Podcasts about bvod

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2025 31:10

Mi3’s most read story of 2024 came via an Oxford University marketing scientist’s peer-reviewed paper underlining precisely why not all reach is equal. Based off analysis of 1,000-plus campaigns and a million customer journeys via Kantar and Wavemaker, the data shows optimising for reach alone rarely tallies with business growth. In fact, in almost all cases, per Saïd Business School Associate Professor Felipe Thomaz, it delivers “really mediocre outcomes”. That’s the collective market failure News Australia aims to address – at least the start of it, with ‘Engaged Reach’, which counters the current industry bias for chasing fleeting user volumes for shallow scale. News Australia’s Lou Barrett, Dean La Rosa and Jess Gilby unpack how it’s already working for Mars Petcare, Chemist Warehouse, Inspiring Vacations and Subway, the latter a benchmark win for the publisher in QSR after Subway’s CMO said News Australia’s custom-built, integrated program outplayed the big tech platforms and landed the entire Subway initiative. The “all assets” rollout rapidly notched 3 per cent sales growth after a single campaign for Subway. The trio also underline why News Australia’s partnership with free streaming service Tubi – Barrett aims to rapidly double its monthly audience towards 3 million – means it can map buyer intent signals from the content audiences are reading to the shows they are watching. Plus tell advertisers where their best targets can be found around the clock, what they are interested in and how to engage them to maximise results.News Australia feeds circa 2.5 billion monthly intent signals into its CDP, enabling marketers to target audiences across 7,000 segments, using AI to hit sweet spots that might not be immediately obvious, per La Rosa. “It will forecast, it will understand the size, the scale, the relevance.” As Gilby underlines: “Everyone's got data, but it's about how you use it, how you apply it, and how you can be creative with it … We’re going from efficiently reaching audiences to effectively engaging them.” Somewhere in Oxford, a professor will be nodding in agreement.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paramount global and local sales chiefs on converged trading, blended CPMs and why allowing streaming subscribers to opt into ad tiers is optimal

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2024 33:41

Paramount went early on both converged trading and a streaming ad tier in the US. Now it's doing likewise in Australia and Lee Sears, Paramount's international ad sales chief, thinks both plays will pay off for the media and entertainment conglomerate, its advertisers and crucially – viewers. Unlike some rivals, Paramount didn't push subscribers automatically onto the streaming ad tier. Sears says it didn't need to, because “we have a huge audience elsewhere, so don't have to be reliant on just the SVOD ad tier”. He suggests forcing ads onto subscribers that signed up for an ad free service wouldn't be right. Either way, the strategy appears to be paying off. Locally, sales chief Rod Prosser won't divulge numbers, though analysts Telsyte estimate Paramount SVOD subscribers at 1.8m, with sign-ups outstripping its competitive set. Prosser said the reality is much higher than the Telsyte estimate and, confirmed “We are still the fastest growing [SVOD]”. Moreover, Sears suggests Paramount's subscribers are actually using the service amid some “wild” numbers being touted in market, per OMG investment chief Kristiaan Kroon, “because it's not an add-on to something else, or it's not a byproduct of a bill that you're paying elsewhere within your household”. On converged trading across BVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST (linear TV's set to follow locally in H2 next year), Sears says the approach is now driving a “major” chunk of revenue in the US and other global markets. He anticipates Australia will follow that playbook: “It is now part of everything we do … Converged trading, connecting everything together, is how we lead with our conversation. I think that's the way everybody will try to lead conversations in the future, unless you only have a one-dimensional play.” Part of the converged approach is a “blended CPM”, i.e. a bundled price that factors in the different channels the ads run across. Prosser said how that pricing works has been the biggest question from agencies in recent weeks, alongside bringing linear TV into the converged mix.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Virgin Velocity measured incrementality across media channels, proved TV+BVOD+OOH deliver more uplift, launched first brand push, saw member growth trend soar 35%

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2024 34:03

Before launching its first-ever brand campaign, Virgin Velocity had to convince finance and commercial teams that investing in brand would drive long-term demand, re-engage its 10m members – and ultimately power growth. So it tapped Beatgrid, the same cross-media measurement platform used by Virgin Australia when relaunching its airline brand.Beatgrid's audience measurement system uses a passive, single source panel – via an opt-in mobile phone-based app – that uses subtle audio pitch shifts to the ad creative to determine which channel the audience was exposed to. That means it can detect if an ad has been seen and how many times per user across different screens and channels – with total recall because it's not relying on humans to remember what they saw, when and how accurately. It also enables an accurate read on cross-channel incremental reach.For Velocity's GM of Member Engagement, Emma King, demonstrating the panel's robustness via control groups meant she could prove incrementality and unlock the media budget. It's also given Velocity and their media partner PHD, a sharper insight on which channels deliver the highest growth per campaign and cumulatively across campaigns – and where the best balance of effectiveness and efficiency lies.Beatgrid's data also threw up some surprises. “In one example, we saw total TV drive a lift of 11 points. And when we tease out the impact of BVOD, we can see it drives an incremental result of three points above TV,” says PHD Head of Research, Lillian Zrim – counter to the narrative of declining audiences and effectiveness.Velocity's King says Beatgrid's data also enabled her to justify investing in other brand channels. “We saw television work really well with out-of-home to drive incremental KPI results. If you have a lot of overlap in reach, sometimes you're thinking - maybe we don't need to cover both; then you see results like this that say [if someone's exposed to both channels], they're going to get a much higher lift.”While King and Zrim acknowledge that nothing happens in a vacuum, “In April, our CEO confirmed that member growth trend was 35 per cent above the growth trend the previous year,” says King. “So that's an example of the kind of commercial impact that these kinds of campaigns can have.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

'We don't see ourselves as a free to air business any more' - Rod Prosser on Paramount's evolution

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2024 34:08

Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade. In the interests of topicality we're reworking our publishing rhythm this week. We've brought forward to today our usual Thursday audio-led interview to focus on the Paramount Upfronts which kicked off in Sydney yesterday. And our member-only post which usually happens on a Tuesday, will be later in the week. Further down, we've also got better news on the Unmade Index which finally broke its eight day losing streak.If you've been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfect time. Your membership includes:* A complimentary ticket to all of Unmade's events, including HumAIn (2025), REmade (1 October), Unlock (31 October), and Compass (November);* Member-only content and our paywalled archives;* Your own copy of Media Unmade. How Paramount is making one plus one add up to moreParamount yesterday become the first of Australia's TV companies to show its hand during 2025 Upfronts season.One of the challenges of covering Upfronts presentations is that they tend to be a grab bag of announcements, without there necessarily being a unifying theme.That was certainly the case with Paramount, with announcements covering free to air commissions for Network 10, local commissions for streaming service Paramount+, the company's global content pipeline, converged trading technology upgrades with Paramount Connect, and a rebrand that will see 10 Play disappear so it will be Ten across both linear and streaming.And that in itself was the unifying theme. Albeit by accident rather than plan, the global ownership structure of the company leaves Paramount as the best placed media company to argue that the sum of its parts adds up to more than the whole.While Paramount Plus isn't the biggest subscription streaming platform with an advertising tier, it gets to be the only one that is part of a local Upfront.While a distant third behind Seven and Nine in broadcast TV, Ten gets a pipeline of global formats and content from its parent company.While 10 Play isn't as big as Seven's FAST (free ad supported TV) channels, advertisers and agencies can buy across both Paramount+ and 10 Play.To lean in to the acronyms, Paramount is the only company locally that can offer advertisers audiences across SVOD, BVOD, FAST and FTA. The sum of the parts has the potential to equal more than the wholeUnder Hugh Marks, Nine's portfolio felt like a company where its assets across TV, streaming, publishing and radio added up to more than the whole. More recently one plus one has equalled two at best.Seven West Media's TV and publishing assets feel similarly disconnected, even more so since being split into seperate divisions ready for some sort of M&A activity.ARN Media's (so far failed) takeover plan for SCA was about being stronger in the single medium of audio. Southern Cross Austereo's valuation will go up as soon as it finally offloads its fading regional TV licences (presumably mostly to Paramount) and becomes a pure play audio company.So what to make of Paramount's announcements?There's a further investment in live reality TV alongside I'm A Celebrity. Big Brother returns to its original home where it ran for its first eight seasons, before three seasons on Nine where it relaunched well out of the 2012 Olympics before fading, and five seasons on Seven which took much of the life out of the format by moving to a cheaper pre-recorded format.Big Brother will be live on Ten and streamed 24 hours a day live which is almost exactly the sort of content FAST was invented for.There were no other major format surprises. Have You Been Paying Attention, MasterChef, Taskmaster, Survivor, and Thank God You're Here all return. The Project stays on air.Talking ‘Bout Your Generation (or Talkin' ‘Bout Your Gen as it will be this time) has been revived minus Shaun Micallef as host. Sam Pang will get his own show.During the podcast conversation with sales boss Rod Prosser and programming lead Daniel Monaghan, I didn't detect much of an appetite to go after a big (and expensive) sporting code. The kite flown at the weekend by NRL boss Peter V'landys feels more like an attempt to scare Nine into thinking it could face an auction.There was also some paranormal activity from Paramount.An Australian version of sitcom Ghosts, which started life in the BBC in the UK will be cast shortly (I have my suspicions we won't see it on screen until 2026). I'm intrigued how the caveman character of Robin from the original will translate into a local character without controversy around First Nations people. Monaghan tackles that in the interview.And a spooky six part scripted drama Playing Gracie Darling will land on Paramount+As well as talking about the content announcements, the interview addressed the question of how the TV industry can stop sounding defensive about its fading linear numbers and start getting aggressive about streaming.Prosser acknowledges: “We don't see ourselves as a free-to-air business anymore. We see ourselves … as a premium video business. Obviously, the free-to-air asset is incredibly important.It's important to recognize a couple of things. The first thing is that the free-to-air linear still drives the biggest reach.“The second fact is linear audiences are declining. I think none of us can have our heads in the sand about that.“We were artificially propped up through Covid. I think everyone recognises that.“And that decline that we knew was coming has come. And I think we'll see stabilisation in those audiences now.”“The reality is television is still a mass-reaching vehicle. And I think there's no reason to be defensive around that. We own it.“But I do think the linear audiences have found their place.”* Declaration of interest: My travel and accommodation for the event was covered by ParamountUnmade Index finally breaks losing streakThe Unmade Index finally broke an eight day streak of declines to record a move upwards yesterday, growing by 1.36% to 443.3 points.The best performer was Domain, majority owned by Nine, which rose by 4.3%. That in turn helped lift Nine by 2.1%.Rival TV network Seven rose by 2.9%.Among the larger stocks, Southern Cross Austereo had the worst of it, slipping by 3.8%. SCA's market capitalisation of $122m is the lowest it has ever been. The smaller audio stock of Sports Entertainment Group, owner of SEN radio, lost 7.6%.Today's podcast was edited by Abe's Audio.We'll be back with another newsletter tomorrow.We also have a clarification. In Saturday's Best of the Week, I reported that VOZ streaming would launch on November 25, as a means for advertisers to frequency cap their campaigns across differing media plartforms. I mentioned that this had previously been announced as December 29. In fact, that date is the full launch of VOZ as a trading currency and remains the same.Have a great day.Toodlepip…Tim BurrowesPublisher - Unmadetim@unmade.media This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Streaming services have peaked as 2025 ad take set to surge to $200m; Amazon Prime, Kayo, Binge lead local market with ‘sophisticated' human sales teams but too many streamers to support with ads - Omnicom, Telsyte

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2024 45:09

The latest analysis of SVOD growth rates from tech and telco analyst Telsyte proves one thing: fear of streaming services losing subscribers by pivoting to ads is overblown: They're growing – though some more than others. MD Foad Fadaghi says ads, plus AI personalisation, integration and format innovation, will power the next growth cycle but streaming growth has peaked. Omnicom investment chief Kristiaan Kroon suggests Stan, Nine's ad-free SVOD holdout, should heed that lesson because Nine has something globals like Netflix and others do not: “A really sophisticated, at scale, sales infrastructure, which means they could make really good money from an ad tier.” There's more competition incoming from HBO and Disney. But Kroon reiterates that the best sales wins because unlike the US and UK, Australia's premium end of town doesn't operate on fully automated systems and open exchanges. “They are still very much handheld markets.” Who's winning right now? “Amazon Prime and then Binge and Kayo. Why? They have come to market with scale, both have sales teams, both have sophisticated data infrastructure,” per Kroon. He thinks streamer ad tiers will eclipse his earlier predictions of $75-$100m take in 2024 with Amazon, Kayo and Binge taking most of the pie. Next year, he thinks SVOD ad tiers could beat $200m, but there's debate about how big ad-streamers like Amazon and Netflix actually are. Fadaghi suggests 80 per cent Telstye's estimated 4.8m Amazon Prime subscribers could technically receive ads. Kroon puts the active Prime user base around 2-2.5m, broadly on a par with Nine and Seven. There's also an effectiveness debate, with data from Adgile suggesting streamers can't yet match TV's results. Kroon says the MMM-effectiveness-ROI debate has become “very finger pointy in recent months”, but agrees there's a gap to close. Ultimately, he thinks local content integration could prove decisive in determining winners and losers – and for some of the globals, Australia may prove too small. “I don't see how we can support that many BVOD, SVOD [players] – and we haven't really even talked about YouTube and the amount of ads that are served on CTV now,” says Kroon. “There's only going to be a certain number that can be supported.” Fadaghi predicts the streamers will triple in size to 10m subscribers in the next four years, “with more than a third on ad tiers.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Market TV perceptions wayward: Ex-Seven CMO Mel Hopkins still backs TV, aligns with Nine CMO Liana Dubois warning marketers of 'dangerous swing' to platforms and dashboards over ROI

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2024 29:38

Six weeks ago Mel Hopkins was rolled out of Seven amid a clinical round of cuts that added further fuel to the narrative that TV is in trouble as audiences bleed and revenue follows suit. But Hopkins, who as Optus CMO dumped the lion's share of her media budget into Meta and Google, remains convinced TV is undervalued and undersold, says BVOD metrics and reporting are as good as anything the platforms can provide, and that the global streamers are likewise racing to “manage out cost”. Revenue challenges should therefore not be conflated with audiences, which Hopkins and Nine CMO Liana Dubois insist remain healthy – Dubois said TV reached 24.2m Australians last month. While media buyers last year said 2022 had marked “the biggest audience decline in the history of TV” and correctly forecast a 10 per cent revenue hit for linear TV as a result, Dubois said industry needs to get its terminology straight – literally – because TV delivered over the internet can still be linear TV. However it is delivered and consumed, “television today is reaching the same amount of people that it did 10 years ago,” per Dubois – and those numbers “are holding”. She warns marketers pulling out of TV for digital platforms and their dashboards are “dangerously” risking marketing effectiveness and should instead look beyond the shallow metrics – and narrative – they are being fed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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MadTech Daily: UK BVOD Ad Spend to Surpass £1 Billion in 2024; FTC to Investigate Surveillance Pricing

The MadTech Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2024 2:13

On today's MadTech Daily: UK BVOD Ad Spend to Surpass £1 Billion in 2024; FTC to Investigate Surveillance Pricing; Grab Abandons Acquisition of Trans-cab

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Media Week Podcast: Black Friday winners and losers

Campaign podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2023 32:48

Plus: Working like Mad Men, ByteDance's merry jig, BVOD myths and pass me the Dove soap box. Hosted by Bukky from Wavemaker, Harriet from Publicis and Jack from Craft Media.Got a media confession you need to get off your chest? Need some life advice from the gang? Submit your questions here: https://forms.gle/CXPYw4SDRSqXzZTt8 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Measuring BVOD, TV and YouTube and footfall in one hit: Kmart, Kinesso and UM think Beatgrid may have cracked cross-media measurement

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2023 48:00

Figuring out where potential customers are in the hectic media system and not waste budgets reaching them across disparate channels is driving marketers and media agencies to experiment with some interesting alternatives in cross-media audience measurement. Kmart, its agency UM and IPG tech stablemate Kinesso, think they have landed on a winner – Beatgrid's automatic content recognition phone-based panel. Beatgrid counts the likes of Amazon, Google, P&G, Unilever and Virgin as clients. The firm's tech measures TV, digital video, audio and even out of home audiences, as well as in-store footfall. Plus its panel of paid-up and consented humans is doing away with the guesswork of brand uplift studies. Which is why Kinesso Digital Strategy Director, Charlie Allatt, convinced UM's Group Director for Kmart, Adam Russell, to trial the tech. By making “inaudible pitch shifts” to creative across different screen types, “the system can unwind whether people are being exposed in a particular channel,” says Allatt. For Kmart, the two launched the trial across linear TV, BVOD and YouTube – which siloed measurement systems can't do in one hit. Then they ran the numbers against Google's DV360 DSP for YouTube ads, and against OzTam's data for linear TV and BVOD. “Both channels tilted very, very closely to the Beatgrid numbers,” says Russell. Plus, using Beatgrid's location data, they could map the ads served to Kmart's in-store footfall. “We could see the difference of people who, within a two-week span, had seen an ad and then gone on into a Kmart store versus people who haven't seen an ad,” says Allatt. “We could directly measure that uplift in real time, specifically broken down for each channel.” Kmart must “demonstrate every day that we are [reaching customers] really efficiently, ensuring every dollar we invest is performing,” says GM of Marketing Rennie Freer. The Beatgrid trial, “was a great opportunity to do that,” she says, “because if we're saving dollars here, if what we're doing is really delivering the efficacy we need, we can reinvest in new channels.” As cookies disappear and privacy laws tighten, Beatgrid's founder Daniel Tjondronegoro and Australia GM Cameron Curtis think single-source panels are about to have a major renaissance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The 'say-do' gap in mental wellness policies, hybrid working, and TV's summer recession

