Nine in 2020: Where Australia Connects

Missed the Nine Upfront 2020? Recap on all the highlights from Sydney’s event or reach out to the team to hear first-hand how Nine can be your partner in business in 2020.

‘Consistent programming and data scale’ are the standouts from Nine 2020 Upfront

One of Australia’s top media buyers is confident Nine’s 2020 lineup will deliver due to the strength of its programming slate, coupled with the strength of its data scale across digital. 

Claire Butterworth, Chief Investment Officer at Mediacom, shared her confidence in Nine’s strategy for the year ahead, following Nine’s 2020 Upfront presentation.

“The strongest part of Nine’s strategy is the balance between content and data,” Butterworth said. “All of the content is underpinned by data and vice versa, which will make transaction and the way we engage with Nine much easier. At the heart of it, you’ve got some amazing tentpole programming, and news, sport and drama really culminate to make the good schedule.”

During the Upfront presentation, Michael Stephenson, Nine’s Chief Sales Officer, announced that Nine has rebuilt 9Tribes, its leading customer segmentation offering, by adding five new verticals consisting of food, travel, automotive, luxury and property to its existing verticals of news, sport, entertainment and lifestyle.

“9Tribes has been an important part of our data offering for a number of years and we are excited to see it extending across all media assets, with clear verticals that will help marketers reach the scale of our audiences,” said Stephenson.

Butterworth made note of the power of Nine’s data proposition and the power of a premium brand-safe environment. 

“The brand safety element is really important and the way 9Tribes have been formed through the data play is really attractive for a lot of our clients,” she said.

Butterworth said it’s great to see consistency with some of Nine’s biggest programs of 2019 returning next year, including Married at First Sight, LEGO Masters, The Voice, Australian Ninja Warrior and The Block.

“Next year’s lineup is really good. It’s strong, consistent, Nine are confident, and overall it’s a strong year expected in 2020.

“We need consistency in network performance.” 

Nine Set To Carry Ratings Momentum Through To The End Of 2019

Nine has a strong programming slate for the final quarter of 2019 which will see it carry its ratings momentum right through to summer, says Program Director Hamish Turner.

With The Block still pulling strong audience numbers and Love Island Australia and Hamish and Andy’s Perfect Holiday both set to launch, Nine is continuing to build on its strong third quarter performance.

“We have had a great start to the third quarter and The Block has performed really strongly,” says Turner. “60 Minutes continues to do a good job for us and the return of the Australian drama Seachange has seen strong numbers on linear TV, recorded devices and catch up.

“This Time Next Year with Karl Stefanovic has also returned strongly and we are very pleased with the results to date.”

Turner argues that Nine is well positioned to keep that ratings momentum through spring and into summer.

“The strong start to the second half of the year has set us up nicely for the final quarter. We will have Love Island Australia moving to our primary channel, Channel 9, and we will see the return of Hamish and Andy with Perfect Holiday.

“Love Island is the hottest show on Earth right now. What we are seeing with this show is real growth season-on-season. That’s one of the reasons we have moved it to the primary channel.  It will come on after The Block, and this season we are expecting the stakes to increase.

“Hamish and Andy are heading off on a brand-new adventure in Perfect Holiday. It will be action-packed with a twist – they will challenge each other to take part in increasingly bizarre and ridiculous tasks. It’s a fun-packed series we are looking forward to seeing it later this year.”

Nine’s head of programming also underlined the importance of special events in the second half from major sport like the NRL finals and Grand Final to such audience favourites as the ARIAs or Carols by Candlelight. 

“The NRL finals and Grand Finals coming up will pull an audience in the millions,” says Turner.

“The ARIAs also return to Nine in November and we are looking forward to celebrating the biggest and the best of the Australian music scene. We have some big international acts lined up this year along with some of the biggest Australian acts who will also performing.

“To cap it off we have Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight, which is always the biggest rating TV show of the Christmas period. We are looking forward to seeing the return of this wonderful family favourite.”

