Best of Business

Veteran business journalist Liam Dann aims to educate readers about business, money and the economy in his new guide- 'BBQ Economics'.

The book is designed to answer challenging financial questions in a familiar, entertaining and Kiwi-specific way.

Liam Dann says he's noticed business news felt 'sectioned-off' with all the jargon and language- and he hopes to break down the barriers.

"The debate around interest rates and inflation- people are very engaged and sometimes there are barriers around the language, and I hope that I'm helping to translate some of that stuff for people."

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The upheaval within the television industry continued this week, with TVNZ announcing cuts to its news and current affairs department on Friday. It’s not just news bulletins proposed to be cut, but also flagship shows such as Sunday and Fair Go.

It’s a devastating time for those involved, and another brutal hit to the industry on top of the shock announcement of Newshub’s proposed demise last week.

I’ve been involved in the media for 28 years, and for 26 years colleagues with more experience have been telling me the industry would soon be unrecognisable.

Admittedly, a lot has changed in those 28 years, especially in television. There have been too many restructures, strategy shifts and changes to programming priorities to list; but amazingly the demise of traditional free-to-air commercial television never quite came the way it had been prophesised. Until now.

I’m amazed at both how long it took - it’s hung in well all things considered – and at the industry’s defiance; which is why I’m a bit taken aback that the hit has finally come.

But here’s the thing. The challenges facing media, and in particular television, have been known for decades. We have known there aren’t enough advertising dollars to support the number of media outlets. We have known that in the digital era, eyeballs are moving to smaller screens. We have known that digital simply can’t be monetised like TV. We have known it’s all changed.

I was never in the heart of all the action, but I can remember over a decade ago there were conversations between TV3 and TVNZ about sharing news resources. These conversations didn’t just start a few weeks ago.

There were conversations about news bulletins, and how many we needed, there were conversations about to compete against streaming services and the need to offer digital streaming services as quickly as possible.

So, has everything moved too slow? Did we hold on to a good thing for too long just because we could and not because we should? It’s been an impossible balancing act, media know they need to be where the audience is growing on digital, they also know that they’ll made less money as their audiences get there. And harder still, the money from television enables the investment in digital services.

Restructures are hugely unsentimental beasts driven by the bottom line - they do not reflect the talent, work ethic or personality of those impacted. And it is concerning to see the journalists and shows that both hold our politicians and others to account and which reflect our unique place in the world have been the target of cuts.

But any business owner will tell you that if your business is not in a solid position when a recession hits then you’re already on the back foot, making the fight to survive harder.

I can only hope, now that the blinkers are off and the brutal state of the media industry has been revealed, that the conversations about the industry’s future leads to action. No more sitting on our hands as advertiser dollars head overseas to Meta, Google and fair payment is made in exchange for content. Let’s speed up collaboration between state owned media – maybe with less consultants this time - and we see a more aggressive transition to being competitive in this new landscape.

A strong fourth estate makes for a strong democracy, and a vibrant, cohesive country. It’s worth fighting for.

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A petition urging the Government to keep the ban on live animal exports in place is gaining traction.

Despite the Government promising to repeal the ban during the election, over 13,000 people have signed.

The Country's Jamie Mackay says this is a polarising topic that's divided New Zealand's farming community.

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Financial journalism veteran Liam Dann aims to guide New Zealanders through the business world using familiar Kiwi terms.

BBQ Economics examines everything from interest rates, to economic conditions to the price of cheese- and it's out in bookstores this week.

Liam Dann himself explains the purpose of this book here today.

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Chinese e-commerce firm Temu has been taking the world of online retail by storm.

The retailer's 'shop like a billionaire' campaign reflects their too-good-to-be true prices and deals promoted to consumers on social media- and beyond.

Brand strategist Jill Brinsdon says Temu's targeting bargain hunters, and they seem determined to sweep the competition. 

"It's quite a classic strategy, Chemist Warehouse has come to New Zealand and done a similar thing. You have to have big pockets, then you come in and you're the loss-leader- and you clean up the market."

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There's hope that the Government's plan to fast-track consents will speed up the production of independently created windfarms- eventually leading to cheaper electricity.

The new regime gives ministers the final say to sign off on initiatives it considers to be of regional or national significance.

Ventus Energy CEO Glenn Starr says shorter consenting timeframes will allow the company to compete with other generator retailers. 

"As an independent, it's difficult to keep everything running smoothly through the consent procuress and development process."

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There's growing concern Australia's Reserve Bank may have gone too far to reduce inflation.

The RBA infamously pushed the Official Cash Rate up 13 times in a row, and some economists are concerned Australia's economy may suffer as a result.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says decreased spending has shrunk economic growth in the last three months of 2023.

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The motel sector is welcoming the Government's new priority one emergency housing policies.

Families with children living in emergency motels are being pushed to the front of the queue for a state house.

It's also introducing a new verification system to crack down on who can access emergency motel accommodation to begin with.

Hospitality New Zealand Accommodation Chair Troy Clarry says most moteliers want to get back to traditional motel business.

"The reliance on MSD income for moteliers has decreased, and you've only got a few operators who are not traditional moteliers, who are still in it for the business."

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The Government has promised bigger projects will be built faster and more cost-effectively under their fast-track approval scheme.

This legislation, which would give power to ministers to sign-off consents for major infrastructure projects, has passed its first reading in the House.

Minister for Regional Economic Development Shane Jones says a 'long-term pipeline' of projects will encourage investors.

"We need to build a pipeline of projects, to show both ourselves and people overseas that if you want to invest in New Zealand, there's a long-term pipeline of both private and public sector projects."

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Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says trimming TVNZ's flagship news show in half would be tragic.