The Media Leader Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2023 43:24

Host Jack Benjamin is joined by editor-in-chief Omar Oakes and columnist Nicola Kemp to discuss NABS' All Ears consultation results, hybrid working pressures, and the latest AA/WARC figures, which found that TV experienced a summer recession.The trio also digs into the latest earnings results for Meta and Amazon, and gives one word for what they think about Boris Johnson's new gig as a presenter for GB News."There is a really big 'say-do gap, particularly in media," warns Kemp. "It's really important that we have leaders sharing thought leadership articles on mental health... but is it having an impact on the lived experiences of employees? This All Earns research suggests that no, it isn't."Addressing that say-do gap is so vital, because otherwise, leaders look not just out of touch, but they're in danger of gaslighting their own employees with their words."Read Kemp's latest column: "Don't blame women for working flexibly"Show highlights:1:49: Mental health in the workplace, the say-do gap.4:23: Hybrid work and its impact on mental health.9:38: Hybrid work model's impact on mental health and communication.15:05: Workplace flexibility and gender equality.19:39: Why the UK TV advertising market has had a tough summer + Paramount's decision to scrap My5 as a separate BVOD service30:04: Rugby World Cup: why is sports broadcasting not innovating?35:15: Quick-fire round: Meta, Amazon and retail media, Boris Johnson on GB News.---Visit The Media Leader for the most authoritative news analysis and comment on what's happening in commercial media. LinkedIn: The Media LeaderThreads: @TheMediaLeaderX: @TheMediaLeader YouTube: The Media Leader

4 billion streams and counting: News Corp Australia piles into vertical video, siphons audiences back from social, ties to commerce, bids to own mid-funnel between BVOD and social video

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2023 38:10

News Corp Australia had more than 4 billion short form video views last financial year across its own assets and social feeds and it's changing the way the Murdoch empire delivers content. Vertical video is the big play as audiences and advertisers pile in. Even boss Michael Miller is getting in on the act. Now News has launched a master plan – dubbed News Shorts – to siphon those social audiences off the likes of TikTok (1.2bn of those streams), back to its owned assets and into its commerce engines. Director of Commercial Data, Video and Product, Paul Blackburn thinks it can get to 800m on-platform vertical video streams within the next 12 months, feeding its shoppable ad units and packaging a mid-funnel intent play. Per Blackburn: “The trajectory we're on suggests that's extremely doable.” Head of Ad Product and Strategy Ryan Hedditch says the vertical video play, sitting between BVOD and the top of the funnel and social at the bottom, presents “a big opportunity for planners to think differently about how they can capture and convert intent in the mid-funnel and push that through to conversion.” Travel brands in particular are already taking that approach, with one advertiser notching 75 per cent uplift in sales form response rates using vertical video and News Corp Australia's data. Crucially, conversion – i.e. shopping – happens on platform, AKA headless commerce. “It essentially means the brand or the retailer can set up a store within our content,” says Blackburn. He thinks brands and buyers are beginning to wake up to what's been presented to them on a plate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Radio ratings raise eyebrows; Voice campaigns to kick off; can TV unite over BVOD?

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2023 31:23

30 August 2023 The latest radio ratings are in: we look at the big winners, and why some of the results have got broadcasters questioning the numbers. Also today: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the date for the Voice referendum - so now the campaigns to convince Australians will begin in earnest Free-to-air TV has united behind the VOZ Streaming platform. What will it mean for BVOD in Australia? Join Michael Thompson & Adam Lang for a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella.

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BONUS - Mumbrellacast

Fear and Greed

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2023 32:05

Fear & Greed is very excited to be working on the weekly Mumbrellacast - a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella. There's a new episode every Wednesday - follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Original release date: Wednesday 16 August 2023 In this week's Mumbrellacast: Australia's gone wild for the Matildas. Is this the turning point for women's sport in this country? Has it changed the way brands think about sport, and should the companies who backed them from the beginning be getting more praise? Also today: Podcast and BVOD ad spends are rising, as the rest of the market sinks. Seven West Media reported results today. We look at what it tells us about the market. Mat Baxter, Huge CEO, has returned to Australia. Can he run a global advertising company from down under? Join Michael Thompson, Adam Lang & Damian Francis for a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella.Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Matildas fever could be turning point; podcast, BVOD defy market; what we learnt from Seven's results; adland guru comes home

Performance Marketing Unlocked

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2023 31:30

16 August 2023 Australia's gone wild for the Matildas. Is this the turning point for women's sport in this country? Has it changed the way brands think about sport, and should the companies who backed them from the beginning be getting more praise? Also today: Podcast and BVOD ad spends are rising, as the rest of the market sinks. Seven West Media reported results today. We look at what it tells us about the market. Mat Baxter, Huge CEO, has returned to Australia. Can he run a global advertising company from down under? Join Michael Thompson, Adam Lang & Damian Francis for a look at everything under Australia's media and marketing umbrella.

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Cannes vs Machine: Samsung Ads' glass view of CTV and Kantar's favourite bad ad

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2023 30:59

"AI is more of an enabling tool right now than it is a replacement for genuine human creativity," said Kantar's EVP, Creative and Media Solutions, Steve Silvers. For a topic that crops up in almost every talk at Cannes this year, no one seems that impressed.In the second part of PMW's Cannes Versus Machine three-part podcast series we unlock the technologies that have blown up in the last year and how performance marketers can use them. PMW's Editor, Robin Langford, and Lucy Shelley, Multimedia Editor, talk through their best bits, including the Grand Prix winner for the Creative Data Lions.We begin with Samsung Ads 'glass level view' of CTV as Andy Jones, Head of UK Sales, debunks its misconceptions. Jones explains how automatic content recognition changes the game for marketers and why acronyms (BVOD, SVOD, FAST, etc...) are so overrated. As consumers quite simply don't care or identify the difference.The next interview sits down with Kantar, delving into why generative AI is actually not a big deal or worth fussing about. We also ask the data analytics company what is their favourite bad ad that wouldn't win a Lion but might actually perform well!The third and final episode of the Cannes vs Machine series will be out next week, with special guests from Snapchat, Billion Dollar Boy and Jon Evans from the Uncensored CMO. So follow along at www.performancemarketingworld.com ! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The future of total TV: Voz, the cross-network ‘BVOD Project', Unilever's 20 per cent reach gains and converged trading implications for marketers, agencies and TV networks

Inside Content - the TV Industry Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2023 39:43

With Voz in market and the TV networks seemingly moving forward with a BVOD marketplace, agencies and broadcasters have renewed impetus to converge TV trading and buying and flick legacy systems. But ditching decades of behaviour is never easy. Perhaps the best example is what has been dubbed the Unilever trial, where the FMCG giant, agency PHD and Seven West Media used early Voz data to boost reach by 20 per cent while cutting audience duplication to four per cent by combining linear and BVOD. Alex Tansley, Head of Converged Audience Trading at Seven and PHD investment chief Joanna Barnes were key architects of that trial. They unpack what converged TV trading will look like in the next 12 months – and what that means for marketers, media agencies, TV networks and perhaps ultimately the pure-play streaming platforms now entering the advertising game.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What does the future hold for SVoD and BVoD?

The Amp

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2023 41:30

In this months episode, we talk about the future of SVoD and BVoD. Minal Modha talks to Fred Black about the recent downturn in commissions in the US, Richard Cooper about the recent stagnation of streaming services in the US, and finally Lottie Towler about her recent work on how BVoD's can better compete in this market. Production by Rory Gooderick.Follow Ampere Analysis on Twitter: @AmpereAnalysisSign up to The Amp weekly newsletter hereFor more information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The 2023 TV Industry Trends & Predictions | Inside Content

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2023 38:48

Last year, the TV and streaming industry saw some rapid shifts. SVOD ad-tiering, the integration of global streamers with Pay TV operators and the rapid growth of FAST are just some of the key changes we saw in 2022. Most services faced economic challenges, from AVOD and BVOD struggling with the ad market to Pay TV and SVOD competing against the cost-of-living crisis faced by consumers. But with those challenges have come new models, new opportunities and success. On this special episode of Inside Content, Peyton Lombardo, manager at 3Vision is joined by EVP Jack Davison and Director Jack Thomas to discuss our new 2023 TV Industry Trends & Predictions report which collates global feedback from senior media executives to provide data-driven predictions and insights into major industry areas. Together they consider the report's key findings and discuss some of the hottest topics in the TV industry, such as AVOD Growth, SVOD Competition, and the unrelenting demand for content. Here is a breakdown of the topics they discuss: Market growth in the US, India and Australia SVOD growth prospects with a spotlight on Netflix and Disney+ The opportunity of local streamers to co-produce with global streamers Top SVOD priorities - Lower-priced ad-tiers and local content The growth of AVOD and FAST and the potential loss of faith in BVOD Scripted TV Series as a way to maximise subscriber acquisition The uncertainty of cord-cutting We hope you enjoy this insightful episode! Download the The 2023 TV Industry Trends & Predictions Report now ➡️ https://www.3vision.tv/news-insights/the-2023-tv-industry-trends-predictions-report/ Stay in the loop: Visit our Website: https://www.3vision.tv Follow us on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/3vision Follow us on Twitter: @3Vision

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Start the Week: How the TV networks are planning a premium video exchange; Web rankings redux; The rise of subscription video

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2023 19:42

Welcome to Start the Week, our Monday morning scene-setter for the week ahead.Today:* Australia's TV networks plot a BVOD exchange* Introducing Australia's new audience measurement service - Iris* The continued rise of retail media* New data suggests more people are consuming subscription video than free TVToday's episode feature Tim Burrowes and Abe Udy.Further reading:* The Australian: The not so secret rise of retail media networks* Australian Financial Review: TV industry asks tech to help build YouTube-killer ad network* The Australian: Viewers flock to paid streaming services, new report showsAudio production was courtesy of Abe's Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers and sound design for corporate videos, digital content, commercials and podcasts.Message us: letters@unmade.media This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

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SCA pushes back on media agencies driving carbon agenda, eyes bigger slice of TV budgets for audio as inflation rises, reach tails off – and FMCG advertisers are getting the message

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2023 40:41

Southern Cross Austereo Chief Sales Officer Brian Gallagher has some contrarian views on the big push from agency groups to have media owners meet ESG and carbon neutral benchmarks as part of their annual ad deal negotiations. He also argues media buyers might be a little lost in the haze of numbers when audio platforms like Spotify bundle overall podcast audience numbers, which include SCA shows that Spotify can't commercialise. Gallagher says there's widespread misconception that they can. On the flip side, SCA Head of Ad Product, Jonathan Mandel are buoyed by the continuing surge of digital audio listening. At a market level, 9.4 million people are tuning in every week into the digital channel – the same number as broadcaster BVOD audiences. Mandel says there are major reach gains to be had for advertisers that take a slice of TV budgets: “If you're investing into a BVOD campaign, the studies we have developed show that if you put 15 per cent of that budget into digital audio, you can increase your reach and the overall reach curve by an additional 40 per cent.” Gallagher says the message is landing: “We've got FMCG advertisers onboard that have never advertised on radio before. I'm talking seven-figure commitments.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Nearly time to turn off the transmitters. The viewing shift is happening faster than you think

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2023 36:11

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade.TV's inflection point is coming. Any time now (or maybe it happened in the last few weeks), the proportion of the Australian population who watch television the traditional way will fall below half for the first time.But as fast as traditional ways of watching are falling, new viewing habits are forming - or that's what the data in Think TV's regularly produced Fact Pack suggests.Analysis of OzTam data for the second half of last year by Think TV suggests that commercial audiences are on the move - from television consumed via their aerials, to video streams.In today's Unmade podcast, Tim Burrowes talks to Think TV's director of research, insights & education Steve Weaver and to the organisation's CEO Kim Portrate about the meaning behind the numbers.In the first half of 2022, just over 14.1m Australians - or 54.3% of the potential viewing population - were watching TV and only doing it the linear way, via their aerials or Foxtel dish.By the second half of 2022, that number had fallen to 13.3m, or 51%.A question Portrate and Waver address during the conversation is whether in the early months of 2023, we have since passed the inflection point, and less than 50% of Australians are now watching TV the old-fangled way.Also revealed in the data is that in the first half of last year, 3.6m (or 13.7% of the population) were watching commercial TV on a combination of linear TV or via streaming. That rose to 4.1m, or 15.6% of the population, by the second half.The number of people giving up on their aerial or dish to watch broadcast TV only via streaming also rose sharply - from 1.5m to 1.8m. With some smart TVs, the viewers may not even have realised that's what they were doing.Reassuringly for the TV industry, the jump in streaming viewing seems to be going up almost as fast as the linear switchoff is occurring. Total reach across linear and BVOD (broadcast video on demand) only dipped from 19.23m to 19.17m, a fall of just 0.3%.It's worth noting that all of the analysis is based on OzTam data which only covers Australia's broadcasters, not streaming-only platforms like Netflix or Stan.During the wide ranging conversation, we raise the issue of the TV industry's slow implementation of a daily total viewing number to move away from the fast-fading overnight metro metric.Portrate says that will happen this year. In the conversation she was also challenged to predict how long until the TV transmitters can be turned off altogether as streamign becomes the only means of viewing. It might be sooner than you think. And we canvassed both Weaver and Portrate on whether the likes of Netflix would be welcomed onto OzTam in the same way the streamer has been allowed onto the UK's audience measurement service.The full Fact Pack is available on the Think TV websiteTim BurrowesPublisher - Unmadetim@unmade.media This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

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‘Hundreds of millions of dollars will move quickly': Foxtel Media's Frain, Razorfish's Tonelli and Tubi's Fitch on AVOD's next battlegrounds of frequency capping, measurement and personalisation

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 24, 2022 44:20

Australia's AVOD wars are heating up. Foxtel Media boss Mark Frain reckons “tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars” will move in the next 12-18 months. User experience will win, making ad loads and frequency capping a key battleground. Razorfish boss Jason Tonelli warns that presents a new problem for publishers: As users hop from one service to the other, how will BVOD and AVOD players collectively manage frequency capping? “That will be the next frontier”. Brands are hungry to test the waters, adds Tonelli, with early adopters lenient on measurement. But down the track, measurement will need to be robust. “Is it OzTam or not? That is a debate we have to have.” Foxtel's Frain says sitting outside of OzTam hasn't stopped Foxtel writing revenue on Kayo. Ultimately, per Tyler Fitch, head of Advanced TV & Partnerships at Tubi – which has amassed 50m AVOD subscribers – breadth of content, personalisation and UX will determine winners from losers. He thinks the former SVOD purists that once “scoffed” ad ad-funded models have some hard lessons ahead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Upfronts season: As two BVOD markets emerge, is Netflix and co's entry a validation of SBS' premium strategy?

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2022 36:57

On the final Mumbrellacast upfronts special, SBS MD James Taylor and director of indigenous content Tanya Denning-Orman chat with host, Calum Jaspan about its bullish approach to 2023 as a 'premium destination', how it plans to cover a looming Voice to Parliament referendum, bringing First Nations stories into cultural consciousness, and why is does not see Nine, Seven, and Ten as its competition.

