Month: October 2018

One of Australia’s top media agency executives has commended Nine on leading the charge in the broadcast video on demand (BVOD) market while also innovating in the way advertisers can reach those audiences watching content outside of the traditional TV market.

Speaking after the Nine 2019 Upfront event at Fox Studios, Nickie Scriven, CEO of Zenith Media, welcomed the strength of Nine’s overall schedule. 

“Consistent formats, tried and tested, like The Block and The Voice, are coming back again, and the key content platforms of sport, news and reality TV are really exciting,” she said.

Nine set out its content slate at Upfront 2019, featuring new dramas such as Bad Mothers and a revived SeaChange, along with Hamish Blake as host of the new Lego Masters, and a revamped sports offering which will see the year begin with the Australian Open, and a commentary team that includes John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Lleyton Hewitt.

Scriven was most enthusiastic for Nine’s innovations around the broadcast video on demand (BVOD) platform 9Now, which will see it integrated into its programmatic platform 9Galaxy, allowing linear TV and 9Now to be traded in one seamless transaction using one technology platform.

“Some of the innovations around 9Now with addressable TV and being able to buy through 9Galaxy for 9Now are super exciting,” she said.

Scriven also praised Nine for leading in BVOD and allowing people to view content when and where they like, saying: “Nine is leading in that space at the moment.” While acknowledging the consistency of Nine’s content slate as “pretty important”, Scriven stresses the importance of re-energising existing programs.

“You want to go with tried and tested formats but it’s also important to keep re-energising them so you bring people back and the ratings are consistent,” she said. “We need the eyeballs, and the advertising dollars follow the eyeballs. You want consistency, you want the top performers, but you want to see them being refreshed to keep bringing people back.”

Nine has managed to surprise the market in its plans for sport in 2020 after the biggest shake-up in sports rights in 40 years, according to one of Australia’s top media buyers.

Earlier this year Nine secured the exclusive rights to all premium tennis played in Australia for five years, from 2020 to 2024, and then later bought the rights for the Australian Open in 2019.

“The guys did a really great job talking about the depth of sport. There’s a lot of talk in market that ‘they’ve lost credibility, the summer’s going to be tough going’, but the continuity and depth of sport was a story really well told,” Mark Coad, CEO of PHD, said.

Nine will launch its 2019 program slate with the Australian Open, featuring an outstanding lineup of tennis commentators and experts including John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Lleyton Hewitt.

Nine will also be the home of the NRL for 2019, with every game available to Nine accessible on 9Now, while again presenting the rivalry between the NSW Blues and Queensland Maroons in State of Origin.

Nine is home to the biggest cricket matches in 2019 as well, bringing viewers The Ashes series from England, with former Australian captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner eligible for test match selection once more. Nine also brings golf, basketball and netball into Australian homes.

Speaking after the Nine 2019 Upfront event last week at Fox Studios, Coad said he also “really liked the depth of Australian drama”.

“There is some really great content, and some real tent poles holding it together, like The Block, Australian Ninja Warrior and Love Island. Beyond that there’s a great deal of depth, and the sport piece is brilliant.”

From a media buyer’s perspective, Coad said the news that stood out to him was Nine’s focus on people-based marketing. “Using the data and 7 million user IDs, that’s exciting stuff, that’s a big deal.”

Coad was referring to Nine’s BVOD platform 9Now, which has a monthly audience of more than 2.2 million users and is building on its database of more than 7 million declared users.

Also important for Coad was Nine’s emphasis on consistency in both performance and content.

Coad was also pleased to see Nine shifting from a TV broadcast focus to a broader-content business future.

“It’s really exciting that companies like Nine are leading the way in moving from a TV broadcast business to a content business and not talking about TV shows – they’re talking about content distributed over multiple platforms, and that’s where the audiences are,” he said.

“Look at a teenager, anyone in their twenties. They’re not sitting down watching appointment viewing like we used to. To be able to watch programs where you want, when you want and on whatever platform you want, that’s where we’re heading and that is really refreshing.”

One of Australia’s top media buyers has commended Nine for outlining a strategy not just for the  year ahead but for detailing a roadmap into 2020 and beyond that explains how the media company intends to deliver cross-platform results for all its clients. 

Speaking after the Nine 2019 Upfront event on Wednesday night at Fox Studios, Ashley Earnshaw,  CIO of Dentsu Aegis Network’s Amplify, said Nine presented a clear strategy outlining the opportunities for its commercial partners. 

“It was really clear on Nine’s vision,” says Earnshaw. “Importantly, what I saw wasn’t just about 2019, but also 2020, and the next few years. I came away with a good sense of what Nine is trying to achieve and how it can impact our clients.”

The Upfront event also saw Nine lay out its content slate, featuring new dramas such as Bad Mothers and a revived SeaChange, and Lego Masters, a family program hosted by  Hamish Blake. Nine also unveiled key business initiatives, such as the next stage of plans to simplify and further automate the buying of television through its unique proprietary technology 9Galaxy, and launched 9Voyager, which is aimed at opening the TV market to more small and medium enterprise (SME) owners.

Earnshaw was most excited by “the ability to connect your content with technology, and then be able to prove effectiveness”.

“The vision with 9Galaxy is really clear, the vision with data is really clear,” he said.

“The roadmap for Nine set that out for us.”

Earnshaw says consistency and reliability of content is important to media buyers. “We look across all those content pillars you shared, and we look at next year, and we know you will deliver.”