TVNZ has confirmed it is proposing to cut up to 68 roles.

Our newsroom understands about 35 are news roles.

It comes a week after Warner Brothers Discovery announced a proposal to scrap Newshub.

Clark says we'd barely get 14 minutes of news, then sport and the weather, and that just wouldn't cover it.

"You wouldn't carry much of a newsroom to fill a bulletin that literally would be 14 or 15 minutes worth of news- so I think that would be a sad day."

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First it was Newshub, now it's TVNZ.

We are still waiting on the details- staff have been told there will be 68 job losses, but the rest they’ll find out tomorrow.

The speculation in the media is that half of those job cuts will be in the newsroom. Fair Go and Sunday reportedly will be merged, Breakfast and Seven sharp are affected, as is the late bulletin.

Shortland Street will be cut down to three nights a week at some point, and the main news bulletin will reportedly be cut down to 30 minutes, but nothing is confirmed right now.

To be honest, if they want to save the ship, that is how brutal they need to be, particularly with that bulletin. That thing needs to be cut in half.

When I first started working at TVNZ slightly less than 20 years ago, senior news bosses were already talking about needing to do that. It is well overdue.

And it’s actually not unusual internationally to have shorter news bulletins. The Germans have a 15 minute bulletin at 8pm, In the UK, the BBC News at Six is half an hour, it happens all around the world.

Seven Sharp, it they want to be brutal, should probably be cut altogether- you can probably buy a half-hour programme from overseas for much cheaper to put in that slot.

I don't say this because I want this to happen, I don’t want less news on TV. I don’t want less New Zealand content on screens.

But we need to be realistic, people are turning the TV off. And TVNZ cannot keep spending this much money on a product that fewer and fewer people want to use. It's not sustainable to keep pumping the same amount of money in when you're getting less from it.

It's a little bit like the postal service. Fewer and fewer people are using it nowadays, so it has to change and trim the budget to reflect the demand.

You don't get post delivered five days a week anymore, you get it three days a week. And fewer people are watching the news, so it needs to cut costs.

And actually not just the news, it's the whole of TVNZ. At some point, there will be so few people watching linear TV, we will have to pull the plug altogether. In the same way that one day we will have to stop the postal deliveries.

There is some hope for TVNZ, they’re going hard investing in TVNZ Plus- which is their online platform that's like the TVNZ version of Netflix.

Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. But while that is the future, linear TV is not.

So these job losses, sadly, will not be the last.

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Non-residential building work has shot up in the December 2023 quarter, according to the latest data.

Commercial buildings have outpaced residential homes, with residential building activity dropping 2 percent in the December quarter.

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen explains what this means for economic growth ahead of the upcoming GDP results.

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BNZ is following other banks in cutting some mortgage rates, following ANZ and ASB.

This comes off the back of last week's Reserve Bank decision to keep the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 5.5 percent.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny says higher interest rates are driving prospective home buyers away- and the banks need to win people back.

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A new survey has revealed a majority of people think contributing to KiwiSaver should be compulsory.

Data from financial advice firm National Capital shows 62 percent of Kiwis are in favour of mandatory KiwiSaver contributions.

Director Clive Fernandes says younger people in particular are getting more financially savvy and learning the importance of saving.

"We've done quite well in the last few years in financial education, especially with the young ones. I think financial education and financial advice is not reaching the people who most need it, and that's the middle group."

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There's growing evidence Kiwis are embracing US-style tipping culture.

New data from financial information site, Banked, says 47 Kiwis approve of tipping- and at least 60 percent of Kiwis sometimes leave tips.

Restaurant Association President and Monsoon Poon owner Mike Egan says customers like to show appreciation for enthusiastic or knowledgeable workers. 

"When you give good service, you sort of invoke the emotional reciprocation. They thought the staff member knew all about the menu, and was great, and made everyone laugh, and was on to it- and they wanted to reciprocate."

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The Broadcasting Minister is staying tight-lipped about the future of TVNZ.

It is understood TVNZ newsroom staff are bracing for a meeting tomorrow about the future of news operations - which will include job cuts.

Minister Melissa Lee says she spoke with TVNZ bosses on Friday about how they plan to remain financially viable.

"They did not tell me that they were cutting staff on news- they were talking about programming they will have to consider."

It will come a week since Newshub announced its closure, and when asked if she will help the industry, Lee says she doesn't have many levers.

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Spark customers with Xtra Mail accounts will have to pay $5.95 a month to use them from mid-May.

It's citing rising maintenance costs as the reason.

Spark product director Tessa Tierney says the company considered scrapping the service altogether.

She says it's hard to say what its future will be.

"So it'll be interesting to see over the next few weeks - and months - what decisions customers make. But at this stage, I couldn't tell you how many will decide to leave."

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The Reserve Bank's decision to hold the OCR in place at 5.5 percent has inspired some banks to lower their rates.

This is despite some economists warning inflation is still running too high at this point.

HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham says New Zealand's Reserve Bank is one of the only central banks in the world saying rates might need to go up again.

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Chris Luxon is set to meet with more key trading partners this week.

The Prime Minister will fly to Melbourne tomorrow for a special summit, to mark Australia's 50-year relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan explains this will be a crucial summit for Luxon- as he missed the chance to meet some of these leaders during APEC.

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While New Zealand's media industry struggles to survive, their Australian counterparts are battling setbacks from social media giants.

Facebook's parent company, Meta, recently confirmed it wouldn't renew commercial deals with news publisher Network 10.

Australian Financial Review media reporter says it's likely Meta never believed they were going to see much profit out of this deal.

"There was a line in the summary of this contract, which was- there is no expectation that 10 would earn additional revenue, which I think is an implicit acknowledgement." 

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