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Paramount Upfront: How the Pluto FAST channels will change the game

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 6, 2022 39:13

Of the big three, we're now two Upfronts in. Nine went first, back in mid-September, and yesterday it was the turn of Ten's owner, Paramount, which took over the ICC for the afternoon to tell us its plans for 2023.Returning from the pandemic live event hiatus, there have been new Upfronts themes. Both Nine and Ten opened with performances from indigenous Australians. Both leaned into the dry ice. Nine went for flames, while Ten had glitter cannons in the ceiling. Both gave almost as much prominence to their tech partnerships as they did the content slate. And both emphasised the scale of their wider companies.This is where they begin to diverge.In Nine's case, the scale comes from width - the multi-platform nature of the company, with TV, radio and publishing offerings. In the case of Paramount, the scale comes from depth - being the only free to air network that's part of a global media organisation. Being the people who brought you Top Gun is quite the halo.While Nine's theme last month was “Australia belong here”, Paramount's was “See tomorrow”.As you'll see from the top of this page, there's also audio embedded, and available as a podcast to accompany this post. Earlier this week, I interviewed Paramount's content boss Beverley McGarvey and commercial boss Jarrod Villani and we talked not just about 2023, but the company more widely.I realised that I had automatically labelled the file where I stored my interview notes “Paramount”, not “Ten”. Five years after Ten was bought out of administration by CBS (which quickly became Viacom-CBS and then Paramount), it now feels like a company that adds up to more than Ten-and-the-other-bits.Paramount owns not just the pay TV brands of MTV and Nickelodeon, but also the subscription streaming platform Paramount Plus and, as the company announced yesterday, the free ad supported TV channels offering of Pluto TV.The hot new acronym is FAST - free ad-supported streaming television. FAST will be as important to the next phase of the TV networks as the launch of BVOD (broadcast video on demand) was five or six years ago. It's the next TV battleground.Viewers consume FAST channels differently to video on demand. For anyone who's lost half an hour dithering over a menu of shows, FAST restores the curation of broadcast, and that means more video consumption.The point of FAST channels is that, like broadcast television, the choice is made for the viewer. It's lean back, not lean forward. Channel surfing is back too.I wrote about the likely arrival of Pluto TV late last year, so it's not a surprise to see it coming.As you'll hear in the podcast, Paramount is being cagey about how many Pluto channels will be offered initially as part of its free 10play streaming platform. When I pushed Villani on it a couple of times, all he'd share was “a number”. Although he wouldn't say so, I understand that number will be initially be between 10 and 20. In terms of timing, Villani said it would be this side of Christmas.My guess is that just as Ten All Access rebranded to Paramount Plus, in time 10play will fully rebrand to Pluto TV. Pluto is big business for Paramount globally, already writing a billion dollars in revenues.Nine announced at its Upfront that it will launch its own FAST channels, but had so little detail my guess is that it is some way off launch. For something so strategically important that feels like a miss.Meanwhile, Seven West Media - which holds its Upfront in just over a fortnight from now - was actually first mover in this market and already offers 50 FAST channels on Seven Plus in addition to its broadcast brands.Another point of difference for Ten was that unlike Nine, it revealed its programming grid for the year. Curiously, it broke 2023 into two uneven halves - the eight months up to August, and the final four from September onwards.In recent years Ten has started its main schedule early, while Nine and Seven are still airing their summer sports of tennis and cricket. But I'm A Celebrity will no longer kick off Ten's year, shifting back to Easter, with production returning to Africa rather than the rain forest of Murwillumbah.Instead, Ten will start the year with The Bachelors, as it remixes the format with three Bachelors instead of one. It will also be resting companion series The Bachelorette this year. The revised format had previously been announced, but footage from the show got one of the strongest reactions in the room yesterday. I could see myself enjoying hate watching these nitwits.Conversely, I suspect that the Paramount team would have been more disappointed with the in-room reaction to the announcement of a local version of the UK show Taskmaster. It is well cast with Tom Gleeson as the local Taskmaster, but it's one of those shows that unless you've seen it, it's hard to understand the appeal. Although it will run in the first half, it's not yet in local production, so there were no clips. Extracts from the UK version didn't do much to advance that understanding. The Ten promo department usually does a better job.That said, the chase format Hunted, which launched last year, was similarly hard to capture in a sizzle reel beforehand, but that didn't stop it from being one of Ten's successes of 2022.Other detail for the first half included a shorter series of Masterchef than usual, and a UK-Australian co-production of cop-out-of-water comedy drama North Shore.The other trailer which got a big reaction was Last King of the Cross, the Underbelly-style glorification of the less than savoury John Ibrahim. This will run in the second half of 2023.There are more new formats in H2.Ten will offer a spin-off from Masterchef, Dessert Masters. It will also air The Traitors, a murder mystery guessing game hosted by Rodger Corser. There was already footage in the can of this one which suggests Ten isn't exactly itching to rush it on air as soon as possible. The trailer felt more like a dinner party game than primetime.Bravely, Ten also announced a second season of The Real Love Boat. In an awful piece of timing, it made its debut on Wednesday night to poor ratings of just 215,000 metro viewers. Unless those improve dramatically over the next couple of weeks, there seems little prospect of that making the 2023 schedule despite what the grid said.Meanwhile, the announcements about technology were tactical rather than strategic.A shop-the-tweet integration between Ten and Twitter called The Checkout felt a few years late. remember companion apps?And a number of announcements around connected television advertising integration and measurement came across as necessary but not particularly exciting plumbing.The See Tomorrow theme was appropriate for a number of reasons. The major one is that we are yet to see the Paramount spending power unleashed on sport. The company only narrowly missed out on AFL rights last month. Imagine how different yesterday's event would have been if it had won.Instead Villani referred on stage a couple of times to the $12bn parent company's financial strength. You don‘t have to read too far between the lines to see that as a willingness to continue to chase big sports rights. As the network that made Big Bash a hit in the first place, Ten is a more natural home for short form cricket than Seven. And to a global company like Paramount, the Olympics must be of major interest too.Sport is the major missing piece for Paramount. In the last financial year, Ten's revenue share of the metro broadcast advertising market was less than 24%, while Nine and Seven did about 38% each. Ten can only grow that by growing its audience.See tomorrow? We will eventually.Tim Burrowestim @unmade.media This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Study: Complex video ecosystem offers opportunities

SMAF-NewsBot

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2022 5:22

Findings from The Future Viewing Experience, an appraisal of the near-term future of the TV and video landscape from data and analytics company . Findings from The Future Viewing Experience, an appraisal of the near-term future of the TV and video landscape from data and analytics company Kantar, suggest there are significant opportunities throughout the ecosystem, despite increasing complexity. Focusing on the delivery of video content and advertising and the evolution of viewer experiences and behaviours, the report outlines the opportunities and challenges for media owners, advertisers and agencies, as well as highlighting the implications for audience measurement. Key findings include: The big screen dominates viewers' streaming consumption The smart TV set is now the primary driver of increased usage of connected streaming services such as SVoD and BVoD. Mobile is a well-established and dominant medium across many activities, but when it comes to streaming long-form content, it's all about the best available screen. The era of set-top boxes is coming to an end and the battle is on for control of the main video delivery gateway into the home: the connected TV screen itself. Global media brands to pursue ‘monolithic self-sufficiency' with full control over supply chains Significant steps towards vertical integration will define the long-term as global media owners seek to control the entire chain, from production of content to delivery into the home. The trend could signify a slowdown in content availability. The fight for franchises hots up Media companies are seeking a return on their significant investments in intellectual property by promoting franchises and capitalising on global and local fanbases. The internationalisation of culture and younger audiences' love of sub-titles is ushering in an era in which local content can go global. Independent and regional production remain vital ‘Critical mass' for a global service will be beyond all but a handful of players with valuable and extensive intellectual property, independent production will remain significant with smaller and niche players finding value in collaborating with others to compete effectively. Beginning of the end for box set bingeing? What was once an important USP is becoming increasingly uncommon as streaming services take a more broadcaster-inspired sequential release approach to flagship originals – helping drive buzz and prolong subscriptions. This trend is seeing SVoD services increasingly move away from ‘all at once' release strategies and is even driving a reappraisal of the role of linear channels to aid content discovery. SVoD and AVoD: the future will end in tiers The video market is entering a new period of hybrid models, with many SVoD and BVoD services moving to both ad-free and ad-supported tiers. However, challenges lie ahead in not cannibalising core offerings and other hurdles are identified. Will this approach accelerate us towards a two-tier advertising ecosystem in which those who can afford ad-free environments become ever harder to reach? Complexity of TV and video ecosystem is a threat to addressable advertising growth Progress towards true addressability has been slower than expected and current capabilities and delivery opportunities are limited. However, if the complexity of the video distribution ecosystem can be effectively tackled, Smart TVs will move addressable forward, offering ‘transformative' opportunities - as well as facilitating new forms of advertising. Underpinning these and other important trends identified in the report is the value placed on audience measurement, which is set to continue to evolve in line with market changes. “Whilst many of the trends we've identified provide exciting monetisation opportunities and value for the industry, there are also significant challenges and vital decisions ahead for everyone,” notes John McCarthy, Strategic Content Director, Media division at Kantar. “We hope that ‘The Fu...

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Val Morgan and cinema winning attention battle; Amplified Intelligence data finds 80 per cent active attention, zero decay; Nab, OMD, Hatched, on where next; Nelson-Field on why sprint for ‘dirty' attention CPMs risks everything

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2022 40:29

Nine last month claimed massive active attention for BVOD ads playing on mobile devices, 72 per cent for a 30-second commercial, per Amplified Intelligence's study. But Karen Nelson-Field's data is in for Val Morgan – and it suggests cinema blows other channels out of the water for active attention, with zero decay across the entire ad. As attention metrics pick up major attention globally, Nelson-Field is just back from a World Federation of Advertisers conference, warning marketers not to let themselves get gamed by those touting cheap, “dirty” attention CPMs while brushing off naysayers briefing against the march of attention metrics. Locally, the likes of NAB want to bring attention data into econometric modelling; agencies are already using it to reweight channel spend and show marketers that their share of voice models could be way, way off. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Nine reveals first media attention data from Prof. Karen Nelson-Field: Mobile beats Connected TV which beats broadcast for active attention; YouTube feels heat for "skip ad button" focus

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 4, 2022 48:31

The first detailed attention data from a major media group is out with Nine releasing findings of its attention study with Professor Karen Nelson-Field's Amplified Intelligence. For a 30-second spot on linear television, the average person pays just 11 seconds of “Active Attention”, or 37 per cent of the ad. BVOD on connected TVs and mobile phones score higher on active attention but when added to “Passive Attention”, linear television vastly outperforms most of its rivals, say Nine's Liana Dubois and Jonathan Fox. So what to do with this conundrum? Hatched Media's Head of Planning, Andrew Pascoe, who has gone all in on attention, says the opportunity is nuanced but massive. To boot, "attention CPMs", currently being used by many agency groups, are deeply troubled, the trio warn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ad-funded streaming, sanctions and Jane Huxley on IWD

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2022 44:39

Disney is introducing a cheaper, ad-supported subscription model for Disney+. Will this change the streaming market? (01:37). Phoebe Netto joins to discuss marketing responses to the crisis in Ukraine (17:20). Finally, Are Media's Jane Huxley discusses industry progress in light of International Women's Day (31:18).

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Seven to 10% of TV viewers aren't watching any linear TV – but are streaming BVOD; VOZ adoption growing, but networks say many marketers still buying in silos

The IAB Australia Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2022 39:27

In the six months since VOZ launched, giving a look at unduplicated viewers on linear TV, online streaming and catch-up services, dozens of agencies and hundreds of brands have started using its data – but the networks say there's still a way to go (and myths to be busted). Nine's Richard Hunwick says “streaming choosers” are a new category of streaming-only viewer, which ThinkTV CEO Kim Portrate says includes the light viewer – like young people and women. Seven's Craig Johnson says a lot of marketers are still buying TV in silos, and some agencies are using their own data, which lacks the competitive tension of the three major broadcasters keeping VOZ unbiased. There are seams of gold, too. Five of the top 15 BVOD programs last year were on demand first or exclusives like Love Island UK or Survivor South Africa, 10 ViacomCBS's Gareth Tomlin says. ThinkTV and OzTam say TV blows YouTube out of the attention water. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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CTV Advertising Developments in Australia with Flaminia Sapori and Alysha Dino

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022 31:13

The CTV advertising market in Australia is one of the fastest growing areas of the digital advertising ecosystem. In this podcast we chat to Flaminia Sapori, – National Head of Partnerships & Strategic Investments at Matterkind and Alysha Dino – Senior Director, Business Development for Publica. They discuss the growth in the Australian market, compare the AU market with other international markets, improving ad experiences, how e-commerce can be powered by CTV and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Unmade podcast: Ten sales boss Rod Prosser on budgeting for growth in 2022 and launching another streaming service

