Category: General

Nine Radio is the number one news talk network across Australia, representing major brands in all capital cities, and should be a top consideration for clients, says Nine Radio Managing Director, Tom Malone.

Malone says: “Nine Radio had a big year in 2019. We took out the number one spot across Australia with listeners aged 40-plus, led by our news talk networks 4BC Brisbane, 2GB Sydney, 3AW Melbourne and 6PR Perth, and we also had a 10 per cent growth in audiences aged 25-54.

“Our great broadcasters know their audience better than anyone and that is why we’ve had such success in 2019, which will springboard us right into 2020.”

Moving into 2020, Nine Radio has refreshed its lineup right across Australia to further drive success for another year through new hosts and new shows.

“We’ve added Deborah Knight to the afternoon slot between 12 noon and 3pm and introduced a Wide World of Sports program between 6-7 on Mondays to Fridays, hosted by Mark Levy who will be joined by Billy Slater, Paul Gallen, and Brad Fittler every week, plus experts across AFL, cricket, tennis, netball and more,” Malone said. “We’ve also got a new money show between 7-8pm hosted by Brooke Corte, a respected business journalist with more than 20 years’ experience.”

With all the changes taking place in 2020, Malone declared that Nine Radio should be top of the consideration for clients, “because we are providing an audience that you cannot find elsewhere”.

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.”

9Galaxy is Nine’s platform for simplifying television buying across linear TV and 9Now.

It is designed to automate the buying process and deliver efficiencies in television buying for agencies and clients.

9Galaxy dynamically schedules Nine’s off-peak, multi-channel and BVOD inventory to ensure buyers get the audience they are promised.

There are no makegoods and no shortfalls.

How does 9Galaxy work?

Schedules optimised nightly based on the latest 9Predict forecast to meet audience guarantees. The campaign management tool manages the delivery of objects and makes good audience in real time.

How is it priced?

Guaranteed CPM is based on an optimised schedule at the time of booking and the client’s negotiated rate. There is no price premium associated with 9Galaxy.

How does it work with R&F?

Nine provides an encrypted file providing indicative reach for the 9Galaxy buy. Nine peak remains the primary driver of reach and is not delivered via 9Galaxy.

Will it affect my audit?

As 9Galaxy guarantees audience we deliver makegoods in real time, which may affect average TARP comparison as makegoods for audience shortfalls are excluded from fixed campaign audits and often run outside of campaign period.

What about BVOD?

9Galaxy maximises reach by combining BVOD and linear TV inventory in the one buy. OzTAM’s VOZ to provide incremental reach achieved via BVOD will be available from February 2020.

• No. 1 Overall Program: State of Origin Game 1
• No. 1 Overall Regular Program: Married at First Sight
• No. 1 New Program: LEGO Masters
• No. 1 & No. 2 Reality Series: Married at First Sight & The Block
• No. 1 & No. 2 & No. 3 Light Entertainment Series: Lego Masters, Australian Ninja Warrior & The Voice
• No. 1 Comedy Program: Hamish & Andy’s “Perfect” Holiday
• No. 1 Sports Program: State of Origin
• No. 1 Weekly Public Affairs Program: 60 Minutes
• No. 1 Daily Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair
• No. 1 Multichannel Program: The Ashes (4th Test, Day 5, Session 1)

With the official ratings survey period wrapping up overnight, Nine is celebrating its best ratings share performance of all time.

For full program highlights click here.

Words by Matthew Drummond, Editor AFR Magazine

Beauty and brains, glamour and gravitas, style and substance – there is no other media title in Australia like AFR Magazine, a magazine that spends as much time thinking about how we look as what we say.

When change is the only constant, sometimes the best way to respond is to be constant, to keep doing what you do, but just make it better. Consistency of vision, and quality of execution, is something that’s integral to the success of AFR Magazine. What we do is fundamentally unchanged – the creation of a beautiful magazine that inspires the readership of the Financial Review. 

But in thinking about this, it occurred to me that the past 12 months have marked some big changes and achievements at the Financial Review – the entire masthead. It has indeed been a pivotal year: 

We started the year by welcoming a new generation of trainees, marking an injection of talent as we craft the next generation of Fin Review writers, and in turn, readers. 

We have transformed the technology that our masthead is built on – on both the back end that we use to create our stories, and the front end that our readers see. The digital experience is more visual and features a much higher level of design. 

Our retail digital and corporate subscriber numbers have grown over the last financial year. These paying subscribers are the most valuable readers in Australia.

Off that growth, we’ve kicked up the level of investment in our business. We’re bringing sub-editing back in-house, to lift the quality of every article we produce across the Financial Review.  

