10’s Beverley McGarvey on 2022 key changes, and what might be coming

Posted on 21 October 2021

Two major shows not returning: One you could guess, the other, a surprise?

A lot has changed at Network 10 since Beverley McGarvey first joined the broadcaster in 2006. Executives have come and gone and the business has changed hands. It’s also grown significantly.

Regarding the 2022 Upfront this week, McGarvey – executive vice president and chief content officer for ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand – told Mediaweek one important message to the market was reminding them about the size of the business.

“Maintaining and growing our strength in broadcast is important whilst we’re growing our streaming business, including 10play. The big message to market is the scale of the business that we have here.

“Then secondary to that is the message that we’ve always said to clients, from a linear point of view, is we have a really strong schedule 50 weeks a year. And we will maintain that next year. We’ll be starting 2022 early as always on January 3. We have a really consistent lineup of content throughout the entire year.”

Listen to Beverley McGarvey talk with James Manning

After I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! drops in the first week of the year, 10’s major franchises return across the year.

McGarvey: “We then go into Australian Survivor, which we love to play in Q1 because it does really well. We couldn’t do it this year, obviously, because we didn’t have it ready in time. We then go into MasterChef which takes us into the back half of the year.”

MasterChef Australia now has a rich heritage in Australia and some of its past stars will be featured in the 2022 series.

“It’s great to be able to bring back some of those big likeable characters from earlier seasons in [the 2022 series subtitled] Foodies Versus Favourites. What we’ve really learned and what the audience tell us is, they love to see their favourites.

“People will really love to see Julie Goodwin back in the MasterChef kitchen. They also like discovering new talent.” Two things that will be combined in 2022.

MasterChef Australia is one of the few shows that seem to be able to run multiple episodes for 10 or more weeks without the audience dropping off.

McGarvey agreed: “MasterChef and Nine’s The Block are probably the two longest running shows in terms of volume, and both of those shows really hold their audience for that entire time.”

McGarvey noted that having My Kitchen Rules back on air next year will have an impact.

“Whatever comes into the market changes the dynamic. The thing with MasterChef is we play in a very particular space. It’s very authentically about the food. The characters that come along tend to be fascinating because of their interest in food. It’s always been about the food and those great people. It’s a long year, there’s plenty of room for [other] things. We certainly won’t change anything that we’re doing.”

Network 10 and Paramount+ exec team [L-R]: Rod Prosser, Liz Baldwin, Beverley McGarvey, Jarrod Villani, Daniel Monaghan and Lisa Squillace

Working Dog and its two formats

McGarvey said it is wonderful to see Have You Been Paying Attention? back for such a long run. Production company Working Dog have had The Cheap Seats re-commissioned for a longer run in 2022.

“Working Dog has discovered some phenomenal new talent [on HYBPA?] and now given that talent the opportunity to do something else. The Cheap Seats is a bit younger and a bit faster. If you watch that show, the pace is incredible. It really appeals to younger viewers.

“We’re also adding another comedy show to the lineup next year, Would I Lie to You? It’s such a phenomenal brand in the UK and has been around for a very long time. We’ve always been interested in it, we really have just always wanted to get the casting right.”

McGarvey shared that hosting the format here will be Chrissie Swan.

“Chrissie is a really warm and funny and a really generous performer. The two team captains will be Chris Taylor, of Chaser fame, who is an incredibly smart, funny and fast comic talent. Frank Woodley will be the team captain on the other side who is both smart but also a great physical comedian. We think that’s a really great foundation for that show.”

10 has found room in its schedule for one more dating show, but it’s a long way from The Batchelor franchise.

This one, First Dates Australia, used to be made for Seven. Now it’s coming to 10.

“Shows have moved around a little more in Australia recently than they have in past years,” said McGarvey. “For me First Dates feels like Gogglebox in that it is authentic Australians, it’s everyday Australians. It doesn’t have the same scale and glamour as the big dating shows, which remain important. First Dates is more quirky, awkward and fun…and just real. There’s a place for both of those dating formats at 10.”

MasterChef judges

10 News First

Although 10 doesn’t replicate the news and current affairs output offered elsewhere, McGarvey believes it is equally as important at 10.

“We play our news from 5pm until 6.30pm and news is really important to us. Our 5pm news does a really good job and it’s very consistent. We have recently restructured our news leadership, which is really exciting.”

McGarvey reminded us 10 also has an hour of The Project six nights a week, meaning it has 15 hours of news and current affairs in the early evening each week.

Premier League bidder

During the 10 Upfront this week, McGarvey got the job of announcing one of the most significant acquisitions for the network, the FA Cup.

“As any fan of football will know, the FA Cup is a great knockout competition from the UK and you get the best teams.”

McGarvey noted most of the FA Cup will be streamed on Paramount+, with some matches also available on 10.

With so much football on the 10 and Paramount+ platforms, how does McGarvey feel about bidding for the rights to Premier League when they are up soon?

“We’re an interested onlooker for all sports rights. For any major investment we look at it on a tactical basis and ask, ‘Does that make sense for us? Does it complement and enhance what we’ve got?’

“Like everything else, we will look at [the Premier League] as we did with the A-League and the FA.”

Paramount+

Paramount+ initial performance

“It’s exceeding our ambitions in subs and engagement. But when we launched Paramount+ it felt like we got to the beginning of the race. A streaming service is a hungry beast, it requires a lot of content that requires a lot of marketing. But it also offers us the opportunity to engage with different audiences and audiences in a different way.

“It also allows us to commission different types of content, which we’ve done.”

That content includes a third season of Five Bedrooms, Spreadsheet, and new for 2022 Couples Therapy and The Bridge. The most anticipated series however is The Last King of the Cross which we have covered before in previous interviews with McGarvey and also series EP Mark Fennessy. This week at the Upfront, 10 had a short reel promoting the series, albeit without any footage as shooting has yet to commence.

What’s missing from 2022 schedule

There is no official round-up of what’s missing during a network Upfront. There are a couple of 10 programs missing, and some yet to be announced. McGarvey confirmed that 10 had been unable to find a place in the schedule for Hughesy, We Have a Problem. Don’t expect Dave Hughes to go anywhere just yet. He’s still linked to The Masked Singer, keeping alive a relationship with 10 dating back to Rove Live.

The other major program not returning is Making It which launched with very disappointing audiences earlier this year.

There is no new Australian drama, yet. McGarvey indicated to Mediaweek there will possibly be something announced in the future for 2022.