Venue: ICC Grand Ballroom
Crowd: 1,500 (from all over Australia)
Start: 6.18pm
End: 7.34pm
6:18 Dave Hughes onstage: Welcome to the Channel 10 Upfronts.
Plugs his own show – “I think it’s been renewed. Surely it has been – they wouldn’t have me here otherwise, would they?”
Jokes about The Honey Badger, who not surprisingly is not one of the guests!
“I’m committed to TV – I bought a house on The Block last year,” continued Hughesy. “They rang me during the auction – I said I’m watching Game Of Games – I am committed to 10 now.
Hughesy noted the CBS big-wigs in the room. He wants to be big in the USA. Wonders if they can help.
Hughesy rolls out part of a routine, maybe testing out a new show?
He takes a FaceTime call from CEO Paul Anderson, who boasted he had $1b to spend on content.
“I’m a celebrity… get me out of here.
“If only Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris were here”… guess what? They join Hughesy onstage.
Segue to a song: “Let’s make things better. Perhaps it’s time for the Julia Morris Show.”
Doc and Julia then do a song and dance routine with mentions of some of the new shows including Sunday Night Takeaway. They are then joined onstage by a dancing Amanda Keller and Grant Denyer promoting Dancing with the Stars.
Osher, Nat Bass, George Calombaris and Pete Helliar among a cavalcade of 10 stars. Many of their newsreaders too.
6:31 Julia Morris last person standing onstage, drops a couple of F-bombs after revealing she has been at the venue since 8am this morning.
She has the job of introducing the CEO Paul Anderson.
“He is really hot and really powerful… I’m not sure which I like best.”
6:33 Paul Anderson onstage
“I think we have blown the $1b budget – I didn’t mean to spend it all in one go.”
Anderson talks about the support of CBS and introduces the new brands.
Promo reel showing off the new logos.
“What is our plan? Great content at the heart of everything we do, but the way we deliver that content and monetise it has to change.”
6:40 Rod Prosser onstage
“10 sales back in the spotlight. A very special welcome to the new 10 sales team. Our sales story is simple.”
- We are ready to go
- We are different
- We are global
Talks about 10 Imagine, 10 Effect, 10 Exchange, 10 Interactive.
“We are sales-ready and now we are data-ready.” See separate feature at mediaweek.com.au.
10 play now has 3m subscribers “and that is before we even get started”.
10 speaks is a new podcast platform.
A partnership with Tealium to enable superior targeting.
Partnership with CBS Data and Audience.
“Don’t judge us on total people – we are not that network. We are targeting the under 50s.” The focus is on two demos 16-39 and 18-49.
10 is becoming the virtual watercooler.
10 is the biggest in the business, thanks to our parent company CBS.
6:49 Reel showing off 10’s highlights. “If you want to make some money, lean in with it.”
Reel includes The Honey Badger talking about Tim Tams.
6:51 Beverley McGarvey on stage
“Thanks for your time and your continued support.”
Reminds audience of continuing hits. Emphasis on appealing to young-at-heart over 50 weeks of the year while others are fighting each other with tennis and cricket.
Highlights: Celebrity and Sunday Night Takeaway. (Shows several long clips from Ant & Dec’s UK edition… but they were pretty funny).
McGarvey back onstage detailing more 2019 highlights.
“And our very own Dr Phil – Dave Hughes – is back.”
MasterChef highlights reel. Then HYBPA? and Body Hack.
For winter get ready for 5 Bedrooms, My Life Is Murder and Adam Zwar’s Mr Black.
Pilot Week – 4 out of 8 get commissions. Reel with clips from the four commissions. Kinne Tonight had the best clip, again.
Troy not able to be at the Upfronts as currently overseas.
McGarvey mentions new series yet to launch in 2018 and then shows off the Melbourne Cup from 2019 and a roundup of other sports rights.
The Project – 10 to invest more in promotion in 2019 than it has ever spent on a single show.
Rebrand of 10 News First. Studio 10 also has a new look.
10 News and The Project reels.
McGarvey gets a lot of time onstage. 10 really taking the effort to detail all the content.
10 Boss and 10 Peach content reels.
McGarvey finishes on 10 All Access and promoting the new US series coming to the streaming service.
7:32 Getting near the end.
Finale with professional dancers this time.
#10TVWithATwist
7:34 Hughesy back onstage. A big round of applause and Hughesy says it’s time to party.