We’re putting on new journalists to increase coverage of areas that our subscribers – the most valuable readers in Australia – are interested in.   

And AFR Magazine was named Newspaper Inserted Magazine of the year at the Australian Magazine Awards again, for the seventh year in a row. As at the end of July, the Financial Review readership in print had recorded 10 per cent growth year-on-year, according to EMMA. 

Most significant of all, and one of our biggest strengths is our suite of inserted magazines: from AFR Magazine, BOSS, LUXURY, Sophisticated Traveller and Life & Leisure in the Financial Review to Good Weekend, Sunday Life, Executive Style, Good Food and Traveller in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, as well as our premium Domain magazines. 

These are titles which are authorities in their respective areas – be it lifestyle, long-form journalism, fashion, travel or food. They are all different, and they each play a different role in our publishing ecosystem. What they have in common is the affluence they reach and influence they have over the hearts, minds and wallets of millions of Australians each month. 

Next year marks 25 years of AFR Magazine, and 2020 is going to be our best year yet. 

We invite you to be a part of it.

Nine’s commitment to grow 9Now drives strong levels of confidence among media buyers.

At this year’s Upfront, Michael Stephenson, Nine’s Chief Sales Officer, announced that the company will be introducing cost per completed view on both its short-form and long-form video products, creating excitement for one of Australia’s top media buyers. 

On stage, Stephenson said: “Advertising that is being seen for one second or sometimes not at all is not as valuable as advertising that is full screen, has a 100 per cent completion rate and is seen 100 per cent of the time.

“A move to a cost per completed view metric will allow Nine to compete aggressively in the billion-dollar Australian online video market with Facebook and Google.”

Melissa Fein, CEO of Initiative, was thrilled with these announcements.

“Stephenson’s messaging on BVOD is giving us a lot of excitement,” she said.

“It’s great to see that Nine is leading the pack in his BVOD announcement. Also, to see the industry being able to come together next year to create an industry-wide buying process to purchase that extended reach from OzTAM VOZ is what we are most excited for.”

Fein shared her confidence with Nine’s superbrand strategy, designed to build its reach and audience across the key verticals of property, auto, travel and food.

“Nine’s superbrand strategy is very clear and we’ve all been waiting to see how Fairfax and Nine would start to tie those assets together,” she said.

“To see print and digital go to broadcast means that linear television continues to play such an important role in advertising channel plans. It also gives it the power to grow a brand. Seeing that broadcast can grow the Domain brand and the Good Food brand, it gives us a lot of confidence as media buyers.”  

Fein said it was important for media buyers to know there is consistency in Nine’s programming slate for 2020, and she also commended Nine’s stance on female sport programming.

“As media buyers it’s important that we understand the slate for the whole year out, and it’s really good to see the coaches returning on The Voice. We’ve got confidence in The Voice, we’ve got confidence in Married at First Sight, and the casting for that looks excellent,” said Fein.

“It’s also amazing to see women’s sport playing a pioneering front and centre role, and Nine is the only one bringing that to the forefront. I feel proud as a woman to see that happening and a lot of our advertisers will follow with that.

“A very strong, pioneering feeling this year with all the announcements made.”

Nine has delivered “extremely impressive” strategies and propositions in place for 2020, says one top media buyer.

Barry O’Brien, founder and Chairman of Atomic 212, is impressed with Nine’s decision to keep a consistent slate for the year ahead, saying “to be a good network you need good consistency in terms of programming, and Nine have got that”.

O’Brien also pointed to the success of one of Atomic 212’s initiatives, where it worked Tourism NT onto its “Win a Top End Wedding” competition which launched on Today. The campaign was designed to leverage interest in the new Australian movie, Top End Wedding and drive holiday visitors to the Northern Territory by giving away a dream wedding in the Top End.

“We had good stuff this year with Top End Wedding and we did that with the Today show. The results that came out of that were pretty awesome and it was a good story across the board,” O’Brien said.

Turning to the data announcements, a key topic of the Upfront night, Michael Stephenson, Nine’s Chief Sales Officer, told the room that Nine will continue to grow 9Now as Australia’s leading provider of premium commercial video.

“From today, we will offer to price and trade all our BVOD and short-form video based on a cost per completed view. You will only pay for views that have a 100 percent completion rate,” Stephenson said.

“A movement to a cost per completed view metric will create a level playing field and allow marketers to compare the real cost of advertising on Nine, Facebook and YouTube.”

O’Brien said this announcement was important: “The program is one thing, but then outselling it is really good. Michael Stephenson’s offering of the data platform to compete against Facebook and YouTube was very impressive.”