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2021 32:24

Welcome to the Unmade podcast.Today's guest is Rod Prosser, chief sales officer at ViacomCBS, parent company of Network Ten.In today's conversation, Prosser reflects upon his turbulent decade at Ten, the difference on-demand viewing is making to the linear TV equation, and his bullish prediction for 2022 revenues.And he also reveals that Pluto TV - the ViacomCBS-owned ad supported video streaming service - is just months away from an Australian launch.You can listen to the Unmade podcast via the player in this post. Unmade is also now available on all the major podcast apps.Transcript:Tim Burrowes (00:04):Welcome to the Unmade podcast. I'm Tim Burrowes. Well, we made it to the end of the official TV year. My guest today to talk about it is Rod Prosser, chief sales officer of ViacomCBS, who listeners will know best as the American based owner of Network 10. Welcome Rod.Rod Prosser (00:24):Hey Tim, how are you?Tim Burrowes (00:25):Mate, I'm very good. Thank you very much.Rod Prosser (00:28):Great. Great. Look, before we start, I'd just like to do a acknowledgement of the country if that's okay. I'd like to thank and acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, which I meet with you on today and pay my respects to the Elders, past and present.Tim Burrowes (00:44):Well, thank you for that and for doing the honours. Now I was looking on your LinkedIn profile. Next year, you'll mark a quarter of a century in media sales, almost all of it in television. Now that includes ten years with Nine, a couple of years in magazines with ACP, and a dozen years with Ten. I was thinking, you arrived just after CanWest had sold. Then there were a couple of years of relative stability on the ASX before things got a bit wild again when James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch invested. Grant Blackley was sacked as CEO a few months after you joined, James Warburton a couple of years after that, then there was the administration and being bought by CBS, which then merged with Viacom. Then COVID in 2020. Now, most people are going to look back on 2021 as an eventful year, but for you, I'm guessing it was kind of business as usual.Rod Prosser (01:44):It doesn't sound like there was a lot of stability, does it? Look, I think that COVID thing has been interesting. Certainly the journey Network 10 has been on over the last decade has been an interesting one and well documented. Look, I think my personal view is, is Ten has come out much stronger for all the changes and things that went through. But yeah, look, it's been an interesting ride and a really great one for me too, because of obviously through that period, as you just rightly pointed out, there's been obviously quite a number of various CEOs and leaders and I've been fortunate enough to work with them all and you learn good and bad from people. So I was really fortunate across the last decade with Ten and the number of changes that went through.Tim Burrowes (02:36):Well, one thing that interests me is now we've got this wider group. So we are two years into the merger or the re-merger, of Viacom and CBS. And it's starting to actually feel more like a group, even in Australia. You've got the former Viacom channels of MTV and Nickelodeon. Then in August we saw the launch of Paramount Plus. Do you wake up thinking still at heart you work for Ten, or do you actually feel like you're in a bigger group now?Rod Prosser (03:07):That's a really great question, Tim. The truth is we all wake up now feeling part of a bigger group because the integration that's happened over the course of, really, the last two years. With CBS, yes, we reported into the domestic business and that was fantastic. There was some great leaders in the business, and then obviously the Viacom CBS merge took place. That really defined, I think, us as part of being part of... We're of a global business, but a really strong connection into the international clusters. We are obviously falling into international, and our headquarters, if you like, is based in the UK. But within that cluster, there's Canada, there's Israel, there's obviously the UK and Australia. So we certainly get the sense that we're part of 1) a global business, but 2), as you rightly point out that the platform and the assets have really expanded. So we represent all the sales team represent all of our brands and assets on every platform. So we simply just can't wake up and think about Ten anymore. Otherwise, we'll be missing a trick or two.Tim Burrowes (04:22):Then I'm sure one of the challenges for you of course, is pretty much for the whole time that there's been this merged organisation or certainly the vast majority, you've been out in the office as well. So just having the opportunity to build a team culture must have been quite different.Rod Prosser (04:38):I think the culture part is really interesting, and I think that's something that not just our business, but most businesses would've struggled with over the last two years. We were quite fortunate in Australia that the vast majority of the team were already settled and part of Ten, I think the big emphasis that we needed to put on was really the newcomers that were coming into the broader business from Viacom. And indeed just more recently Paramount Plus. So I'm sure as soon as we're able and can get back into the office, there'll be a lot of social activity happening to really build that culture.Tim Burrowes (05:21):Let's talk about the programming year just gone. For you, what are the hits and highlights, and what are the ones where you think ‘We didn't quite get there on what we promised the market'?Rod Prosser (05:38):Yeah. Look, I'll start with how we're going to start next year, which is with I'm A Celebrity. That show has really redefined summer, as far as I'm concerned. For so many years, Tim, as you know, we were so heavily focused over that period just on sport and or with television, which was pretty bad when you look back at it now. We simply just dumped repeats across the summer period. As you know, we now work in a full year cycle. We don't just work to the ratings week. So we schedule for the full year. With having I'm A Celebrity there from the starting blocks and building that kind of momentum in the audience and creating a significant launch pad, for us, it's been such a terrific selling opportunity.Tim Burrowes (06:36):With Celebrity, obviously this year not being able to go overseas for it, did that make a difference, do you think?Rod Prosser (06:44):I actually, from our point of view, it's better from a commercial point of view, because obviously traveling product, locally or domestically, is a lot easier than getting it overseas. Now the programmers might think something different, but certainly from our point of view, it didn't impact the writings whatsoever. It was, as I said, a lot easier to integrate our sponsors.Tim Burrowes (07:09):Well, one of the ironies is last week is, I'm speaking to you from the UK, where there's the UK version of I'm A Celebrity which wasn't able to come to Australia to film and they lost four days of live programming to storms. So I guess one of the things Australia has is at least slightly more reliable weather.Rod Prosser (07:29):That's very true, and plenty of creepy crawlies that still build a lot of fear into the celebrities.Tim Burrowes (07:39):So. Okay. And going back to looking back at the year, so you are happy with the start to the year with I'm A Celebrity. How do you feel it unfolded from there?Rod Prosser (07:51):Look, the start was excellent, it always builds that momentum for us, as I said. Obviously we had some nuances in our schedule this year because of Covid. One of those being Survivor ran later than it would normally. Thankfully, because I think it gives us great momentum, even though the Amazing Race did amazing things, Survivor moving back into its home in post-Celebrity, the right place.Tim Burrowes (08:19):Yeah. Because you were hoping for two seasons, weren't you of Survivor, initially?Rod Prosser (08:23):Yeah. I think we sort of decided that, but well look, we often ran two in a year, I think this year we went back to... We could only do one, so we only ever scheduled the one, but it had to run later just because of timing and Covid and we had to obviously pivot it originally. Traditionally we shoot it in Fiji. Obviously it was then housed in Queensland and will be again. So we do have to pivot, so yes, we may have had thoughts around how could we run too, but I think the idea is always just to have one series running a year, because it's a heavy production. So having that back into its original slot, if you like, is going to continue that momentum straight into mastership. So I think as you look at the highs and the lows, there's probably some key franchises that we're disappointing. But having said that, I think that in terms of numbers, having said that commercially all of our big Ten poll programs have been a success.Rod Prosser (09:26):I think that any franchise kind of gets to a point where it needs to have be somewhat reinvented. I think certainly the programmers are looking at what franchises need that sort of freshening up. The other thing that we were challenged with this year was various lockdowns. I think all networks suffered slightly from people being... Well, actually gained some upside with people being locked into their house, obviously, but obviously when freedom was given to people, they were out and about. So we did have some impacts around timing, some of our franchises. So it's probably not fair to look at the pure thousands as success or not success because it really was quite an unusual year.Tim Burrowes (10:11):Maybe when we talk about sort of a series which certainly were perceived to underperform in numbers, we might find ourselves talking about The Bachelorette. Before we do, in context, what I found really interesting about Ten this year was, if I think back about its various presentations to the market, it gave a great deal of thought to how it positioned itself. There were two messages I was left with. One was Under-50s and the ironically disputed word “undisputed”. And the other thing was the message about being the most progressive of the commercial networks when it came to things like being the... I'm pretty sure the first network to do a Welcome to Country before the U pfront, for instance.Tim Burrowes (10:59):So I suppose when we think about The Bachelorette, the first bisexual competitor, for instance, it clearly played a bigger role within the position of where the network wants to be seen, and where it wants to be seen in the national conversation. How did you feel about the numbers? I guess my question really is, are you taking middle Australia with you, or are you slightly too far ahead of them at the moment, do you think?Rod Prosser (11:35):Look, regardless whether we're slightly ahead of them, I think you've got to take a stance. Our business really is a value driven business, both locally and globally, and we just continue to strive to do better and make positive changes in the world we live in. We're acutely aware that we have a platform and a voice that reaches globally over four, 4.5 billion, but obviously locally you know our numbers... And that comes with a responsibility. It's our job to raise the bar, not lower the conversation. I think that we will continue to make sure that we have a diverse representation onscreen and behind screen. To be honest with you, The Bachelorette, we were super proud of. I know the brands that leant in and sponsors were equally proud of it because of what it stood for.Rod Prosser (12:29):I think that we need to have, the measurement is, and the thousands is one part, but then there needs to be, which I keep pulling out to the industry, we need to have another measurement. And that simply has to be: what's the diversity on screen? You make a good call because it is a fine balance, but ultimately if it's good TV and it represents all of this country and all the different faces and all the different genders, then you should have a winning model. So I'm sure and confident that we'll continue to be able to deliver that and continue to be able to find an audience that follow it.Tim Burrowes (13:17):One of the other questions, for television on any network at the moment is, we're seeing overnight broadcast numbers go down. There's no doubt about that. This year, for the TV industry as a whole, and of course this was also the year that VOZ launched, which gives us a sort of wider picture. How does that affect the conversation that you have with the advertisers and the media agencies? Is it as easy to monetise catch up viewing as it is broadcast viewing? Or is there still some progress to go on that too?Rod Prosser (13:59):Look, there's a lot of demand in catch-up. I would say that. So we call it on demand, not catch-up anymore. So with our BVOD product, the market is quite hot and we'll continue to see significant growth. The question I think you're asking is can we make up the revenue on the BVOD as we have declining audiences on linear? The answer to that is yes. We will be able to, and of course live TV is enabling us to monetise even further, but that's why the whole ecosystem's really important for us. We call it our playground, but how we push and pull the audience around our playground, if you like, is really critical.Rod Prosser (14:49):Of course, Paramount Plus plays into that. We will soon launch another AVOD service in this market. Obviously we've got a fairly significant AVOD service being Pluto TV that's being rolled out globally, and that will equally play into it. So I think it's actually about how do you sort of manage both linear and digital together? At some point, the digital revenue will outgrow the linear, but at this point it really is, Tim I hate to use this term, but it's the meat and potatoes and drives the biggest part of our revenue. So it's super important to us. We'll continue investing in the linear. You'll continue to see high quality good content being produced for the linear screen, but equally next year we'll grow our library on 10play. So there's a lot of investment going in there as well.Tim Burrowes (15:42):For people who aren't familiar with Pluto, which you just referred to, that's been a real phenomenon out in the US, hasn't it? So that effectively, as I suppose - tell me if I'm understanding it wrongly - but I'd see it almost as a sister service to Paramount Plus, but of course advertising supported, but quite a deep library, and it's been driving some quite big audience numbers. So we'll see that in 2022 here in Australia then, will we?Rod Prosser (16:12):Look, I'm probably letting the cat out of the bag a little bit here, but I'm not quite sure of the exact launch date, but one thing I can tell you is it's coming and it won't be too far off. We're not talking years off. So, obviously we've got to get other things ready and right. But it's certainly on its way to Australia at some point.Tim Burrowes (16:35):And that in much the same way that we saw 10 All Access become Paramount Plus presumably we'd see 10play become Pluto, would we? Or would it sit alongside the two?Rod Prosser (16:50):I'm not sure that's right, Tim. I think these are the new nuances and the structure that we need to look at, what's going to be best to serve our audiences and of course our advertising partners. So we haven't landed that yet, still a lot of work to do, but I can't see how they would merge, but at this point, look, we're really enthusiastic about the 10play product. So we, as I said, we'll continue to invest and grow that library to grow the overall minutes.Tim Burrowes (17:21):Now, something you touched on about the importance of live TV of course is arguably the two staples of live TV are sport and news. Arguably, if I had to pick the three sales directors, you've got the toughest job because you've got the least sport and arguably the least news resource as well. Is that a fair observation?Rod Prosser (17:45):I love being an underdog, Tim. It's the way we roll. Look, I don't see it that way. I mean, I'm sure others might, but I don't see it that way. I see we have such a huge opportunity with football, otherwise known as soccer in this country, but we're now the home of football and we position ourselves that way. We'll continue to grow that sport. Look, we always went into football knowing that it was such a huge opportunity to grow the sport. It meant a lot to us in terms of how that positions, it's really inclusive, it's diverse, it certainly stood for a lot of the things that we stood for, so it made a lot of sense. And of course it's a global game.Rod Prosser (18:34):So when we talk to our counterparts within the business, they understand the game. So it was really kind of a no brainer, but look, the opportunity for us is: it is the highest participated sport in this country. We turned that participation into viewers and they we're into winning gold. So, I think that's the opportunity. I wouldn't say that we've got the toughest job. We've had commercial partners come out of the wood works and wanted to support it and be a part of it. So we're enthusiastic about that. Obviously we've got some marquee events which are marquee events, but we've got the AGP, Australian Grand Prix, and indeed Spring Carnival week, which we've just, not too long ago rolled out of, which are huge ratings and money drivers for the business. Also, a lot of fun to attend.Tim Burrowes (19:31):With A League, I presume something like that takes a year or two to really get all of the sponsors aligned. So presumably these few months, we are not really seeing everything you'd hope to see yet in terms of support.Rod Prosser (19:45):Well, look, I think from sponsors, we've got the commitments and the categories that we were chasing. So I'm really pleased with where we've landed and we've actually exceeded expectations commercially. The journey now we have is to really get Australians aware that it's actually being broadcast and where it's being broadcast, obviously a lot of the games are on Paramount Plus. That's a really good subs driver for us, but equally we want to make it available to all Australians. So there's games on 10play. Of course, there's games on Ten as well. So we always knew it was a building journey with this sport, but we've been really encouraged with both A-League's ratings and of course the international games, they dominated the demos and have performed really well for us. But yeah, it's a long partnership. We've got five years, we've taken equity within the APL. So we're behind it 100%.Tim Burrowes (20:53):Well before we start looking forward to next year, a couple other bits of housekeeping. It seems like a million years ago, but I remember we were talking about how there was a plan to bring James Corden to Australia, your upfronts friend, James Corden who had done the opening video with him. Is that back on the agenda for next year, are you likely to get him out in 2022, do you think?Rod Prosser (21:20):We'd love to get him out, and I know James would love to come out. It's a logistic thing more than anything, obviously Covid has created the headache for us that made it not possible when we wanted to, but we are always talking to the guys at CBS on how we can make that possible. We haven't, obviously we haven't slated a date, but we'll continue to talk to him and find a way soon hopefully, Tim.Tim Burrowes (21:45):Well, yeah, let's talk about next year. One of the things which certainly makes life interesting for me to write about is it feels that of the three networks, Ten is the one which has got the most new formats coming through. Which is from your point of view, I suppose, both interesting and an element of risk because you haven't got the familiarity factor of an existing format just rolling out again. How are you thinking about the coming year? What sort of promises are you making to sponsors about audiences for some of the new shows?Rod Prosser (22:17):Yeah, I mean, we've spent a lot of time with our agency partners, our consortiums, as we call them. Indeed, our incumbent sponsors around where we're going to see the audience growth next year. We have growth built into our schedule, no question. We think a lot of things will be normalized next year, particularly as hopefully we roll into what will be a much more normal year, less impact from Covid. So we know that there's pockets and areas where we needed to focus on. I'll take Master Chef as an example. Obviously, that was in a very different position last year. Everyone was in their homes and the ratings went through the roof, great new format in terms of the way we positioned it, where all the ex-contestants came back. Indeed, we launched out our new judges, which we were so pleased we had such a fresh looking show.Rod Prosser (23:17):Then this year, obviously, as I said, nuanced because of lockdowns, et cetera, but we also knew that we needed to have a stronger hook. So next year we go into Master Chef with a lot of the ex-contestants, including Julie Goodwin returning to really challenge it out in the kitchen. So we know that we've got a lot of enthusiastic partners already wanting to come onboard and we know there's going to be growth in the thousands on that. So, that's a great example of about how we can tweak a format to really lift the audience. Then of course, as we get into the second half, and actually to be honest with you, our thousands in our ratings right in this period now have grown. So we're pleased about that. Look, the commitments we've made to our agencies in consortiums is around growth, and indeed both audience growth and commercial share growth. We are pretty confident around doing that.Tim Burrowes (24:20):I guess in terms of investment in new formats, Hunted would be the biggest one.Rod Prosser (24:24):Yeah. Look, firstly, I think it's really important that we keep delivering new formats. The audience, our audience craves for that. We talk about a progressive audience just rolling out a consistent schedule is great, but you also need to pepper that with new formats and something fresh, and our audience expects that from us. So, even if that's a show that sits at 8:30 at night, or if it's a big franchise, their expectation is that we'll deliver something fresh. Hunted is a great format that's worked overseas that we're really confident that will do great things out here. It's going to be shot in Melbourne, it's really fresh, it's really different and it's like nothing else that's on the TV screens at the minute.Tim Burrowes (25:17):What sort of age demographic do you think it will be attractive to?Rod Prosser (25:20):Well, again, acquisition models always around the Under-50s, and look, the bullseye will be 25-54. I mean, I think that's the interesting thing if you look at our schedule, Tim, from really from that 6:00 PM to 10:30, we have the highest concentration of 25-54s. Actually, most of the demos, we have 45% of our audience of half of our audience let's call it, sitting within the 25-54 demo over that time slot. Which is vastly different to our competitors, which some skew much older. Whereas, over 65s, we have such a small percentage within that time slot. So, Hunted and all our new formats are always targeted in the demos, they'll never skew old. I don't think we'd never get the older audiences anyway, even when we play Dancing with the Stars, which just does skew very old, we still had a much younger medium-age across that format.Tim Burrowes (26:29):I think if I remember rightly, I think you did even better again, proportionally, in 16-39 than 25-54, didn't you? I guess I always wonder why you don't just lean into that one a bit more.Rod Prosser (26:44):Yeah. Look, I think that's a really interesting demo. Of course yes, you're right, we do fare better. In fact, we kind of see it's around eight of the top 15, in 16-39s are on Ten. Look, the truth is, is that demographic is consuming content across a whole heap of platforms. We see a big surge, particularly in our on demand services of that demo. Of course in SVOD. Yes, you're right. Indeed, we do lean into it. It's around how do we capture them across all of our platforms to kind of pull them across the broader Ten, ViacomCBS assets.Tim Burrowes (27:30):Just to put this year's “undisputed” under-50s claim to bear. I get the sense you are explaining what you mean in a slightly different way now. Do you think, on reflection, maybe when you first went to the market with the “undisputed” under-50s network, you maybe went a little bit too far, do you think?Rod Prosser (27:52):No, I don't. I think we've always made it really clear that we have a higher percentage of the under-50s. I think it's amusing that we've been criticised around that because on one hand everyone's talking around hyper-targeting and they want less wastage. Then on the other hand, they're saying, "Oh, but a total people audience is the right one to look at." Buyers don't buy it like that, you know that Tim. They buy demographics and they target demographics. If we can deliver them efficiently without wastage, then in my mind, we are undisputed within those demos and within that demographic.Tim Burrowes (28:36):I did get a bit of a sense this year that maybe the different networks weren't quite as good at speaking with one voice about television. We saw, James Warburton from Seven came out and talked a bit about how the industry as a whole should be talking about overnight ratings, versus later ones, and there was some debate there. Again, everyone seems to make slightly different claims about their tech stacks. Again, some different arguments about which metrics really count when it comes to on demand viewing. Do you think the TV industry can get back to speaking with one voice again?Rod Prosser (29:20):Yes, I do. I think, look, it's in our best interest. I have to say behind the scenes there's a lot of cohesive discussions going on, whether that's through ThinkTV or whether that's through OzTam on how we best position ourselves as an industry. So there is a lot of work being done on how we unite and come together. I honestly have a lot of faith in the industry. It's like no other medium. It reaches more Australians every day than any other medium. As the measurement evolves, we just need to get super aligned, and that work's being done now. We've obviously got a new chair sitting on OzTam who's really enthusiastic, Mark Buckman, around bringing the team together. So I have no doubts that we will land a position, which is a united front.Tim Burrowes (30:21):Well, again, I suppose I think about you and the difference between you and your two competitors, which is, they're on an Australian financial year and you owned by a US company, which has a calendar financial year. So I guess you'll have just locked in your 2022 budget. Thing about being in your role is you have to make some promises that you think you can keep. So have you promised your bosses a return to 2019 revenue levels?Rod Prosser (30:49):Actually, I mean, be honest with you Tim, our revenue expectations are higher than 2019. We've been really fortunate commercially to grow our revenue share and our overall revenue across the last two years. So I'm really pleased with the sales team. I think part of that is that we sort of don't look behind us. We don't spend a lot of time worrying about what you call our competitors are doing, whether it's Seven and Nine. The sales team are singularly focused on what they can deliver and they're ideas-centric. So that's really resonated with the market, and off the back of that, we've been really successful, as I said, at growing our revenue and our revenue share, but also our premium, what we can offer advertisers in terms of our integration and sponsorship, partnership elements, is been really well received. So our expectation and the company's expectation is greater than that of what we delivered in 2019.Tim Burrowes (32:00):Big promise. That is where we leave it. My thanks to Rod Prosser. If it's not too early to say it, have a great Christmas break, Rod.Rod Prosser (32:08):You too Tim. It was wonderful chatting to you today. Yes, have a very Merry Christmas.Tim Burrowes (32:14):The Unmade podcast is produced with the enthusiastic support of Abe's Audio. More soon. I'm Tim Burrowes. Toodlepip. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Unmade podcast: Nine sales boss Michael Stephenson on going national and the demos that matter

