Ahead of the Australian Open in January, Seven is launching a dedicated app to provide multiscreen coverage of the tennis event.
The app, available on Apple iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, will allow fans to watch live, streaming video of all the tennis action with 16 live streams in addition to the matches being telecast on Seven’s broadcast channels. Seven will also stream press conferences and on-demand content like highlights, archival footage, photo galleries, live scores, and results from all matches. The 7Tennis app is expected to deliver over 2,000 hours of live, exclusive and free tennis, as well as catch-up and on-demand highlights.
In addition to the dedicated video app, 7Tennis will also expand its presence across social media with new channels set up across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Apple News, Yahoo7, and YouTube.
The app will be advertising supported, with the tennis coverage streamed free to viewers.
Later in 2016, Seven will launch a dedicated similar app for its Olympic Games coverage, delivering live streamed coverage of all Olympics events.
MEDIA RELEASE:
Seven launches expanded coverage of The Australian Open Series
Anywhere, anytime and on a totally new mobile first experience:
7Tennis
Seven redefines the power of live television on every screen with its delivery of The Australian Open Series
The Seven Network – a key business of Seven West Media, one of Australia’s leading integrated media and content creation companies – today confirmed a dramatic expansion of its market-leading 7Tennis coverage of next month’s Australian Open Series as part of a long-term strategy to deliver market-leading content to all
Australians across connected devices.
Building on the success of Seven’s market-first multi-screen coverage of this year’s Australian Open, Seven is dramatically expanding its fully-integrated coverage across broadcast television, online and mobile with simultaneous streaming of up to 16 courts at the Open. Beyond the Australian Open, Seven will also broadcast and stream live Seven’s Summer of Tennis across television, online and mobile – including the Hopman Cup, the Brisbane International, Sydney International and the Kooyong Classic.
Across the Open and Seven’s Summer of Tennis, all Australians will be able to watch live on-air, online, on Apple IOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The cornerstone for Seven’s expanding coverage will be the brand new 7Tennis mobile app with over 2,000 hours of live, exclusive and free tennis, catch-up and on-
demand highlights. Beyond live-streaming of every match, 7Tennis will also expand its presence on social media with new channels for 7Tennis on Facebook, 7Tennis on Twitter, 7Tennis on Instagram and 7Tennis on Apple News, 7Tennis on Yahoo7 and 7Tennis on Youtube.
Seven’s Summer of Tennis and The Australian Open Series anywhere, anytime sets the framework for the delivery of the most comprehensive, innovative multi-platform and technologically advanced Olympic Games coverage ever seen with Seven’s all-encompassing delivery across multiple devices of the Games in Rio de Janeiro next August.
Commenting, Clive Dickens, Seven’s Chief Digital Officer, said: “This is an exciting and transformative time for Seven as we respond to our audience’s needs and deliver huge multi-screen events like The Australian Open Series that give tennis fans more content and more opportunity to feel part of the event with our new 7Tennis product.”
Commenting, Saul Shtein, Seven’s Head of Sport said: “We are delighted to be taking the lead in the delivery of sports beyond broadcast television. The Australian Open is one of our biggest events and sets the framework for our year in sports. It is a year in sports like no other with our upcoming coverage of the Olympic Games in Rio and the introduction of new innovations in our coverage of the Australian Football League and our other major sports franchises.”
Commenting, Kurt Burnette, Seven’s Chief Revenue Officer, said: “Seven is pioneering television across all screens with the very best content for our viewers to watch and allowing our advertisers to connect with them in new ways. Our live-streaming provides all Australians and our advertisers more innovation and greater choice than ever before. And we will be delivering measurable actionable insights and analytics on how we are connecting with our audiences that we will take further with the Olympic Games.”
7Tennis will live stream Seven’s coverage of The Australian Open and Seven’s Summer of Tennis and also stream matches on courts beyond Seven’s television coverage. There will be up to 16 additional live streams of courts at the Open coupled with streams of press conferences and short-form VOD (video-on-demand) content including highlights and archival footage, photo galleries, a social wall with Twitter and Facebook, live scores and results from all matches, player profiles and exclusive produced content beyond Seven’s internationally recognised broadcast.
The Australian Open Experience
In January 2015, over 1.2 million Australians chose to stream the Australian Open Series on digital platforms, with one third of our Australian Open audience accessing some tennis content on digital platforms every day.
There were over 4.4 million streams during the Summer of Tennis, 80 per cent of which were live streaming, and over 23 million page views, with a social reach of over two million Australians. This year the service is available on-air, online, and on most Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.
