Bizarre detail in $2m Cleo Smith exclusive

The four-year-old’s mum, Ellie Smith, and stepfather, Jake Gliddon, will sit down with veteran 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown on Sunday night as part of the landmark deal, sharing the story of Cleo’s abduction from their campsite last October, and miracle rescue 18 days later.

Because of West Australian Premier Mark McGowan’s decision not to open his state borders as planned, however, Brown’s chat with the family couldn’t be conducted in person, leading journalist Neil McMahon to dub the exclusive “one helluva costly video call”.

“Nine’s very expensive 60 Minutes interview with Cleo Smith’s family? It was done via Zoom due to WA border restrictions! That’s one helluva costly video call,” McMahon wrote on Twitter, alongside a screenshot of The Australian’s Tuesday ‘Media Diary’.

In the screenshot, the paper’s Nick Tabakoff wrote that Nine being unable to meet with the family in person is “a potential problem when (after an intense bidding war with Seven) you’ve been pushing to pay a rumoured $2m for the multimedia rights with the family over the affair”.

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“With WA’s borders chained and padlocked, Nine had a dilemma: to deploy the reporter it wanted, 60 Minutes’ own Tara Brown, to interview the family by Zoom from Sydney, or employ a WA local to conduct the interview in person,” Tabakoff continued.

“In the event, Nine chose to go for the Zoom interview with Brown – and will get an early sign whether its seven-figure investment was worth it when 60 Minutes returns next Sunday.”

Pearman Media’s Director of Strategy and Research Steve Allen told news.com.au he was “stunned at the amount” Nine had paid for the deal.

“For the family at the reported amount, even under the distressing circumstances, they are now rich beyond their wildest dreams,” Allen said.

“There must have been more than one media outlet chasing this exclusive to go that high. [It] must have been fierce competition.”

While TV Blackbox’s Steve Molk said it wasn’t surprising that, in 2022, an interview may have to be conducted over video, he also acknowledged it was “significant for the amount [Nine] paid” for it.

“While we’ll not be privy to a bidding war, $2 million feels like too big a number to have started from,” he told news.com.au, pointing to the intensity of the competition to nab the exclusive.

“It’s a massive start to 2022, and a recognition of the battle between the three commercial networks is raging stronger than ever. It’s significant because it shows that the networks have money to throw at stories of national interest between news and sport – and to a lesser degree reality TV – are what are keeping the commercial networks alive.”

Molk said the network had probably been left “little choice” when it came to how it was going to get the interview if it wanted Brown, who lives in Sydney, to be involved.

“I think acknowledging the pandemic and Cleo’s family being WA residents, Nine had little choice,” he said.

“We’re all far more used to a Zoom interview now, and if it is produced, well honestly, we may not even know [that they aren’t all together]. For sure they would have wanted Tara on ground for B-roll, walking around with the family. [But] such is 2022 life.”

The deal reportedly caused a stir within the ranks at Nine, not only because WA-based reporters were denied the chance to sit down with the family in favour of Brown, but because the network recently underwent budget cuts.

“This kind of money could employ not only dozens of journalists but is also enough to run multiple programs,” one senior television executive told The Australian.

At the time of writing, the biggest cheque cleared for an interview in Australia’s history went to the two survivors of the Beaconsfield mine disaster, Brant Webb and Todd Russell. The two miners were each paid roughly $1m by the Nine Network after their 2006 ordeal.

Industry sources previously speculated that Nine boss Mike Sneesby was determined not to be beaten by Seven this year, after losing last year’s ratings war by a thin margin, calling the deal “dinosaur chequebook journalism”.

“From a TV perspective, we’ll find out when the OzTAM (television audience measurement) numbers are in on Monday,” Molk said.

“I suspect it will be massive for them with the season return and this story as their lead or only story. I expect it will garner more interest than Winter Olympics [on Seven]. Print and radio will benefit from the TV interview.”

Allen also said the exclusive was “clearly to relaunch 60 Minutes and get back to its historic stellar ratings”.

“The story is being used to re-engage with the wider public … well that is the strategy. On pure viewing numbers, we cannot figure out the pay-off for Nine,” he added.

“It is the first big deal of this type since Mike Sneesby became CEO, perhaps that is the reason.”

Shortly after Cleo’s remarkable discovery, talent agent Max Markson told The West Australian there could be “ongoing revenue streams” after a deal was struck, including on her birthday or to mark the anniversary of her being found.

“When you look back at how big a story it has been for the last 18 days and the fact it’s a global story – not just Australian – you could genuinely do a movie and that would again generate revenue, and there may be a book in it as well probably,” he said at the time.

Mr Markson is understood to have negotiated the deal between Cleo’s family and Nine, and stands to pocket at least $400,000 from the deal on his usual 20 per cent.

In a statement to news.com.au, a Nine Network spokesperson said: “Australians will be enthralled to hear firsthand from Cleo’s family on how they coped and what happened for them in those agonising 18 days in the interview with Tara Brown on 60 Minutes this Sunday night.”

Originally published as ‘One helluva costly video call’: Bizarre detail in $2m Cleo Smith exclusive