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2021 27:11

In today's podcast episode of Unmade, I chat to Michael Stephenson, sales boss of Nine.The timing was ahead of this week's Nine annual general meeting and, coincidentally, just after Stephenson celebrated ten years in charge of what is now the country's largest media sales operation.The discussion covers the ratings year, the rise of ad-supported streaming, the rival networks' techstack battles and the move to a national sales operation.During the conversation, Stephenson reveals that from July 1, WIN staff will become Nine employees. I think that's new info. At the time of Nine's 2022 upfronts back in September, the company announced it was integrating its sales team with that of its regional affiliate WIN Corporation, but did not spell out that the staff would change employer.With WIN represented on the Nine board by CEO Andrew Lancaster, and WIN owner Bruce Gordon now Nine's biggest shareholder, it's starting to feel like we all failed to notice that there had been a virtual merger between Nine and WIN, rather than a traditional affiliate deal.And also new, was that it felt like Stephenson went further in acknowledging how bad the impact of the cyber attack was, than Nine has done previously, including the need to rebuild its SME platform Voyager.Transcript:Tim Burrowes:Welcome to the Unmade podcast. I'm Tim Burrowes. Nine's Annual General Meeting takes place on Thursday. It's been an unusual year for Australia's largest local media company. The second half of a pandemic, a change of CEOs, a ransomware attack. Just some of the things that you don't usually see. The man in charge of keeping the revenue ship afloat is Chief Sales Officer Michael Stephenson, who joins me now. Welcome, Stepho.Michael Stephenson:Thanks Tim. Thanks for having me.Tim Burrowes:Now, before we talk about this year, I noticed looking on your LinkedIn profile that you've just celebrated your 10 year anniversary since becoming Director of Sales for Nine, which was back in September 2011. Now that was long before the merger with Fairfax, of course. I think it's fair to say that Nine was kind of in the doldrums back then. The banks were circling. There were a bunch of ratings misses. What did you think you were getting yourself into?Michael Stephenson:Gosh, well, thanks for reminding me that it's been 10 years. I would not have remembered that myself. Oh, you know what? I've always loved media and I've loved television. And of course I've been in this role for 10 years, but I've been at Nine now for 15 years in a whole range of different roles. And I love Nine. I'm very passionate about it. But as you rightly point out, a lot has changed since that moment. We were recovering as a business at that particular point in time. We would've had two linear TV channels, I think back then. NineMSN would've been a business.Michael Stephenson:And of course you fast forward to today and we are Australia's largest and most diverse media company. We have a whole range of assets and we've evolved from being just a content business to a content data and technology company. So, we've really positioned ourselves well, I think, for the future. I've been very fortunate to have been a part of that and been involved in a lot of those decisions. And so it's been a pretty fascinating journey. And mind you, I think the next part of it's going to be equally as exciting. There's a lot of incredible things just about to happen.Tim Burrowes:Well, before we look too far forward, let's talk about 2021. Which also was unusually an Olympic year. Seven had the rights. How does that influence your sales strategy for the network? When you know that there's this big lump, which is going to drag some revenue into the TV sector as a whole, but also it's going to change how you plan for the year. How do you think about it?Michael Stephenson:The Olympic games clearly is a significant one-off event. It happens every four years, but whilst I enjoyed watching it we don't spend that much time really thinking about what our competitors are doing in and around that space. We've got our own business. We think about our content and the consistency of that content through the year. It starts with the Australian Open, goes right through until December. We're way more focused on what we're doing than what others are doing. And of course, next year it won't be there and we will continue on. From a TV point of view it's about having that consistency of ratings delivery right through the year. Whether that's news or whether that's sport or whether that's our entertainment formats. I think advertisers really want consistency of audience delivery. And I think that's been our great strength.Tim Burrowes:And we're kind of approaching that point in the year. Hey, maybe we're even here with the AGM coming up. We're certainly approaching that point in the year where we start calling winners and losers in the ratings. Winners for the year et cetera. It strikes me that it's become a lot more complex now. So we have network share, primary channel share, total viewing, including catch up and BVOD. Metro versus national, the different demographics. Of a morning, you have to look at one number first. Which number do you look at first and why?Michael Stephenson:You say it's complicated. I actually don't think it's complicated. I actually think it's pretty simple. We have ratings from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, every year. We have ratings for all of our channels. From the moment we start broadcasting in the morning to the moment where we're finish in the evening. And so if you think about all channels all day, against the thing that matters to advertisers, which is demographics. And in particular three. 16 to 39 year olds, 25 to 54 year olds and grocery shoppers with children. That is the vast majority of advertising campaigns are bought against those demographics. Then we are the undisputed leader. We win in all of those demographics. This will be our sixth year of dominance. And so I look at it through that lens.Michael Stephenson:Now of course, at different times, different agencies or advertisers might look at specific segments. Someone might look at primetime on the main channel as an example, because it's where they spend the vast majority of their money. If you look at it through that lens, we're the leader again, 16-39, 25-54, grocery shoppers with children. We'll win that as well again for the sixth year in a row. So however people want to look at it, I think that's fine. We win in all of those, against every one of those metrics. And I think that's really important to advertisers. It's what they buy. They're looking for a return on their investment. And with us, you get scale because we're the leader. Scale because we're number one. And a consistency right through the year.Michael Stephenson:The metric is really simple. 1st of January, 31st of December, all channels against the demos. Now, as you mentioned, the Olympic games earlier on, of course, what advertisers do, and marketers, is they exclude one-off or special events. And as I reference, the Olympics. Wasn't their last year. Won't be there next year. And therefore, or it's excluded from any analysis.Tim Burrowes:Although I'm sure Seven would argue differently, obviously.Michael Stephenson:We can't really argue it. That's been the way it has been forever. And it makes complete sense because when marketers are making decisions around their advertising investment, they need an apples for apples comparison. And so they compare one period to were another period and you remove one-off events. And last time I looked, Tim, that was a one-off event.Tim Burrowes:And one of the things I'm curious about is you... Hey look, we're recording this not long after the ratings will have come in for this morning. What do you look to first? You open your phone. Do you just look at how a show from last night did? Because there must be something you look for first. Where would you usually go personally?Michael Stephenson:Straight to the top. Overnight ratings are still incredibly important, but I think everybody does need to realize that they're only a part of the story. So, in the morning when I get the ratings report come through, I go straight to 25 to 54 year olds. I look at how many shows we had in the top 10, what our share of the evening was against that demographic. And importantly, I look at what percentage of our total audience was against the demographic. Regularly, we are somewhere between 50 and 60% of our total audience is in the demo. And that's really, really important. So that's where I would go to first, every morning. Followed very quickly by what happened in live streaming and what happened on demand for the previous day as well.Michael Stephenson:The notion of total television is a real thing. It is the future of television. The ability to connect with audiences as they consume content, either via the live signal, via a live stream or on demand. So when we're thinking about the success of a particular piece of content, you've got to look at it across all of those platforms. There's some great examples. Love Island right now, of course is on air and on 9Now. Episode number one has just ticked over 800,000 viewers. Of course, on demand and live streaming viewing is the major driver of that audience number. So looking at it holistically is critical and really important.Tim Burrowes:Love Island is a really interesting example, I guess because it skews to a younger audience. That show's probably a really good indicator of where the trends are going. And as you say, there are some episodes now where there are more people who've watched it on BVOD, broadcast video on demand, than watched it when it went out on linear TV. Assuming we take that as the sign to come, how should did that affect how marketers and media agencies plan and how you trade with them, as that becomes the new reality?Michael Stephenson:I think it's a really interesting point, because I'm not sure that's the reality for everything. I think what's interesting about Love Island, when we played on Channel Nine, if we played at 8:30 or 9:30 or 10:30, it actually doesn't change the audience profile at all. And the reason why that is, is because they're the people who are viewing that content, they're what I would call fanatics. They are lovers of Love Island and so they find it.Michael Stephenson:Now, of course, increasingly because of the demographic profile of the show, it obviously skews a lot younger. They are increasingly watching it via our live stream or on demand. But if you think of about tent-pole shows or sport or news, and the like. Whilst people will increasingly view on other platforms or connected devices, the foundation of that yesterday, today, tomorrow, and for probably as long as we can see, linear television will still be the foundation and the driver of audience. And that's really important if you're an advertiser, because when advertisers are buying advertising campaigns, they are trying to maximize reach. And of course, they're trying to do that efficiently. And so I think the challenge for advertisers, and it's why VOZ is clearly so important, is what is the mix of advertising in both linear television, within a live stream and on demand, to maximize your reach and do that at the minimal cost?Tim Burrowes:VOZ, for Virtual Australia, the overall measure.Michael Stephenson:That's right. There is an optimal allocation of funds across all of those platforms, which will allow you to maximize your reach and reduce the cost of every incremental reach point. And that is of course the role of media buyers. And so you're increasingly seeing people talking about total television for those two reasons. And I think that's fascinating because that is the science, if you like, in media buying. The ability to analytically make decisions to maximize those returns, I think is really important.Tim Burrowes:Well, we are well into the final quarter now for the ratings year. Any more twists to come? Or is it pretty much, do we know where we are now do you think?Michael Stephenson:I think in terms of who is the leader? Who is the number one network against those demographics? I think that race has run. And of course that's us. We're the leader by more than two points against 16 to 39 year olds. We're the leader by almost four points against 25 to 54 year olds and over four points against grocery shoppers with children. So we will, once again like I said, win the year. That's really important for advertisers because it's how they will allocate their investment into the following year. But there are still twists and turns.Tim Burrowes:In fairness to Seven, we have to note that they'll win total people though. Not that you care about that?Michael Stephenson:No, absolutely Channel Seven will win total people. And we will come second against people 65 plus. So we won't win those two. But the things that advertisers buy, those three demos, we will win that. And to your point around, are there more twist and turns? There are because Parental Guidance has got off to a cracker of a start. So there's some really interesting stuff coming over the next couple of weeks in that show. And then of course we've got the Lego Christmas content and we obviously have Snack Masters. So there's a lot of premium Australian content to come on Nine between now and Christmas.Tim Burrowes:The Block's obviously gone well in the end, but did it give you a bit of a scare when it started slowly this year?Michael Stephenson:This is not new news, but these types of formats generally have a hockey stick shape to their audience performance. So they start strongly, after the course of the two or three weeks, you see the audience come back a little and then of course you see that build towards the finale. And that's exactly what we've seen again. We've had many, many, many seasons of The Block. It is got to be the most valuable show on television because audiences love it. Increasingly they love it across all platforms. And brands love it as well, because it's a show built for brands to integrate into. And this season didn't disappoint in terms of, I would say, innovative integration and brand storytelling that we brought to life. It's been another great year for The Block. And next year, of course, it goes to the bush. So more twists and turns.Tim Burrowes:Let's talk about Galaxy. So you've invested heavily in allowing brands to effectively match their own first party data. And to then make looking to cross the network, everything apart from maybe channel primetime. You announced that in Nine's upfront this year. Seven and Ten made similar announcements. One thing I found myself sort of thinking about from the outsider perspective was that, once you heard from everybody, it's actually quite hard to tell what's real, what smoke and mirrors? And I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing for television as a medium as a whole. So you're a board member of ThinkTV, the industry body for television. Are you yet in a position where you can speak as an industry, as a whole, clearly about what television actually is able to offer across the board towards marketers' tech stacks?Michael Stephenson:There are a whole range of projects ongoing at an industry level, whereby Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel can come together to make the transaction of television easier, if you like. We're doing a lot of work with third party software suppliers right now. Ensuring that all of the agency systems of Oz ready. And we're doing that as an industry. The ability to standardize things like file types and the technical transaction of data between TV company and agency. All of these things are happening in the background. Will that be one system that everybody can access to buy television? And the answer that is no.Michael Stephenson:And therefore Seven, Nine, Ten and Foxtel are either building or licensing their own. Of course for us, it's Galaxy. That is a real thing. It exists. And we have some agencies placing up to 70% of their off-peak and multi-channel bookings through that platform. Fully automated, no makegoods, no shortfalls. It's the future of how you would buy television. And it's here.Michael Stephenson:Of course, in our upfronts, we made some more announcements. We want to make it even more accessible to people. We are in the process of opening up all of our live avails to all of our agency partners. So they can see exactly what is available to be purchased, make that transaction more simple. And of course, we're giving them direct access into this system. They'll be able to come in and create and place their own campaigns directly into Nine Galaxy.Michael Stephenson:We spend a lot of time talking to international technology companies who are fascinated by what we've built. You asked me at the beginning of this podcast, "God, I've been here 10 years. Was it what I expected?" Well, of all of the things that we've achieved in the last 10 years, I think the development of Galaxy has got to be one of the things that I'm most proud of. Because we went into the globe, looking for a piece of technology and it didn't exist. And it doesn't exist today, so we built it. And it's great to see the other guys also taking the investment in technology seriously, because it's a big part of, I think, the future of all of our businesses.Tim Burrowes:And do you think in their upfronts they gave the market a fair impression of how far advanced they are with their own progress?Michael Stephenson:I didn't see all of it. I don't know, it feels like it's right. I'm not sure. I'm not close enough to their businesses to know exactly what they are doing. But I think what is obvious is, the future of television is automated, it's addressable and it's a total television ecosystem. So you need to have a platform that takes the laborious, heavy lifting of buying 30 second ad spots away from media buyers. That's not efficient. So you need to automate it. You need to be able to buy against your first party data asset and you need to be able to buy live, live-streaming and on demand. And Galaxy does all of those things. And of course, as I announced that our upfronts we're obviously, as we speak, building it for regional television. So we will not only have world class technology, you'll be able to buy metro, regional and BVOD all from one stack.Tim Burrowes:We'll come to that WIN arrangement in a moment. Just one more question on the technology first. You talked about building stuff yourself and I was really interested when you announced it. Voyager the effectively self service platform for smaller advertisers. Now, I think it was somewhat disrupted by the ransomware attack. Is it back on track now?Michael Stephenson:I love Voyager and our focus on the SME market. I kind of feel like it's a little startup sort of incubating alongside us. So you're right. It was impacted by the cyber attack. We're in the process of rebuilding that. So it can sit in the cloud obviously. And we're building that app today. You're able to access television, radio and BVOD through Voyager. But I think what's obvious to us as we're learning, is the SME market, of course, predominantly today use search and social. So what we are building at and will happen over time is the ability to connect with our digital audiences through Voyager. Because I suspect for small businesses, not so much medium enterprise, but for small business, their first exposure or experience with Nine will be through digital. And then it'll build through radio and ultimately end up in television. As small businesses become bigger businesses, clearly television becomes the utopia. So we're building that out for that particular reason.Tim Burrowes:Well, you alluded to regional just now. Now Seven in the last week or two announced the Prime takeover, which gives them a kind of nationally owned offering. You had already talked about having one sales team with WIN as Bruce Gordon's WIN has become increasingly close to Nine as an organization. He's a shareholder. In terms of the practicalities, when you saying one team, how much of one team is it? I suppose what I think about is, if you tell your sales team what to do, they've got to do it. With WIN's team are you telling them, or are you asking them?Michael Stephenson:I would like to think that I'm not telling anybody anything, but working collaboratively with all of the guys and girls that work in our team across the country. I guess there are a couple of stages. The first stage is what we're doing right now, which is, I would say we've aligned our teams. And so all of the WIN sales team are co-located in our offices around the country. We've invested in resource, into trade marketing, into Powered to ensure that the Nine story can be told in both metro and regional markets.Michael Stephenson:We are increasing collaboration between both the metro and the regional teams. And we're just working more closely together. And of course there's great efficiency and opportunity in doing that. But it'll only get you so far. So stage two, which will happen on the 1st of July, to answer your question, is that all of the WIN team will become Nine employees. So they are a part of the Nine team. And Nine will be responsible for representing Nine's assets in regional Australia into the market. So that is complete integration.Michael Stephenson:But even that only gets you to stage two. The real benefit for agencies and marketers is our ability to automate the buying and selling of regional television. Because if you think the metro markets are complex, then the regional markets are five times as complex. There's five times as many markets. And so we're working through that process right now. And when we have Galaxy for regional, that's a game changer. No shortfalls, no makegoods. That is our absolute point of differentiation, because nobody else in the market has that product or the ability to deliver that for clients and agencies. And it will drive incredible efficiencies for agencies and clients. But ultimately it will deliver them a better outcome.Tim Burrowes:Well, if we count your time at NineMSN, which is what brought you into the organization, you've been through four CEOs now, with Eddie McGuire, David Gyngell, Hugh Marks and now Mike's Sneesby. It's a slightly unfair question, but which of them would you say has so far made the greatest contribution to the state the business finds itself in right now?Michael Stephenson:Mike Sneesby, definitely! Mike's literally six months in, so it's super early days for him. But I think our first exposure to Mike as a CEO was of course managing our business through the cyber attack. And I don't think we could have been in safer hands through that process. So-Tim Burrowes:He's got an engineering background, of course.Michael Stephenson:Yeah, I guess that helps. But I just think the way as a leader he managed our company through what was a very difficult time. And I don't think he could have done that any better than he did. Through my time at Nine I've had different CEOs and I've probably been... I was younger or learning different things. I mean, Hugh Marks, I think, has to go down as one of the most successful CEOs of all time anywhere in media. What he achieved in his five years at Nine was quite incredible. And we have a lot to thank him for, for being the business that we are today. And he was the architect of that. But of course, Gynge was so charismatic and so content driven and just an incredible person to be around. So, I learned different things from different people, but when you think about those names we've had a pretty incredible lineup of leaders.Tim Burrowes:(Chuckling) And Eddie McGuire commissioned Underbelly.Michael Stephenson:And of course, back in our schedule next year with Underbelly: Vanishing Act. So the brand lives onTim Burrowes:This is a thought that's just occurred hearing you talk about these things. There were lots of strong internal candidates for the vacancy created by Hugh going. And it was kind of in the public domain that you were one of them. If you had taken that role, would the company look any different right now to how it looks?Michael Stephenson:Oh gosh. That's a really big question. We've got a very clear strategy. I think it's one the things that has allowed us to be as successful as we have been over the last little while. We create great content, we distribute it across multiple platforms to ultimately engage audiences and advertisers. Within that, of course, we're accelerating towards our digital future. It's what we started five years ago. It's what Mike is accelerating. Which is exactly what I would've done if I had have been given that opportunity. But, as I said, I think Mike's doing a fantastic job and I'm very fortunate to be able to work right alongside him. And I think we're a good team.Michael Stephenson:We've got a great executive team here at Nine. We're good friends and we take everything very seriously, but not ourselves that seriously. So it's good fun. And we're doing that now in an ad market that's recovering really quickly. So I the next period of time, I think is going to be an interesting period, as you think about points of inflection, not just for Nine, but I think for our industry. This whole notion of total television. The notion of total audio. The role of subscription and advertising and how they coexist in a diversified business like ours. All of these things are really interesting and I think the next 12 months you're going to see all of that play out.Tim Burrowes:Michael Stephenson. Thank you very much for your time.Michael Stephenson:Thanks for having me.Tim Burrowes:The Unmade podcast is produced with the enthusiastic support of Abe's Audio. If you don't already, do sign up for the Unmade newsletter at unmade dot media. More soon. I'm Tim Burrowes. Toodle-pip.Speaker 1:Unmade. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Upfronts podcast with Ten bosses Jarrod Villani and Beverley McGarvey

