes included the Royal Wedding in April and reaction to the Christchurch earthquake in February.

“It was really pleasing to see New Zealanders so committed to watching local television programming this year,” says Rick Friesen, Chief Executive of industry body ThinkTV.

“Obviously, the Rugby World Cup featured very high in many channels’ viewing statistics, but ongoing local series programmes such as Shortland Street, Drug Bust, Missing Pieces, The Food Truck and North all featured in each channel’s top 10 programmes.”

Overall 2011 saw an additional 55,000 people tuning in, with 75% of the population now watching Television on a daily basis. Over 3 million New Zealanders now watch Television each day.

“Without doubt, Television remains the number one medium, with more Kiwis spending more time watching more award winning programming, both local and international,” says Friesen.

All viewing figures sourced from Nielsen TAM.

Top-rating Zooey Deschenal sitcom New Girl, which is set to screen on FOUR from Tuesday 7 February, is available to watch online from today at FOUR.co.nz/NewGirl.

The multi-Golden Globe winning Homeland, one of the most anticipated dramas of the year, will be available to watch at TV3.co.nz/Homeland from 9am, Thursday 2 February, ahead of its TV3 debut.

Each episode will be available online for a week, and the special advance screenings are only for the season premieres.

The initiative is a first for the broadcasting company, which has a stable of television, radio and online assets, including a well-patronised ‘on demand’ catch-up television service.

Director of Programming, Kelly Martin, says that she’s looking forward to seeing how New Zealanders respond to the online previews for New Girl and Homeland.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to launch our big new shows,” Martin says.

“This is a first for us, and quite possibly a first for New Zealand television. I’m genuinely curious to see how the audience reacts.”

Non-traditional approaches to television promotion have paid big dividends internationally. When Fox made episode one of New Girl widely available ahead of the US season launch, two million people watched the show online, and the word-of-mouth translated into ratings success, with a debut television audience of more than 10 million viewers.

Homeland and New Girl are part of a stellar line-up of new season programming which is rolling out on TV3 and FOUR from Sunday 5 February.

Who’s it for: NZTA by Clemenger BBDO.

Why we like it: Taking a leaf out of the book of Geoff Mack and John Grennell (or is it this guy?), the Country Calendar catchiness of the NZTA’s driver fatigue ads is bound to give you a bad case of song-rash. See the other two patriotic ditties here.

Mobile devices are basically seen as a necessity these days. For marketers, these devices offer some very exciting creative possibilities, and MediaWorks has jumped on the ‘social TV’ bandwagon and released what it believes is a world-first smartphone app called Pluk that uses audio recognition technology to deliver content from the TV straight to the user’s phone.

Here’s how it works: the viewer sees a Pluk logo on an ad or channel promo, they point their phone towards the sound source, tap a couple of times to connect to digital content and then get, for example, exclusive content, a competition entry form, a voucher or more information.

Any commercial can be pluk-enabled to provide a direct channel to the advertiser’s brand content and offers. And, almost like a fancier version of the QR code, the digital possibilities for interactivity are limited only by the advertiser’s imagination.

Melanie Reece, general manager of integration at MediaWorks, says the feedback from advertisers and consumers has been universally positive so far. Advertisers–and the high-level marketing directors they’re talking to about the technology—are seeing the potential of combining the mass-reach strengths of television with the ability to engage directly with the audiences. And consumers are actually using the app once it’s been downloaded and have asked for more opportunities to get pluk-ing.

“It’s nice to be first,” she says. “It’s a really exciting way to start the year.”

The Pluk app and platform was developed locally by Foxtrot Media, a subsidiary of digital agency Tango Communications, and managing director and co-founder Boyd Wason says the uptake has been impressive so far (even with a small glitch at the outset that saw Google auto-correct the name to Pluck in the Android Market, making it impossible to find) and after just ten days, well in excess of 10,000 people have downloaded it.

A “recruitment campaign” was launched across TV3, FOUR and MediaWorks radio stations on January 16, encouraging viewers to download the app to go in the draw to win a Suzuki Swift. Once it has been downloaded, the more ‘pluks’, the more chances you have to win. And, as this campaign runs for another four and a half weeks, Wason hopes to have 50,000 signed up by the end of February.

Data released today by industry body ThinkTV shows Television advertising revenue rose $11.4 million to $618.1 million in 2011 compared with $606.7 million in 2010 and $569.2 million in 2009.

“The continued growth shows the unparalleled position of Free-to-Air Television in the advertising market” says Rick Friesen, Chief Executive ThinkTV.

“International research shows that Television is still the best and most cost effective medium for maximising an advertiser’s reach. With confidence building in the New Zealand economy and new, innovative ways to integrate Television across the plethora of media platforms today, advertisers are cleverly using Television to better meet their brands’ needs.”

Increased marketing investment and confidence in Television by major banks, retailers and car manufacturers was a major factor in the growth.

Revenue figures are sourced from returns prepared by TVNZ, MediaWorks TV and SKY Network Television (including Prime).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who’s it for: Unitec by Special Group and Film Construction.

Why we like it: The final set of 60-second ads in this year-long reality-advertising series showed just how much students can change if they put their mind to it. It was a risky strategy to follow them through thick and thin, but, judging by the warm fuzzies after watching these – and the way the campaign is helping to shift perceptions of Unitec – aiming for authenticity has paid off.