Nine’s group content strategy director, Lizzie Young, has rejected the suggestion that the media industry’s use of Upfront events is outdated, focusing instead on the drive and positivity the annual events create internally. 

Speaking on the panel at a Sydney event hosted by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) and ThinkTV, Young emphasised how Nine’s annual Upfront presentation inspires the media company.  

“You know what’s great about Upfront for us as a business, culturally? It gets stuff done,” Young said. 
 
“I can tell you we got 9Voyager built because we had a deadline. If it was understood that we were going to announce it at one key event, then we had to get it done by then.” 

9Voyager is Nine’s self-service platform, built by the Nine technology team, “where you’ll be able to trade our inventory from the palm of your hand at home and pay for it on a credit card, or however you would like, and buy television inventory and digital inventory in the future,” Young explained. 

“We will also have a low-cost production model to go with that, which is a fantastic model for SMEs in the market.” 

The panel homed in on the opportunities for brands on broadcast video on demand (BVOD), with Young emphasising they were “rich”. 

She said reality formats such as The Block on Nine are the key to BVOD strategies because they provide an opportunity for short-form, brand-integrated content. 

“We know this is the content that gets the audience, we see it day in, day out, and where the values get even greater is through the BVOD platforms. 

“That’s because if you are embedded in a piece of content, which may be seen by one million people the first time it runs, you can get stronger incremental reach by being part of short-form as the VOD keeps going with integrated content the consumer is already interested in.”