Bachelor Australia - Season 5 - Matty Johnson - Media Social Media - *Sleuthing Spoilers* #2

Sundy wrote:

mercieme wrote:Anyone know which jewelry company is advertising on the show this year? I don't see any listed on the TenPlay website and was wondering if any has been shown on the commercials doing the live shows...TIA.

Lol. Seems the main sponsor this year is a laxative company. Seriously

There will be 16 episodes of The Bachelor and 12 episodes of The Bachelorette. (I assume that has already been worked out)

Innes promises to keep audiences surprised. “Rather than always ending and concluding where we have in the past, there are a few more open doors with the series that will keep people wanting more,’’ she says.

Ms Innes has one golden rule. “I am really happy that we make a program that plays more to the positives. There are so many negatives around that that is a really lovely aspect. I don’t want nasty TV and I don’t think viewers do either.”

Ten Network is holding firm. The Bachelor, which returns on Wednesday at 7.30pm for its fifth series, will not be doubling its episode run to match a Married At First Sight marathon. And Matty J won’t be demanding his dates clamber up a warped wall before he hands them a rose.

Despite dramatic changes in the TV landscape, Ten is hoping audience desire for something new has been sated by the extraordinary success of Nine’s entertainment-sport behemoth hybrid Australian Ninja Warrior.

So will the romance reality program’s sponsors, which Ten will announce today as Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum, Underworks underwear brand, REST Industry Super, Hyundai and Harvey Norman.

This year in the romance genre Married At First Sight proved a big hit for Nine. Seven’s Seven Year Switch premiered to its lowest ratings ever, while Nine punted The Last Resort from prime time after it flopped.

Hilary Innes, executive producer of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, has very firm views about what works in the genre and what doesn’t.

“People do want a good mix of romance, drama and comedy and classic rom-com. Just like feature films or great pieces of literature. I am thinking Sleepless in Seattle, anything with Meg Ryan, such as When Harry Met Sally,” Innes tells The Australian.

It is the same message she ­delivers to her production team at Warner Bros. “It is a great place to look at what works about these films that you engage with, the fairytale of being transported to the drama and the comedy. We definitely want a laugh.”

Earlier this year Ten was shocked when its mid-ranking ­reality show, The Biggest Loser, which performed a solid but not spectacular job for the network at the start of the year, tanked after a massive costly revamp. Ms Innes has firm views on what works and what doesn’t.

“We can all get on the bandwagon a bit too much and think you can stretch the genre. Australians like to stay with tried and true,” she says. “Some of the ­others, maybe they didn’t have as much of the romance, which is huge in The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. We have built the ­romance hugely in these series and it’s wonderful.”

Step forward Matty J (Matthew Johnson) the 30-year-old non-threateningly handsome hunk who was dumped in the final episode of The Bachelorette last year when Georgia told him she had fallen in love, but “not with you”.

He’s such a wonderful romantic hero ... all things to all people. He is such a charmer. We played to that. He is such a romantic hero,” Innes says, adding he has “great conversation and a lot of strings to his bow”.

When Johnson was rejected in the grand finale last year, there was an instant backlash on social media.

“There is a lot to be said for bringing people through from previous series because there’s a backstory and you can see people’s engagement with them.”

If more than 900,000 people tune in to watch on Wednesday, Ten will be thrilled. Each season of the program has increased its debut ratings, but it is the demographics the program brings that provides the real value.

“It is a very well-targeted program,” says David Castran, chief executive of Audience Development Australia and who was a consultant for Ten in 2012. “So the key for advertisers is to minimise wastage and this is very well targeted to women in the 18 to 49 demo that Ten has.

“I see an opportunity to improve the quality of the billboards and boost the integration beyond ‘this program is brought to you by’. These generic billboards don’t give you the maximum as a sponsor. Britain does this very well and therefore the recall the client is going to get is boosted.”

Ten is not boosting the number of episodes in either program. There will be 16 episodes of The Bachelor and 12 episodes of The Bachelorette. Expect more of a focus on relationships between the bachelor and his dates, a modification requested by the audience.

“We see the emotional connection that fans already have with Matty J as an important ingredient for success, so there are clear signs of strength that should give brands increased confidence in being involved with the show,” says Sian Thomas, head of brand and content partnerships at media agency Initiative.

Innes promises to keep audiences surprised. “Rather than always ending and concluding where we have in the past, there are a few more open doors with the series that will keep people wanting more,’’ she says.

More does not include going as far as Love Island, which in Britain has transfixed the TV industry, not the mention the viewing public of two million. A reviewer in The Independent described the dating program: “Assorted young men and women so ripped and cosmetically enhanced that their bodies somehow look constantly angry, sit around in the walled garden of a villa and ogle/talk about each other. Will Darren tell Dave that he heard Jade erotically ­applied suncream to Jason on the decking? I don’t know, but I will sink into a blissful sofa coma as we find out regardless.”

A smash hit on digital channel ITV2, the big difference with Love Island is that nobody is coy about the sex. Ms Innes points out a tonal difference. “We are possibly a bit more conservative as an audience. I don’t think Australian audiences have taken to trashy celebrity formats as the UK’s Love Island.”

While The Bachelor is steady as she goes, The Bachelorette, now filming at the estate in northwestern Sydney, is set for a radical shake-up. That is due to the casting of Sophie Monk, a sharp break from the tradition of casting a new bachelor or bachelorette from the ranks of unsuccessful previous contestants. And Monk differs from previous bachelorettes in two important ways. First, she has been a celebrity since her group Bardot won Popstars back in 2000. And second, she is 37.

“She came to us and said ‘I can’t find love, the wrong men come to me all the time. I tried all the dating apps and find that they are tracking the wrong guys’ — It’s a story of women her age,” Ms Innes says.

Opposite Monk, the producers chose men in their 20s to 40s. “She is older. I just think the reality of life is that everyone doesn’t find someone in their mid or late-20s. It is a valid story about dating and life and finding your forever person. It actually makes for a very interesting series and we have guys who are starting out and guys who are more established.”

Ms Thomas predicts The Bachelorette will surge in popularity. “We believe Sophie’s celebrity factor will resonate with current fans and incentivise new audiences for Bachelorette, giving the show a big leg-up this year.”

At the end of the day, Ms Innes has one golden rule. “I am really happy that we make a program that plays more to the positives. There are so many negatives around that that is a really lovely aspect. I don’t want nasty TV and I don’t think viewers do either.”

“Rather than always ending and concluding where we have in the past, there are a few more open doors with the series that will keep people wanting more,’’ she says.

Bobette wrote:I really want to know what this means:

“Rather than always ending and concluding where we have in the past, there are a few more open doors with the series that will keep people wanting more,’’ she says.

Combined with Matty's comment that the F2 should "keep an open mind because you never know what's round the corner" (accompanied by his raised eyebrows) on The Panel, this has me very intrigued.  

Seems they may have big plans for Elise if she is F2 - Bachelorette 2018?  Or something "more"?