The Australian Open in January and the launch of Married at First Sight is set to position Nine for a strong first quarter, with the momentum set to continue throughout 2020.
“After securing the rights to the Australian Open and broadcasting the tournament for the first time last year, 2019 gave Nine its best start to the year since OzTAM’s inception,” says Hamish Turner, Nine’s Program Director.
This year Nine will power through the first quarter with unrivalled exclusive coverage of the tennis, with every ball of every match across all 25 courts being covered on 9Now.
Following the Australian Open, Nine’s prime-time schedule will resume with Australia’s number one entertainment show, Married at First Sight.
“The reality series is the perfect show to run off our fantastic start to the year with the Australian Open”, Turner says. MAFS was the number one show of the year on broadcast video on demand (BVOD) in 2019, as well as the number one show across all key demographics and for total people on linear.
The social experiment is expected to be a ratings powerhouse for another year, with audience numbers and participant drama set to soar again.
“We’ve got a fantastic slate of participants ready to go again and we’re looking forward to what comes. There will be plenty of drama, but also love at every turn,” Turner says.
As the Australian Open sets the slate for Married at First Sight, Married at First Sight will set the return of one of Australia’s favourite dramas, Doctor Doctor.
“With Married at First Sight we will see a fantastic platform which then provides a great vertical flow of audiences into our 9pm shows onwards,” Turner says. “Doctor Doctor is our number one Australian drama and we’re looking forward to what ensues after it. We’ve got some fantastic new characters in the mix and we’re sure that Doctor Doctor will deliver in 2020.”
Another returning show expected to perform for Nine in 2020 is the compelling observational documentary, Paramedics.
“The much-anticipated factual show of 2018 returns this year and we have commissioned twenty episode this time around. Paramedics delivered way above expectation and off the back of MAFS, we will see some really strong numbers this year,” Turner says.
Turning to the factual slate, Nine is bringing a brand new behind-the-scenes documentary series to TV with Taronga: Who’s Who in the Zoo.
“This series takes viewers behind the scenes at Sydney’s unique harbourside zoo, getting access that money can’t buy to the amazing work of the vets and the caretakers of Taronga every single day,” Turner says. “It truly is amazing footage and we’re looking forward to bringing it to a broad family audience this year.”
Also in 2020, Australia’s number one commercial BVOD platform, 9Now, will stock an expanded scripted and unscripted library as part of the new deal with NBCUniversal.
“In 2019, we took the lion’s share of the commercial audience for the BVOD category and we’re looking to expand on that in 2020 with the investment into the NBC content. It landed on the platform on December 1, 2019 and we’ve seen fantastic growth so far with a 45 per cent year-on-year increase in December,” Turner says.
“On top of the fantastic growth expectations for the 9Now platform in terms of audience, we also have great data and analytics that sit behind it which can bring your brands closer to our audience.”