Nine’s 2020 Upfront was “quite spectacular and went to a different level that I didn’t think it could”, O’Brien added.

Words by Andy Ryan, Co-Head of Drama

Australian audiences love Australian stories. Whether it’s the thrill of an Underbelly, the hijinks of House Husbands or the triumph of Love Child, Australian dramas have always been a vital part of our TV landscape.​

Now more than ever, Australian dramas are also a vital part of Nine’s programming mix. And while the drama landscape has undergone radical change over the past decade, Australian stories continue to win hearts – and eyeballs – for Nine and 9Now.​

​It’s often said we are experiencing a golden age of television. Dramas like Game of Thrones and The Crown have redefined what’s possible for television series, with budgets previously reserved for blockbuster movies. ​

​And while it’s true that audiences are spoilt for choice with more options on more platforms than ever before, Nine’s dramas will always have a point of difference. We tell 100 per cent Australian stories, made for our local audiences by the finest casts and crews in the country. We tell stories that resonate with Australian audiences, that are tightly focused on our core 25-54 demographic, and are designed to capture audiences on linear TV as well as catch-up.​

​But most of all, we want to tell stories that entertain. No drama will succeed unless it has a ripping yarn which can, as the old showbiz adage says, make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, and make ‘em gasp.​

​It’s the reason why Doctor Doctor is returning for a fourth season. Why we are diving back into the mean streets of Melbourne’s gangland wars with Informer 3838, the story of Lawyer X. And why Rebecca Gibney is bringing her groundbreaking character Jane Halifax back to Nine in Halifax: Retribution.​

​We’re especially excited to showcase some of Australia’s most outstanding actors on Nine dramas in 2020. Stay tuned for a roll call of industry icons including Rebecca Gibney, Rodger Corser, Tina Bursill, Anthony LaPaglia, John Waters, Claudia Karvan, Jacqueline Mackenzie and Robyn Nevin. They’ll be joined by some of the most exciting and popular faces on television, including Stephen Peacocke, Ella Scott Lynch, Rick Donald, Nicole da Silva and Olympia Valance. ​

​And watch out for the new and emerging stars to burst through in 2020. Like the stories themselves, we’ll bring actors and performances that are guaranteed to surprise, delight, and shock. ​

Words by Liz Ellis, Australian Netball legend and Nine Wide World of Sports commentator.

No longer content to sit on the sidelines, the sisters are now doing it for themselves.

Once the near exclusive domain of blokes, sport-as-entertainment is starting to look a lot different. Female athletes, and the entertainment they produce, are becoming hot property. For a long time, we suspected that women passing, catching and hitting a ball could fill stadiums and light up screens. Now we know it.

No longer a sideline to the main event, it is increasingly becoming the main event. For an old duck like me it feels like on the one hand it has been a long time coming, and on the other hand something that has happened nearly overnight. It also feels incredibly satisfying that broadcasters and sponsors see that potential.

Just five years ago netball was paying broadcasters to show its domestic league, and there was no such thing as Women’s NRL or Women’s State of Origin. 

Yet here we are, heading into 2020 with all of the above, and all of them live and free on the Nine network. Athletes like Ash Barty, Ellyse Perry, Laura Langman and Kezie Apps are household names, and can, on any given weekend, be found with a flick of the remote control. And once people are finding them, they are watching them. Ratings for Super Netball are up two per cent year-on-year and this year’s Women’s State of Origin match out rated the Swans v Hawthorn match in Sydney by almost two to one.

I have to pinch myself when I see the Wide World of Sports logo come up on screen at the start of a Suncorp Super Netball broadcast; when the Constellation Cup, the annual test series between Australia and New Zealand, gets the full Channel 9 treatment, complete with Ray Warren voiceover.

For a long time netball was the outlier, the one women’s sport that was shown regularly on television. Now we have company, and that is a good thing. I am often asked if the rise of other women’s sport is a threat to netball. On the contrary, it represents an opportunity.

That opportunity is the normalisation of women playing professional sport on the television. When my eight-year-old daughter turns on the television and finds women playing netball, cricket, or football, she can see so many opportunities for people just like her. She can fall in love with any number of sports and athletes in a way
I couldn’t when I was a little girl.

This is beyond exciting. 

I couldn’t be happier that women’s sport is taking its place and making headlines of its own. That female athletes are being celebrated, scrutinised and analysed just like their male counterparts.

But do you know what would make me really happy? Really excited? When we stop talking about women’s sport. When we no longer mention female athletes. When athletes are just athletes and sport is just sport. Five years ago I thought that this might never happen.

Now it feels so close I could touch it. Or tackle it.

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.