Just days before Nine’s 2024 Upfront takes place in Sydney, Mediaweek was given access to the media group’s Olympics and Paralympics preview floor high above North Sydney.
The temporary installation has taken over a floor at the top of Nine’s Sydney office tower and commands impressive views across North Sydney to the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney CBD.
Looking around the installation, Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson told Mediaweek: “Our Olympics and Paralympics arena is where all of our IOC and AOC partners and potential partners have for the first time experienced Nine’s Olympic plans.
“We wanted to bring people into our environment to really highlight just how different the Olympics and Paralympics will be on Nine and across Nine’s assets. The rights that we have are so significantly different to what anyone in this country has ever seen, or indeed globally.”
Looking around the decked-out floor, which is a cross between an Olympic-themed museum and an Olympic or Paralympic sports stadium, Stephenson added: “The process in here has been our advertisers and partners come in and we share with them the power of the Olympics movement, what Nine is doing and how we shall share it with audiences across our platforms. We also reveal opportunities for brands.
“We then use our Powered brand and have a Powered Sprint and have a session where we help guests understand the types of areas they can explore around our Olympics coverage.”
Stephenson said that guests visiting the installation leave the showcase feeling like they have begun their Olympic journey with Nine.
See also: Nine begins the countdown to Paris 2024 with a year to go until Olympics
Nine’s Olympics: Paris and beyond
In addition to Paris 2024, and then summer games in Los Angeles and Brisbane, Stephenson reminded Mediaweek about the opportunities for brands for Milan and Canada or Japan for future Winter Olympic meets.
“When an IOC or AOC partner has committed for multiple Games we are also having conversations about multiple-year commitments.
“Irrespective of the commercial outcome, what we are building is a much closer relationship with those brands and Nine. Our proposition goes well beyond the Games. It is not just the 17 days of the Olympics or the 12 days of the Paralympics. We start in January [2024] the road to Paris allowing our partners to leverage our assets all the way through until September.”
Nine’s conversations at its Olympic installation and also any partnerships flowing from its Upfront showcase come as the network commands a leading 40%+ share of metro commercial FTA ad revenues.
“Our aspiration is to continue to grow that share number,” said a confident Stephenson. “Metro TV in isolation is only one part of the story. We have the WIN team now as part of Nine and we now represent regional markets as well. We have grown share in regional markets and we have nearly a 50% share of the BVOD market when you look at it as a traditional market with Seven, Nine and 10.
“Against every metric from a share point of view in a commercial perspective, we are leading the way.”
All photos: Edwina Pickles
UPFRONT SEASON: Don’t miss Mediaweek’s full coverage of Nine’s 2024 Upfront. Every announcement is detailed in full as soon as the Upfront wraps.