The Melbourne Cup Experience
Seven and Yahoo7 enjoyed a record-breaking first run as live streaming on PLUS7 officially launched for The Melbourne Cup – with more than 488,000 streams during the coverage across the day, and over 300,000 concurrent streams during the main race, the launch was perfect timing for those eager to not miss a moment of action. Based on statistics on concurrent users and peak traffic, the live stream of the Melbourne Cup on Seven was the largest online event of its kind in Australia. The audience of over 300,000 was more than three times larger than the Australian live stream of the FIFA World Cup, and almost double the peak traffic.
Anywhere, Anytime, Any Device
In another landmark digital development, Seven and Yahoo7 is streaming its three broadcast television channels – Seven, 7TWO and 7mate – across all delivery platforms 24/7. The launch of this new initiative builds on Seven’s market-leading AVOD service, PLUS7 from Yahoo7. PLUS7 now delivers Live and Catch-
up, complementing the company’s expanding presence in SVOD with its Presto partnership with Foxtel.
About Seven
Seven is Australia’s most-watched broadcast television platform. Seven – with three broadcast channels, Seven, 7TWO and 7mate – continues to lead in primetime, building on its market-leading performance over the past eight years. The network also dominates across breakfast and morning television.
The network is expanding its presence in media, driving its leadership in the creation of content and delivering that content anywhere, anytime to the biggest audiences. The company is expanding its presence in the further delivery of its video and publishing content beyond its three digital broadcast channels and across an array of mobile and social platforms. Seven has also secured a major presence in subscription video-on-demand through its Presto joint venture with Foxtel.
Seven is now creating more content than at any time in its history and is expanding its presence in international content production with the formation of two new international production companies: 7Wonder and 7Beyond. These two new businesses underline a key part of its strategy for today and in the future: the expansion of our leadership in the production of content.
Seven is a key business of Seven West Media, Australia’s leading multiple platform media company which has a market-leading presence in broadcast television, magazine and newspaper publishing and online. The company is the home of many of Australia’s best performing media businesses – Seven, 7TWO and 7mate, Pacific Magazines, The West Australian and Yahoo7, and the biggest content brands including My Kitchen Rules, The X Factor, Home and Away, Sunrise, the Australian Football League, the Olympic Games, Better Homes and Gardens, marie claire, New Idea, Who, The West Australian, Presto, the West Australian, Presto and PLUS7.
The Olympic Games
Seven is set to deliver the most technologically advanced coverage of any event to all Australians with its all-encompassing coverage of the Olympic Games in Rio. The Olympic Games in Rio are the first Games for Seven as part of an historic, long-term agreement for all-encompassing coverage of the Olympic Games over the coming decade. Seven’s agreement with the International Olympic Committee delivers free broadcast television and subscription television rights, and expands beyond television to Seven’s online, mobile and social platforms.
Seven has also secured radio broadcasting rights.
Under the unprecedented new agreement, Seven will broadcast the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018 and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020. Underlining this new partnership is an option which, if exercised, extends the rights to include the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in 2022 and the XXXIII Olympic Games in 2024.
Seven will create and deliver the most comprehensive, technologically advanced, multi-platform coverage of the Olympic Games to all Australians on any communications device. We are ready. The Olympic Games will be a remarkable platform for Seven as we continue to move forward as a media company, developing new content and building new businesses which will drive our future as Australia’s leading integrated media and communications business.
Seven Delivers Leadership in Sports
Seven is focused on delivering the biggest sports events to all Australians. Seven is the network of the Australian Football League and the Olympic Games. Seven’s long-term partnerships confirm the company’s leadership in sports television with the network continuing to dramatically expand its coverage of major sports across its three digital broadcast television channels and accelerate coverage across online, mobile and other emerging forms of content delivery.
Seven’s commitment to an expanding presence in sports builds on the network’s unprecedented new agreement with the International Olympic Committee. Seven is the network of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018 and the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo in 2020. Seven is also the home of the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016 and the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Seven’s agreements for the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, European Games and Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and the World Swimming Championships join the company’s long-term commitment to the National Football League, including the Super Bowl, The US Masters, Royal Ascot and Wimbledon as major international sports franchises for Seven.
Seven also has all-encompassing agreements for coverage of the Australian Football League Premiership Season, Finals Series, the Grand Final and Brownlow Medal, and the local Australian Rules Football competitions the West Australian Football League, the Victorian Football League and the South Australian National Football League, the Bathurst 12 Hour Endurance Race, all major horse racing events including the Sydney Easter Carnival, the Melbourne Spring Carnival and the Melbourne Cup Carnival, the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race, all major Australian golf tournaments, the Stawell Gift, the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the New South Wales Shute Shield in Rugby, all major iron man and triathlon events, the Gold Coast Marathon and all major tennis tournaments in Australia including The Australian Open and The Davis Cup. Seven also recently secured all-encompassing rights to swimming in Australia and is the network of the Australian Swimming Championships.