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2021 34:18

Welcome to Unmade's second podcast edition.Today saw ViacomCBS share its plans for 2022, across Ten, Paramount Plus and the rest of its broadcast channels. There are several new formats, a big new soccer rights acquisition and new advertising formats.The company's two local executive vice presidents, Bevereley McGarvey, and Jarrod Villani, both joined me for the converation. As well as talking about the slate, I asked Villani asked whether Ten might be open to acquiring either Prime or Southern Cross Austereo's TV operation to round out its national offering.I'll be back with more analysis in tomorrow morning's Unmade newsletter when I offer my own thoughts on how Ten's plans stack up.A transcript of the podcast appears below.TranscriptTim Burrowes:Welcome to the Unmade Podcast. I'm Tim Burrowes. This week Ten became the third of Australia's big three TV networks to unveil its plans for 2020. There's a significant investment in new formats. Some new commercial opportunities and a sports rights announcement too. Ten is part of ViacomCBS, and I'm delighted to say that the company's two bosses in Australia and New Zealand, Executive Vice Presidents, Bevereley McGarvey, and Jarrod Villani join me now.Beverley McGarvey:Hi Tim. Thanks for having us.Jarrod Villani:Thanks very much Tim.Tim Burrowes:So we'll come to the content in a moment and there is a lot to cover, but first I'm going to invite you to jump in, Jarrod. A lot of Unmade's audience comes from the media agency and marketing world so we'll talk about the commercial stuff right upfront. A couple of the new announcements for next year, Happy Hour, which is something that's going to be available on Tenplay, which effectively gives the audience an hour of ad free viewing, thanks to a sponsor, and dynamic e-trading placement. So let's talk about those two things to start off with.Jarrod Villani:Great, Tim, and thanks very much for having us. So we're really excited about the Happy Hour announcement. We think it gives great brand exclusivity to advertisers in a way that really cares for the viewer. We see that with the ongoing developments of paid streaming services, that viewers love that uninterrupted viewing experience. So we thought that we would trial Happy Hour to see what both the viewer resposne to it was, and indeed the advertisers. And it gives that brand exclusivity to advertisers, which is almost unobtainable anywhere else. So we think it provides both a great opportunity for viewers to experience something different on an ad supported platform-Tim Burrowes:... And the way I works, I take it, is that at the front of the hour, there's a message from the sponsor who gets credit for the experience they're about to have?Jarrod Villani:That's right, as well as overlays and other ways in which we can work in the messaging about that particular sponsor throughout that hour, without being as invasive as a 60 or 90 second ad pod.Tim Burrowes:And how do you price that for the sponsor?Jarrod Villani:Well, I think we'll continue to work through that with the agency, as we get into the detail of that, I think it's a new area. It's something that clearly will attract a premium because you do have that exclusive benefit over the course of the period. So we'll continue to work and Rod will work through that with the agencies-Tim Burrowes:... This is Rod Prosser who leads the sales?Jarrod Villani:Indeed, yes.Tim Burrowes:And tell me about the dynamic e-trading placement.Jarrod Villani:Well, I think it's all about offering that dynamic nature of the way in which agencies want to buy advertising space and indeed the ability to be more nimble as you see fluctuations in particularly in the BVOD space. So we think that... And as you can see across many organisations, the ability to adapt to pricing demands and indeed, if you have an advertiser who wants to adjust images or offers with short notice, it gives you that ability to do that.Tim Burrowes:So how does this stack up against… And this, this is obviously where everybody tends to use sort of slightly different terminologies. One of the things we've seen over the last few weeks is Nine and then Seven come to the market, talking about what they're now able to offer with... not trading, so much as automated buying, because humans are still having to negotiate the price, how does it stack up against that?Jarrod Villani:Well, this is all about, and I think this is a collaboration between us and an agency world, which is about what is it that works best for them? So we think about our products in an agency led environment because they're the ones... There's no good us designing something that we think is wonderful and whiz bang, and provides everything that we need. But of course it still requires a significant amount of manual work around from an agency perspective. So we think that our products are connected with the way in which agencies want to buy. I can't comment on that of other platforms, but Rod Prosser and the team to do a lot of work in understanding what eases the friction from the buyer's perspective and how we continue to reshape and model our platforms to make that an ease of trade.Tim Burrowes:Well, let's get into some of the formats. So Bev it really strikes me that... I think it's fair to say that of the three networks, TYen is investing the far the most this year in new formats. And they tend to be formats, which have at least been already tried in the US, or UK. So let's talk through a few of those. One of the ones that most intrigues me is The Bridge.Beverley McGarvey:Well, The Bridge is really interesting. It's actually for Paramount Plus and what we're interested in is having some high-end constructed reality on a streaming service. And as you know, lots of the other global streaming services have had a lot of success with high-end premium non-scripted content, as well as the premium scripted. So we just want to make sure that our local service is offering both scripted and non-scripted and The Bridge is intriguing and as you know, Australians love that non-scripted content and The Bridge is intriguing because it's quite authentic. The format beats that free to air audiences enjoy with things like Master Chef and Survivor, where there're tribal councils and mystery boxes and all that sort of thing. The Bridge is slightly more organic than that, you're kind of thrown in at the beginning with an end game, here's a group of people, here's a giant bucket of cash.Can you get it? And if you do get it, how do you split it? And it's really a social experiment in that how do those people work together and how do they split the money at the end? That's what's really intriguing because actions that you might take in Day Two will affect the outcome and day 10, so it's quite immersive. We will most likely drop it as a binge experience, and it's a much shorter run than the free to air and big constructed reality formats. And also we're shooting in Tasmania and as you know, not, not a great deal of content is shot in Tasmania and it's beautiful. And I think just having that different geographical look we see lots of beaches on Australian TV, we see lots of the Outback and beautiful red dirt. So I think just seeing that really interesting green environment. We have a bit of jungle in I'm a Celebrity, but I think it will look really different and I think that's really important. So we're excited about that.Tim Burrowes:With that one, as I was saying is it's a format which has already gone to air in the UK. I've not had time to view much beyond a few trailers, but I know reading one review, it made the point that casting is really important, which obviously always is for these things. I know one of the points made in at least one of the reviews in the U.K was they were quite an agreeable group of people. And perhaps as a result, it lacked some of that tension you sometimes see, but equally you don't just want, I know they won't be called a tribe, but a tribe of dickheads. So how are you coming at the casting question for something like The Bridge?Beverley McGarvey:The casting on any of those shows is absolutely critical and really what you're looking for is a mix of people that reflect an environment that you might actually find yourself in that you do find some people who are agreeable and some people that might add a bit more tension to proceedings. And also you want some surprises. So it's been very successful in both the U.K on the U.S and for example, in one of those series, they had someone who actually knew how to build a bridge who was actually a bridge builder in the army. But he was a gentle character and the others didn't quite ever find that out about him because they didn't ask him enough questions, and that's fascinating because they actually had an expert in their midst and didn't use it. So you're also looking for those surprising elements and I think the company that are making it, they cast Survivor, they cast MasterChef.They really know what they're doing. The great thing about Australian characters is that Australians are, we get phenomenal casting on some of our big shows. People really put their hand up for this sort of thing. So I think Australians really like to challenge themselves and they really enjoy this sort of content. So I think the casting will be, as it often is with us, you almost have too much choice. And the hard thing is just whittling it down to a group of people that make, as if you're casting a drama, you get a really great mix that make it a compelling watch.Tim Burrowes:Well, let's talk about a couple of other formats, which are quite well known in other markets. Would I Lie To You?, now again, this is one where quite a well-known cast in the U.K, and of course it's already available on Australian television. So I guess one of the daunting things for your cast, and I don't think you've said yet, who it'll be, is there's going to be a point of comparison for them?Beverley McGarvey:Absolutely, so I will tell you who it's going to be. So the point of comparison is something that we do think about, but I think that the point of comparison does two things. It makes you think, well, this is what works in the U.K and how do you take that and apply it to Australian audience, and what makes Australian audiences enjoy things differently? So we are going with Chrissy Swan in the hosting chair and Chrissy is an incredibly generous performer, and she's warm and funny. The other wonderful thing about Chrissy is that she gives other people space to be funny. And that's incredibly important in the show because there will be six big characters sitting in those other six chairs every week. And you need somebody who can not only wrangle that, but allow each person to find the flow and be themselves.The two team captains will be Chris Taylor from The Chaser, who as you know, is an incredibly smart, witty, fast comedian. And we need that, we need somebody who can be that fast. And then the other team captain will be Frank Woodley, also smart, funny man, but a very physical comedian, so very different. And we just think that balance of those three characters will be a really great foundation for the show. And then of course, every week you have four guests. Now, those four guests aren't necessarily always going to be comedians, although they often will be, they will be well-known Australians who are good at kind of telling a tall tale.So we think it's a really exciting show that it allows us to cast from a very broad group of people. And it won't be the same people that you used to see everywhere else, we need to get different people in those chairs. So we're really excited about that. A panel comedy, when it's done well, tends to go very well for us. I think there's an appetite for it and particularly the environment we find ourselves in at the minute, I think people really will embrace something funny.Tim Burrowes:And speaking of panel comedy, The Cheap Seats and Have You Been Paying Attention, are both coming back?Beverley McGarvey:Absolutely, they are both coming back and HYPBA, it's been on for a really long time now, that team do a phenomenal job, they are consistently funny, week in, week out in every segment. They're great at using established talent at bringing through new talent and just bringing through that new talent has really... It's what's led to The Cheap Seats. So The Cheap Seats, obviously it's a slightly younger cast, probably a slightly different pace, if you watch that show, they are fast. They're kind of in their mid twenties, those guys, and they just rip through the material, which is really interesting. And we have a really good core audience for that show and it took us a bit of time to build Hyper, like Cheap Seats has got a broader following in a much faster time frame. So we're really excited about that and those shows worked really well in a complimentary fashion. They both tend to start around that kind of Q2. So we just wanted something funny at the top of the year, which is why we've put, Would I Lie To You? in at the very front.Tim Burrowes:And I'll come on to some more new content in a moment. Jarrod, let me come back to you in a moment because it strikes me that as we're chatting - and although our audience can't, I can see you both. So on the left though, as I look, I've got Jarrod, on the right I've got Bev. Bev's job is to spend the money and Jarrod's job is to find it. So I'm guessing it's a bigger content budget this year. I'm wondering if that is indeed the case and if so, where you're finding the money from?Jarrod Villani:Well, I think if you, if you look at the way in which our organisation has evolved over the last 18 months, we're certainly spending more on content, there is no doubt about that. For the first time in 2022, we'll have all of our brands under one roof, obviously Network 10 and Tenplay, Nickelodeon, MTV, Nick Jr. Paramount Plus, and the enormous investments that we're making in that area. And what it does allow us to do is to look at the way in which our content lives across platforms and look at the levels of investment that we make and the way in which that can complement all of our services and the way in which we can cross promote that and engage with viewers in different ways on each of those platforms.And indeed, hopefully drive viewers across those platforms as well, which presents wonderful opportunities, obviously for our viewers, but also for advertisers as well. We think that if you have, if you have integration into one of our free to air programs and that, that also shows on Paramount Plus at some point in the future, then you will be tapping into a broader and additional audience also, without necessarily having to pay twice for that opportunity. So we think it presents great value to advertisers as well, but that has allowed us to invest even more strongly than what we have in the past, across our content slate.Tim Burrowes:Let's talk a bit more about that content. Bev a format which we've previously seen on screen, but at another network, over at Seven, was First Dates. So what is it you like about that format and what is it that you see in that format that Seven presumably didn't from the fact they let it go?Beverley McGarvey:I think these days shows have moved around a little bit and there's always a moment in time thing with certain formats. We've always loved First Dates. What I love about First Dates and what I think our audience will love about First Dates is the authenticity and humour that you find in a show like Gogglebox. These are real Australians having an experience that we're kind of voyeuristically watching. And I think it's sweet and it's different than the big dating shows. It's different than the Bachelor and The Masked (Singer) and those big shows, which have a place and are incredibly important, but this is very different.It is, as I say, more in that Gogglebox, Travel Guide space, they're regular people, they're people that you see in Coles and Woolies, they're those type of people. And I think those authentic characters are something that we don't have a great deal of, we tend to have the bigger constructor reality shows and people who apply for those shows are big personalities. These are more everyday Australians and I think there's room for that on our schedule. And I think our audience will really embrace it. And it's one hour, once a week, it's kind of down the back of the week and we think it will do a really good job in attracting an audience that will come to it for the humour and the sweetness, as opposed to the spectacle that we often offer on a Sunday, Monday, it's just about getting a bit of balance in the slate.Tim Burrowes:And a key thing, I suppose, for First Dates is the narrator voice. Have you made a decision on that yet?Beverley McGarvey:No, we haven't gotten that far yet. We're actually, we're casting at the minute and it will be for Q1. So we're just looking at those sorts of things right now, but it's a really good point, it's kind of critical.Tim Burrowes:Let's talk about another one, which feels like a potentially, I guess, an expensive one because it takes place out in the world, Hunted.Beverley McGarvey:So Hunted is really interesting, I think from an audience point of view, it's really exciting. And also from an industry professional point of view, it's really exciting. So Hunted is kind of, it's a big constructed reality show. And the interesting thing for us is it's an urban city scape and you know, we've talked about this, we do jungles, we do out in the Outback we