Turner added that sport would help to seal the year for Nine by carrying its ratings momentum into summer and the Australian Open tennis tournament.

“Sport is a key part of Nine’s summer DNA. After starting with The Ashes in recent weeks, it will carry our momentum into the Summer of Tennis on Nine and the Australian Open in 2020.”

Get Closer To The Action On Your Home Of Finals Footy

The road to the Footy Finals starts Thursday September 12, with eight teams battling it out for a place in the biggest game of the year, the NRL Grand Final, on Sunday, October 6.

In 2018 the NRL finals series was watched by an average of 1.166 million viewers per game, and an average of 3.034 million tuned into the Grand Final. The Grand Final reached 1 in 4 Australians and was one of the top five programs for 2018.

Nine’s Wide World of Sports is the only place where you can see every final live and the Grand Final live and exclusive. The NRL finals present an unrivalled marketing platform for brands to engage with millions of Australians across linear TV, broadcast video on demand, digital and social.

Contact your Nine sales representative for partnership opportunities.

Source: Finals Series avg audience per game: OzTam Metro & Regional Data, Network 9, Total People, 2018 NRL Season, Audience, Cume Reach, Overnight Data. Grand Final reach: OzTam+ Regional Tam, Overnight Data, NRL 2018 Premiership, includes pre-match and post-match for overall day reach only, 30th September 5 City Metro + Combined Agg Markets, Nine Network + Nine Network Content Affiliates, based on 1 min cume reach. Grand Final Avg Audience: Oz Tam+ Regional Tam, Overnight Data, 30 September 2018. One of top 5 programs based on: OzTam Overnight metro and regional data, CY 2018.

Love Island Will Be 2019’S Millennial Must-Watch

Love Island Australia was one of Nine’s biggest breakout TV hits of 2018, but program director Hamish Turner is promising larger audiences – across TV and digital – and more storyline twists as the broadcaster gears up for its 2019 season.

“This is a show which broke the mould for TV viewing in 2018,” says Turner. “It rewrote the blueprint by engaging audiences both on linear TV and in digital. What we saw was that a core audience of digital natives came to the franchise and chose online as their destination of choice.

“In 2019 we expect that audience to grow on linear TV and digital.”

Turner says Love Island is unique in having lives across so many platforms, TV, 9Now –   where it was the most binged show on the platform in 2018 – and also in the social world where it offers Australian brands a unique platform for integration and audience extension.

“Love Island’s digital natives went beyond 9Now and into social platforms where posts on Instagram were being viewed over 300,000 times, plus you had the YouTube audience. It is really a place where you can integrate your brand and reach consumers beyond the linear TV audience.”

Nine’s head of programming believes Love Island’s power lies in the demographic purity of its millennial audience.

In 2018, the show had an average cross-platform audience of 530,000 viewers per episode, with 48 per cent of that audience on 9Go! aged 16-39, while on 9Now, 16-39s accounted for 70 per cent of the audience.

 “It will be back bigger, bolder and more beautiful, but most importantly it will be about young beautiful people finding love in the sun. That’s the core of the show,” says Turner.

In 2019, Nine will also seek to emulate the success of the Love Island experience in the UK by taking the program from the multi-channel 9Go! to Channel 9 to build on the momentum created last year.

“We have moved Love Island because we want to broaden out its appeal,” Turner says. “What we have seen internationally is that year-on-year it gets bigger and bigger – in the UK it is in it fifth season and they are still seeing record numbers.

“This move will definitely broaden out the audience and evolve it from being a core digital native audience.”

For marketers, Turner argues that the power of Love Island is in the fun and engaging nature of the brand, and the millennial audience it speaks to.

“At its core, Love Island Australia is an aspirational brand. It’s about beautiful young things finding love in the sun and we expect to see more of that this year. Sophie Monk will return,  and this season we expect to see more twists and turns in the narrative as our participants go all out for love.”