do lots of other things, but in terms of shooting in an urban cityscape, it tends to be the domain of Australian drama that does that. So Hunted will be shot in Melbourne, hopefully in a bustling busy city. And the idea is you start with a group of people, they literally lose their phones, lose their credit cards, lose their money and it is 3, 2, 1 go. And basically a team of people chase you in what I ambitiously say, a Bourne Identity style and the last person caught basically wins money, it's literally, can you evade capture?So where the production works is there's a production team with the hunted and there's a production team with the hunters, and they don't overlap so that the production is authentic in terms of the production not knowing what's going on. And then there's a central team that are watching both. And they can get out of the city a little bit, it's been very successful all over Europe, in the U.K and in markets like Italy. And it's a really exciting, fast paced format and again, attracts a very different type of cast. Australians, as I said are really, they're competitive and I think we're casting it at the minute and then it will get a great cast and also a different looking show and a different dynamic. And also a lot of constructed reality shows are in a bubbled environment so you're in the Bachelor mansion, you're in the MasterChef kitchen, this is out in the world, so it feels a bit different to some of our other shows. So we're really excited about that.Tim Burrowes:And while we're talking about the big formats, Survivor comes back again. Now one of the great things for me about Paramount launching as a service here was having availability of all the U.S Survivor episodes. So I haven't yet worked my way through all 40 seasons, so I don't know if this is based on a U.S season gone by, but there's a twist this year?Beverley McGarvey:It absolutely is based on a U.S Season gone by. And what we tend to do is we look at some of the thematic Survivor versions that play in other markets, and then kind of adapt them for Australia so that it really works for us like Champions versus Contenders was quite original to Australia, although it was loosely based on something else. So what we're doing is Blood versus Water and effectively what that means is you play with someone you love for a certain amount of time.And Survivor's really interesting because at the end you are the sole survivor. So adding the dynamic of... Some people are very ruthless in Survivor, which we love. If your mother is with you, the question is, is blood thicker than water? So we're filming at the minute. It's really, really interesting. That dynamic really brings out interesting character traits in people. And Survivor really is... Survivor fans are super committed to it and they love those extra layers of complexity and interest. So it's a really interesting theme and we've also got fantastic casting. Most of the cast are new, we do have some favourites coming back, but they're not playing alone, they're playing with a sister or a mother. So again, it's not like... You've seen them before, but you're seeing them in a different way now cause everybody behaves differently when their mother's around, I think, so it's a really good theme this year.Tim Burrowes:And Survivor obviously has become a really reliable partner schedule now, would you do two series in a year, would you contemplate that?Beverley McGarvey:We have done in the past. We actually nearly did two cycles last year, but COVID kind of scuppered that idea. It's an incredible investment, a show like Survivor and it's very successful. I think probably the audience appetite for it is maintained when we do one cycle a year, if there was ever a reason to do a second one, we would never say never. We also do slightly more hours than some of the international versions. So our audience already get a decent amount of Survivor. So possibly one day, certainly not next year.Tim Burrowes:Jarrod, where are we now, in October, three months or so into is the switch of affiliations from the previous connection with WIN Corporation over to Southern Cross Austereo. How has that gone so far? Because I guess you were pretty much thrown in the deep end to arrive and then make that negotiation nearly straight away?Jarrod Villani:It's going well, we're very fortunate as we were with WIN, to have terrific partners and we still have a very substantial relationship with WIN in Northern New South Wales. So that continues to go very well and Southern Cross in most other major markets. And of course, as the affiliate landscape works in Australia, a smattering of other in smaller markets. So we're very fortunate, it's going quite well with Southern Cross. We have really strong engagement with them. Their feedback from their clients has been really strong about the performance of the content and the engagement from advertisers. So we're really happy with the way in which that has played out. And indeed, we're very happy with the way in which our relationship continues to work with WIN in certain markets also.Tim Burrowes:And obviously the new arrangement was only a two-year deal, which is quite short for affiliate arrangements. Was that your preference, or would you have preferred a longer arrangement?Jarrod Villani:We're in a world where it's moving quite fast at the moment. And we had a really great conversation with Southern Cross about what our desires were, and it was a mutual agreement between the parties that we would enter into a two year agreement and see where the world was in a couple of years' time. So we're both very comfortable with that, and we don't really think it makes any difference in terms of the continuity of services or indeed our relationship.Tim Burrowes:And as you say, in a little bit under two years' time, both this arrangement, but also Prime's arrangement with Seven comes up. Have you had any conversations with Prime yet?Jarrod Villani:Well, other than the ones that, as I say in certain markets, that we do engage with them on already, as a joint venture partner in some of those, but look, I think that we'll cross all those bridges when we come to them in a couple of years' time.Tim Burrowes:And before we go back to the content, again, a final question on the affiliate arrangement. We thought a while back that Seven and Prime was going to be, were going to come together and be the first national offering. Is there any further appetites for investment for you to pick up, and I guess it would probably be Prime, but it might be Southern Cross Austereo. Is there a way the numbers would actually stack up to become a national offering do you think?Jarrod Villani:That has to work for both parties, obviously. So I think that like all investment activity, whether you're talking about ViacomCBS, or seven or Nine or whoever you might be talking about at any point in time, we work through the process of saying, does this make sense? Does this work for both parties? And there can only ever be an agreement if it does work for both parties. So, I view it like all commercial agreements. You never say never, you see what unfolds, you see what can work for each of the parties and you make those decisions as you go.Tim Burrowes:So it sounds like at least sort of with ViacomCBS internationally, it's not as if they've said rule out spending money on that sort of potential acquisition. If you can make it stack up, then they might back you on that case?Jarrod Villani:We have terrific support, full-stop, internationally for our investments in Australia, be they in content or further acquisitions or whatever it might be. So we've got really strong engagement with our international colleagues and it is set us up in a really good place in Australia and New Zealand.Tim Burrowes:Well, let's talk a bit about sport, which we haven't yet today. Bev, my accent gives me away as a person from the U.K where the FA Cup is a big deal. So this is the... I suppose you could think of it as a, the main league is the EPL in the U.K, and then the FA cup is the knockout format. And they're both pretty much as meaningful as each other, really in terms of U.K sport. So you're now going to have some rights to show the FA cup, how are you going to make that work within the schedule?Beverley McGarvey:So the FA Cup will... A lot of the games will, all of the games will be on Paramount Plus, and then some of the games will play on the linear services, but really we're just wanting to round out our football offering. So as you know we have the FA with Socceroos, Matildas and the A-Leagues. So we were really just looking for other events to kind of round that out. And as you say, it is such a big deal in the U.K, there's a lot of expats here.And even if you're not from that part of the world, there's a lot of players that you'd know because a lot of big names play, in the British Leagues, so you know who they are. So we're really excited about that, and it really just enhances our football offering for fans. And it will be mainly on Paramount Plus, but some of it will sit on the linear services, so that's how we see it working really and we're pretty excited about it though. Because as you say it's a knockout and also in a knockout interesting things can happen, you never really know where it's going to end. So I think that keeps it really exciting right to the end of the season.Tim Burrowes:And you say, you've got all of the games. So obviously you... With the knockout thing, it starts off with a lot of games per round. Then it presumably hits that point where you might have sort of eight or four games per round going on. So you'll presumably actually be streaming multiple games at the same time?Beverley McGarvey:Yeah, we do have the capacity to do that and we will be streaming multiple games at the same time across the board, that also sometimes happens with the local leagues as well. So that's kind of the beauty of having, as Jarrod has mentioned, just having a full suite of distribution mechanisms so that we can do multiple things at the same time. I think the interesting thing is just about making it clear about what's on when and what we have where and making the curation easy for the audience. So we have the Matildas on Ten this Saturday night and we've a couple of like FA games. And then we move into the APL, which will be exclusive mainly on Paramount Plus coming into November.Tim Burrowes:Now Jarrod one of the tap dances of a commercial network, particularly with streaming is the viewers are already paying for the products so they don't necessarily want to see much advertising at all, but equally this is a commercial world and one of the ways that pays for the content is the ads. How do you think about that when it comes to the advertising around football or soccer, I suppose we should call it in here in Australia?Jarrod Villani:Yeah. Tim, there's obviously lots of different models playing out across the world at the moment, in relation to our football, which will be available on Paramount Plus, it will be supported by a light ad load. We think it gives great continuity to advertisers across both the free to air product and the Paramount Plus product to ensure that if you are part of football in this country, that you are part of the viewer experience also, and people really can see that brand association, irrespective of which platform. Now we are going to be very conscious of the load that exists on Paramount Plus, but we think we can do that in a respectful and non-intrusive manner.Tim Burrowes:And sticking with Paramount Plus, a couple of other formats - Couples Therapy and the return of Five Bedrooms?Beverley McGarvey:Yeah. So Five Bedrooms has been phenomenally successful for Paramount Plus and for Ten. So series three will drop very, very, very early next year, which we're really excited about, we're filming at the minute. It's a really strong series, really good writing, fantastic talent. And then we have a show called Couples Therapy and Couples Therapy will be the first local non-scripted content to drop on the service. And again, we're making it at the minute. It plays on HBO Max in the U.S and it's a very different type of show. It is not a show that you would see sitting on Linear. It's a very no producer intervention type show. So you see two people talking to your therapist about their relationship and there are no format beats. There is no, at the end of the series, two people are going to stay together. And two people are going to split up. You watch the kind of how their relationship grows or doesn't across the period of their conversations with the therapist.And at the end of the series, you find out where they are at that moment in time. It's not like a hard closed ending. It's really interesting conversations and the way the show works. If you're in the show as one of the couples, you don't see producers, you don't see camera men, you only see your therapist, it's kind of shot with two-way mirrors etc, so you're really honest. So I think it's a really, and again, it's been very successful in other markets because I think people are curious and they like to see what's happening in other people's lives. So we're really excited to see how that goes and it's one of those things that had we not had Paramount Plus we wouldn't be able to do that type of show because it will appeal to a very bespoke market. So just having that extra platform gives us more flexibility in our commissioning and kind of gives us more scale in our buying.Tim Burrowes:So Jarrod, this will be your first upfronts since joining Ten, I found myself thinking of James Warburton's return to Seven, where he used his first upfronts to tell his audience that what had come before was not good enough. Now I'm not going to ask you to do that, but I do wonder if you could wave a magic wand and change just one decision by any predecessor over the last 15 years, what would it be?Jarrod Villani:Tim I think that whenever we're reflecting on any decision made in business, in life, unless you know, all of the factors at that point in time, that those people have to consider at that point in time, you knew the dynamics of what was playing out the condition of a balance sheet or P and L or what was the strategic objectives at that point in time, then you can never look back. And sometimes even on your own decisions and say whether they are good or bad ones.And I think that's true of this situation, and Bev and I've spent... We've been lucky enough to work together on and off over the last four or five years, we've got a great working relationship. And we're very much about looking forward and about the organisation, not just the network, it's much bigger than that. The networks are a very important part of what we do, but the organisation as a whole and the way in which we build out ViacomCBS in Australia, and the position that we'll take in the market, we're really excited about making those decisions together and ensuring that we get those right based on the information that we have to hand at any given point in time.Tim Burrowes:Do you ever look back there and think ‘Oh, I wonder how things would be if Lachlan Murdoch had fought a bit harder to keep some AFL' for instance?Jarrod Villani:Perhaps, but you're probably best asking Lachlan that.Tim Burrowes:Hey, it might just be worth painting a bit of a picture. And this might be one of the final questions of how the... I'm particularly interested for Ten, how the schedule will sort of unfold over the coming year. Where you actually see yourself placing the main shows throughout 2022.Beverley McGarvey:Well, I think for many years now, we've been very transparent about what our schedule looks like and that we want it to be consistent. So we're quite comfortable to talk about what the year looks like. It's very, very set for the first half, we do I'm A Celebrity on January 3. We talk about that quite publicly and tend to put January 3 on billboards all over the country and then we go into Survivor. We didn't have Survivor in Q1 this year only because we couldn't get it made in time because of the lockdown situation last year but luckily this year we've managed to fix that. So we go I'm A Celebrity, Survivor, some other enhancements in Q1, like First Dates and Would I Lie To You? as we've talked about and then we go into MasterChef and really that takes us through the first half of the year.And we're very happy to be open about that. We think the market needs to know that we have a consistent schedule, what the content is, what the integration opportunities are. And then in the back half of the year, we tend to have things like Bachelor and some other big kind of more stunty shows, Hunted will play on that second half. So we tend to be quite open about it because we think it works for us to be upfront about what we're doing. And I think these days, your clients really want to know in advance. You can't kind of be hiding things and stuffing around and you need to be quite honest about where your shows are going to land. I think it works. It's better for our sales team to have that visibilityTim Burrowes:Well, Upfronts is always a busy week. So I will let you both go Beverly McGarvey and Jarrod Villani. Thank you very much.Beverley McGarvey:Thank you so much.Jarrod Villani:Thanks so much for having us Tim. Thank youTim Burrowes:The Unmade Podcast is produced with the enthusiastic support of Abe's Audio, more soon. I'm Tim Burrowes.Toodle pip. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Seven's 2022 upfronts: Sport, data and a LOT of old favourites

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2021 28:18

The Unmade podcastWelcome to the first edition of the Unmade podcast.Today saw Seven's 2022 Upfronts.The company was second into the market this year - Nine went first, last month, and Ten rounds things off next week.If I've done the technical things right, you'll be able to listen this podcast on your favourite apps as well as in the player above. But, like all new things on Unmade, bear with me if I get it wrong the first time.I'll be following up on the podcast with my own analysis in a seperate post at the usual time tomorrow morning.This edition of the Unmade podcast is free. In the future, some will be available only to paying subscribers. Until the end of this month, you sign up to Unmade for the discounted annual price of just $144 per year. That price will never be as competitive again.(And a reminder: If you do come back later looking for that discount, you'll need to reopen this email and click on the special offer button above to access the discounted price.)My thanks to the team at Abe's Audio for production on today's edition.For your convenience, you'll find a transcript of the whole conversation below.TranscriptTim Burrowes: Welcome to the first edition of The Unmade Podcast. I'm Tim Burrowes. Seven has just wrapped up its presentation for its 2022 Upfronts. New tech capabilities, the Commonwealth Games, and some familiar tent poll shows are among the headlines. Joining me as Unmade's first guests, first of all, the man with maybe the longest job title in the media, Kurt Burnette, chief revenue officer, director of Olympic Paralympic, and Commonwealth Games, organisational strategy and sales/marketing, and Natalie Harvey network sales director for Seven West Media. Welcome, both of you.Kurt Burnette: Thanks, Tim. Well, what an honour to be on the first, I don't know where you got that title from, but I like it.Tim Burrowes Well, certainly that's what LinkedIn accuses you of Kurt, and Natalie, welcome to you as well.Natalie Harvey: Hello Tim. Thanks for having me and KurtTim Burrowes Let's get straight into it. One of the interesting things about the upfronts this year, and it's probably been a story for all of the networks, or certainly, Nine, which has already come along, and now yourselves, so much this year is about the technology and the trading. So in your case, this is Code 7 Plus along, with the tie-in with Salesforce. So let's start with what practical difference that's going to make for media buyers?Kurt Burnette: Audience is our metric or our driver of success, and that's delivered by great content, of course. I mean, it does start in pretty much in there, but of course, when it comes to ensuring that that audience is traded in the most effective and efficient way, that's what everyone's now trying to crack, or has been over the last few years. So technology does play a part in that, as it does in all industries now. So technology is an important part of that, and it's certainly a big part of Seven's future. So Code 7 has been with us for a few years now, and that's effectively an automated guaranteed audience buy, which means that you brief in what you want from audience and that gets delivered.And it's effectively one touch from the customer being the agency on behalf of the client. Code 7 Plus effectively is a whole new technology platform underpinning that solution, which brings in a new digital order management platform. It links in a CRM, Salesforce CRM, which is quite clearly the leader in the world on this, and the digital order management platform that we're adding to that is Salesforce's new business media cloud, which is the first in Australia.So with some of these vendors, not all of them, but some of the linkage is really important. And that's what Salesforce brings to this particular equation, along with some other very well-known vendors to bring the solution alive. So what that does quite simply is makes the transaction faster and more effective across broadcast BVOD and even our short form, in our case 7news.com.au and the short form into the West Australian.The idea being is how we can tie that together as an audience trade for our customers to get to the audience faster and quicker, transact quicker and get deeper using data segments. So integrated into that platform will be VOZ and also REDiQ, which is our data management platform.So all of the data points come together. So all of that, you have to have your content, right? That's the first and foremost point, you must have that in a good place across broadcast and digital, which we do on Seven and 7plus, leading platform across both. And this technology brings it together. So when our customers are transacting with us, you can get them a far more effective way of tradingTim Burrowes: Let's just clarify one point on that with Salesforce, then. Is one of the things that this Salesforce arrangement will allow is that clients will be able to bring their first-party data to the party?Kurt Burnette: Well, the way that we are building 7 Red IQ is actually the integrator of that, where we can bring in third-party data sets into there. So that is the entry point of which then comes into Code 7 Plus. So yes, is the answer. It's just the way that it comes through.Tim Burrowes: And then obviously this is the arrangement with Salesforce, as you say, one of the major tech stacks out there, possibly the major tech stack. Not far out the ballpark, though, is Adobe. How do you think about Adobe?Kurt Burnette: Well, we use Adobe in Red IQ as part of our partners. So they are an enabler. Adobe's part of that equation, as is a number of other data partners that can enable that connection to happen. Our mantra is plug and play your way.And what that means is that, however, you wish to engage with Seven West Media, that we have that solution to do so. And if you're an Adobe partner, then that's what we'll use to bring you into our environment. That's a very clear mantra when we started with the build on this was to make sure that we could engage with those however, they want to engage with. The idea that we build it and they will come. I don't, I'm sure most would agree that those days are gone. You can't just say, this is the way you have to do it. Now you've got to sort of, yeah, play into the various options that others have.Tim Burrowes: And as I say, this seems to have been one of those years where this is a really major focus. Now, one of the things that Nine announced with their upfronts was, they would enable media agencies and clients to effectively book everything apart from main channel prime time via their version, which is Galaxy. I think what you were saying just now about being able to automate that booking is that you are able to do the same thing with Code Seven as well. Am I understanding that right?Kurt Burnette: Yeah, that's correct. I mean, I think there's been a lot of work in industry between the broadcasters to work together, to bring VOZ together, to BVOD work that's going on as well as getting TV buying easier, just in standardisation of file types. And a whole of lot of work that's gone through the TV 23, which you may have heard of, so that's happening at industry level. And then each of the broadcasters will deliver their own version of how they enable that. But we've all got a common goal, and that is to make TV buying easier and TV being the total television, which is Metro regional BVOD, that is, total television. So yes, ours does that as others will do.Natalie Harvey: And just to build on that, the market has to evolve in how we classify time zones. If you think about how viewing behavior occurs on 7plus, there is no peak and off-peak. People are watching content whenever they want to watch it on whatever device they want to watch it. So I do think that as we move into a world of convergence, that the legacy ways of buying television across broadcast and digital need to evolve, and that's one area that is probably a potential that could change in the future.Tim Burrowes: I noticed on LinkedIn when I was looking at your job titles, just now. You were just mentioning Natalie, that you are currently hiring for a Head of Convergence Audience Trading, which you mentioned in that as a sort of sales, tech, and product role. What does that say about the direction you're traveling in?Natalie Harvey: Well, what's interesting about this role is as we've been looking at where this role exists currently, our understanding is nobody has a role like this in any organisation.And what I believe that says about where we are moving to is very much a future-focused industry around screens coming together to make it easier for our customers to buy our audiences no matter where they are; to look at new ways of trading when it comes to currency of trading as well is a key piece there, but also having technical capabilities to be able to be part of our Code 7 Plus project build as well. So in all honesty, we're looking for a bit of a unicorn, but I think we might have found one.Tim Burrowes: Who is it?Natalie Harvey: You'll have to wait and see - keep watching my LinkedIn profile.Kurt Burnette: But I think it's also worth adding to that. We have customers and our customers are our clients and their agency. So we can come up with whatever it is we want to come up with, but we have to be solving the challenges that are in front of us, that our customers need. So that's what we are solving for in this convergence piece of all of the briefs that are coming in for next year. Now for next year, they all include a solution that allows audience trading take place across broadcast and digital.It's not going to happen every time straight away, but it's going to happen over time where effectively audience will be traded fluidly across platforms. It's happening. It's real, it's live, we're structuring our departments on it. We're hiring for it as you call out, as you mentioned, and we are setting up technology for it. So it's actually a very exciting time to be in television in that respect. And I think it's been a great deal of success on the BVOD services 7plus is going phenomenally well. That's allowed us to do things like what we're talking about now. If we had said two years ago, let's trade convergently, audience trading on Seven and 7plus, no one would have it.Tim Burrowes: We'll come on to BVOD in a few minutes.. As you say, content is so much of the game still, of course, including for Seven West Media Sport. So one of the announcements this week, Commonwealth Games from Birmingham in the UK. Obviously, it's not the best time zone for you. How big do you expect them to be nonetheless?Kurt Burnette: Well, I'll make a comment now that the Commonwealth Games will feature in the top 10 rating programs for 2022 because we've got 44 hours of prime time where there will be events played out, finals played out from 7:30. So we'll allow our news, Home and Away into live events. So live goes all the way through, into early morning, but that prime time is during the day, and remembering in Tokyo, that the finals for the swimming was during the day. We're not suggesting it's going to be to the same levels of Tokyo, but it's certainly going to be to the... As I say, it will feature in the top 10, if not top five ratings for 2022 across broadcast and BVOD bearing in mind it's total video.So, 100 and I think it was 170 medals we won in 2018 Commonwealth Games. So you imagine that that's almost, I think it's double or triple the size of Tokyo. So there's a huge amount of Australian medalling going on. And as Nat mentioned before, it's redefining prime time. So you're going to see weekend day delivering the same numbers as prime time. So it's actually, it's a natural fit, really, after what's happened with Tokyo and what would've happened with the winter games in February next year, that we move into July and we have the Australian athletes on Seven and 7plus again.Tim Burrowes: And one of the things that interest me is that you have bought all of the rights, including, as you say, in the announcement, the subscription TV rights. What are your options for those subscription TV rights? Because clearly, that's not an offering you currently have.Kurt Burnette: We tried in Rio, we actually had a paid service through there. An element of it was paid, and look, our options are open at the moment - that's given all rights, including radio. It gives you options to utilize those subscription rights or not. I mean, it was great success in Tokyo without subscription, but I think anything's possible and we'll work out what the best proposition for us as a business is. And also what's best for the consumer and go from there. So I don't think anything's off the table, Tim that's for sure.Tim Burrowes: Speaking of things that aren't off the table, you've also got first right of refusal on the 2024 Paris Olympics. And I must admit, I've been anticipating an announcement, perhaps around those this week as well. It's less than three years away. When are you going to make your mind up about those?Kurt Burnette: Well, all we can say about that is that the Olympics, they are in our DNA and it's something that we were there in 1956 in Australia, in Melbourne. So we love the Olympics. We've worked very well with them, very closely with the IOC and the Paralympics, I might add, we had great success with them. So we are all having discussions and we'll keep discussing those options with the IOC, but everything also has to make sense; there's no margin for rights that don't make financial sense.Tim Burrowes: I think it was reported or I think maybe James Warburton said that one of the investor updates that Tokyo - and obviously understandably, because of all the disruption of COVID =- maybe lost the network, something like 50 million dollars. How do you go into a negotiation for Olympic rights and get the right outcome at the other end?Kurt Burnette: Well, I wouldn't want to get into those details now, Tim, that's a very good question, but we have a view on that and let's just see where all of that ends up.Tim Burrowes: Do you reckon if we were to talk in three years time, you'll still have the word Olympic in your job title?Kurt Burnette: Well, given with how long it is. I've got to get something in there, don't I? So, yeah, that's a good reason to do it for sure. We'll add that to the list.Tim Burrowes: Just one more sport question, and then I'll bring Natalie back in again. There was some reporting this week that Seven would be interested in NRL. Now a cynic thinks, okay, look, it's always worth saying that because it drives the price up for Nine, which doesn't do Seven any harm. Are you serious about getting NRL?Kurt Burnette: Well, we were just talking about the power of sport and we are serious at about all market sports and NRL is one of those, but again, everything needs to make sense in the discussions, that's, I guess the best way to explain that.Tim Burrowes: And do you think you could afford both NRL and Olympics?Kurt Burnette: I think everything's affordable at the right price.Tim Burrowes: Natalie, let me bring you back in. Something else, which really interests me about the content line-up, which would be interesting to get your sense of how you take something like it to the market. So this coming year, we'll see three talent shows, The Voice, Australia's Got Talent, and Australian Idol, the return of; how do you take that to the market? Is it one story at a time, or how do you tell the story?Natalie Harvey: I think the benefit Tim, of having all those powerhouse talent shows is: A, we get to showcase diversity of talent because they're all slightly different, but B, we get to schedule them so that they don't compete against each other. And that they're complimentary to where we would expect to see a spike of audience or relevance for brands. So we treat them separately and we schedule them to where we believe we're going to get the best outcome for audiences as well, for brands as well.Tim Burrowes: And then you've got a new twist on House Rules this year in Apartment Rules, which again, I guess the sponsor opportunities are fairly obvious around that?Natalie Harvey: Oh, absolutely. All you have to do is drive a few Ks outside of Sydney and you'll see all the apartments that are being built along the light rail and other public transport lines. And you'll see how many people will be interested in this new format. And we've been able to prove with shows like The Voice, like Big Brother, and Farmer Wants a Wife that a re-imagined format will bring audiences in across both broadcasts and digital. And we know that house-building content is very popular for brands because it does bring in an audience that has money. And that is engaged in this really highly valuable content.Tim Burrowes: And Natalie, as Kurt was saying, BVOD is growing. And again, it looks like there's a further investment in the kind of content library for that. What sort of revenue growth for BVOD have you budgeted for next year?Natalie Harvey: So from a market perspective, we're expecting to see the growth that has been delivered over the past couple of years to continue, absolutely. And I do believe that with our approach to convergence and the market approach to convergence, that that will see that growth accelerate even further. Major events like the Commonwealth Games will bring in new digital revenue as well. We saw that with Tokyo, the attraction for non-television brands to invest into such a premium environment. So I think it's going to be another really positive year for BVOD.Kurt Burnette: And just to add to that too, I think an important note of why 7plus is leading currently in the marketplace, there's probably a... It's driven by the big events. Tokyo certainly, drove the audience forward as do The Voice and SAS has been huge, but 70% of the content on 7plus is exclusive, that is it's not on broadcast. So I think there is a misconception sometimes that it's a catch up service. I mean, certainly the large volumes comes through the streaming and the VOD of the big shows, of The Voice and SAS, et cetera, Home and Away. But it's a really key point. 70% is exclusive content on 7plus. And the viewing consumption is about 50/50. So, it's far more than just a catch up service. And it's a really important part of the strategy that's helped drive us to where we are.Tim Burrowes: And the sheer amount of live programming that people are just choosing to take over BVOD, has that taken you by surprise a bit? As in the amount of people that are just using it to stream the main channels?Kurt Burnette: Yeah, I think it's probably surprised that how much of that is going on, but what we saw earlier on was the connected television. So we saw this gradual rise of the streaming that was taking place going from mobile and laptop into the connected TV. So now it's over 70%. So once people move to the big screen that live streaming is starting to take a very, very stronghold. So now it's the norm that it is so much live streaming going on.However, I will say that out of the Olympics, if you know, and it is the Olympics admittedly, but what an interesting insight was there that 59% of the video that was happening was of VOD and not of the Seven and Seven mate broadcast.So there is some exclude stuff happening there, but certainly live streaming is big and certainly we saw that with the AFL Grand Final as well, but I still think, of one of the big trends that are continuing this year, that'll continue next year. And that is the connected television. I still say, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The most under-utilised marketing weapon in the country is the connected television. There's still a huge opportunity for brands to become involved with that technology is getting, ad tech is getting better at capturing that. We're working in a number of our new data solutions that we announced in the upfronts today about that, and will continue to focus on that area.Tim Burrowes: Something else that's interested me today is, traditionally for any free to air TV network, just about all of its revenue comes from the advertisers and the sponsors, not from directly from the audience, you've announced Seven Shop, which is, I guess, an attempt to bring in the beginnings of a revenue stream direct from the audience. What sort of incremental revenue are you hoping to drive from that?Kurt Burnette: Well, in the early stages, it's actually about content utilization. So Seven Shop is actually, we launched it a couple of years ago or 18 months ago under Seven CAP, which is contextual advertising placement. So that was about the ads where we used AI to take out moments in the creative, that we would place ads like party scenes, heavy party scenes, putting Cadbury's chocolates near ads, near those moments.So finding the moments in the content and putting ads next to it, we launched 7 CAP and then enabled QR codes, dynamically inserted QR codes, which there are a number of those this year. The next evolution of that is Seven Shop, which means that you can actually shop the content as it appears in the content itself on 7plus. So if you are watching Home and Away and you pause, you can actually see the board shorts, the sunglasses, the product that's in the show itself, and you can get information on it, put it in your cart or shop straight away.So the initial benefits for that is viewer engagement and then also advertiser engagement. So EVE is our philosophy, the enhanced advertiser, and viewer experience. We've spoken about that a lot. That's what this does. So Seven Shop initially is about a stickiness for an audience and us as an enabler to a direct link to a brands purchase. The revenue, the earnings on the way through. We are not, just to be clear in the early stages, we are not creating a marketplace, our own marketplace. Seven Shop is a e-commerce enabler, is what we'll use that in the first instance. And then we'll sort of... This is a multi-year strategy, we're into the second year of that. So it will evolve and potentially earn clips of tickets on the way through. But the early stages is as an enabler, which is the other part to that is the Seven Rewards, which we launched with a company called Entertainment, which was the original rewards program, which was in the all-time booklet that's turned into digital.So that is part of this ecosystem, if you like and strategy, which is, if you are watching in 7plus you get rewarded for watching more, coming in more, watching longer, and you get rewards for doing so that is half price tickets, 10% off this or that, whatever it might be. That does two things, it creates a value equation for the customer coming into 7plus. So it's a viewer engagement. Again, this is the EVE proposition, but for the advertiser, it obviously means that their brand is in front of clients and sorry, consumers. And they are transacting with that brand inside that environment. And they can also shop with Seven Shop. It's a combination of action and attention and attribution because all of that throws off data. It's another reason in a cookie-less world of why somebody would provide their information to you. So if there's a very clear strategy on a number of levels, and we'd like to think that it's the full funnel market solution; driving broadcast strategies or brand strategies linking into eCommerce strategies.Tim Burrowes: Maybe the final question from me. And I think hopefully it's one you can both answer and have different answers to. One of the things that strikes me about the program line-up is there's a lot of stability. There's a lot of - and I mean this in a good way - safe bets for marketers where they'll have plenty of information about how shows are going to perform based on how they've done previously. But also, of course, the TV industry does like and reward risk-taking. So I wonder from both of you, when you look at all the announcements from this week, what do you each think is the bravest thing you are going to do next year?Kurt Burnette: Well, that is a good question. Because the line-up, and I guess, Hey, Hey, it's Saturday special on Sunday night sort of highlighted the fact that nostalgia is powerful. We believe-Tim Burrowes: Yes, not many people expected the sort of ratings it delivered.Kurt Burnette: No, they didn't, but it talks to known but new. So known formats in a new way of delivering, and I think probably the biggest announcement, and the one that I think could perform the best out of all of those shows coming back is My Kitchen Rules. I would say that's probably the safest bet. Probably doesn't answer quite your question. But I think, after the research we've done and we did talk about it coming back last year. I think you might recall. And it wasn't right, but this time it's right. It's shorter, faster, fresher. It'll have all the e-comm stuff in there. That's nothing to do with the consumer side necessarily, but it's just another engager. But for me, that's probably the show I'm most excited about that I think can really make a difference into the back half of next year, launched out of the, or near enough to out of the Commonwealth Game. So yeah, I think that's probably the biggest, safest bet for us.Natalie Harvey: I like how Kurt turned that question around, always a salesman, but I 100% agree with him.From my perspective. And I'll take a buyer's view on it just because I used to be a buyer and I'll say the winter Olympics or the Olympic winter games. And the reason why I say it is because last time, when we were selling it with a very similar time zone, we had a lot of people saying, "Oh, it's not going to rate. People aren't going to watch it's the winter Olympics." And boy, they were wrong. Same with Tokyo. It was massively under forecast by the buyers. And we have people scrambling to get on. I think that the Olympic winter games provides a massive opportunity for brands. A really nice alternative to what else is on at that time of the year and will deliver huge cross screen audiences so I would suggest there's probably some people sitting there going, "Olympic winter games, not sure" but avoid at your peril would be my suggestion there.Tim Burrowes: Well, upfronst is always a busy week, so I will let you both go about your duties. Natalie Harvey and Kurt Burnette, thank you very much.Kurt Burnette: Thanks, Tim, great to talk.Natalie Harvey: Thank you.And a final reminder: Word of mouth is what will help Unmade make it's way in the market, so please do tell a colleagueToodlepip…Tim BurrowesProprietor - Unmade This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.unmade.media/subscribe

Digital audio replicating BVOD’s early J-curve surge - audiences and revenues double

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 15, 2021 41:08

Here comes digital audio’s revenue J-curve. Just as BVOD for TV networks created new possibilities for advertisers in targeting and tracking compared to broadcast, local and national advertisers are awakening to the top, mid and lower marketing funnel options that a booming digital audio advertising market is spawning - now upwards of 5 million users. Dozens of advertisers are piling in each week with campaigns using new audio advertising options from “shake-your-phone” response ads, location-based messages and even automated audio ads carrying tailored messages based on user locations. The rich data available via digital audio consumption is also being used to inform and deliver brand campaigns. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Covid-19 and the growth of BVOD

Mediaweek

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2020 22:52

Stephanie Famolaro from digital advertising company The Trade Desk on the massive impact Covid-19 is having on consumers and how they are staying connected with the media this year. One of the boom categories is BVOD

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AdNews Podcast: MediaCom and Publicis on the year in TV so far

The AdNews Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2019 26:35

In this episode AdNews' Josh McDonnell sits down with MediaCom chief investment officer Claire Butterworth and Publicis Media Exchange commercial director Jodi Fraser to discuss the year in television so far, the growth of BVOD and predictions for the remainder of 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 16: Cricket Australia Cops a Whack For Poor Data Collection

Sportsfinda

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2019 21:34

Show Notes: Cricket Australia’s participation figures have been revealed to be false according to a Fairfax investigation. The issue does speak to poor data and record keeping, and what does constitute participation? Tennis Australia and TechStars to collaborate on a sportstech accelerator and incubator in Melbourne post 2020 Australian Open. Tennis Australia is maintaining their evolution as a tech focussed governing body and have found a way of safeguarding their future by collaborating with and leading sports tech companies and potential top startups to help with their on and off court technology. One year to go to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Channel 7 have begun their hype, hype, hype. Seven will launch another six channels across its broadcast video on demand (BVOD) platform 7plus for the Games. Up to 40 live streams of every sport will also be available on 7plus, with the network touting more sports! more events! more gold medals! "THAN ANY PREVIOUS GAMES!!!". In other news, and very interesting news too, Channel 7 have partnered up with IOC’s OTT 24/7 channel, Olympic Channel, which will be available on 7plus. Melbourne-based start-up PlaySport has had a big PR push with the announcement that they have unveiled its new platform connecting Australians with over 50,000 sports organisations across 350 different sports. Article was written by David Swan for The Australian – hopefully the article is not paywalled!

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Mumbrellacast: Do Adland Recruiters Have A Woman Problem? Plus The BVOD Dilemma, And Ladbible In Oz