Foxtel Media has announced at its 2023 Upfront that an advertising tier will be introduced on the BINGE streaming service in 2023.
This will give brands the ability to connect to a new, high value and highly engaged audience segment.
Slated to launch in the first quarter of 2023, BINGE advertising will be modelled on the success of the Kayo Sports and Foxtel Go services, which ensure minimum disruption to the viewer experience and maximum impact for brands. The tier will launch with an in-built audience scale, meaning there will be immediate access to a buyable audience, and advertisers will not have to wait for viewers to accumulate.
Advertisers will be able to book pre and mid-roll ads on BINGE. Select solus breaks will also be available, with FoxTest research revealing that spontaneous ad recall rises 34% in this format. However, ads will be capped to 4 minutes per hour, with strict ad-serving controls and a frequency cap of one per hour per user to prioritise the watchability and bingeability of the platform.
The 2023 Foxtel Media Upfront, also provided further insight about BINGE’s audience which includes a 60-40 split in favour of females, with the largest audience being females aged 18 to 34. Half of BINGE’s subscribers are high income earners, 60% have families and 80% are below the age of 54.
BINGE launched in mid-2020 and has amassed almost 1.3 million subscribers in that time. It has brought critically acclaimed shows such as The Undoing, The Walking Dead, House of the Dragon and local originals such as Love Me to Australian viewers, with House of the Dragon debuting to a total of 1.235 million views when it was released.
Speaking at Game Changed, held at the newly completed Allianz Stadium, Foxtel Media CEO, Mark Frain said BINGE would change the game for entertainment advertising in the same way that Kayo changed the game for sports.
“Opening up advertising on BINGE is going to allow brands to appear alongside some truly world class content and add immense scale to our network. We are emphasising the power of the weighty one-two punch of advertising on Kayo and BINGE simultaneously.
“At the same time, we are being extremely careful about our offerings to ensure that we safeguard the watchability of BINGE that our subscribers treasure, which will ultimately have great benefits for brands as well.
“The Foxtel network is not a newcomer to the arena of ad supported subscription TV. We have years of experience under our belts and have successfully transitioned several services to avenues that allow brands and agencies to connect with audiences in unique formats and on different levels. We’re old hands at this and we’re very confident in the experience we will be able to deliver for subscribers and brands alike.”
Executive director of BINGE, Alison Hurbert-Burns said: “In two short years we have built BINGE into a household name. We know that quality and variety are the drivers when it comes to choosing a streaming service, and at BINGE we connect the critically acclaimed and the popular.
“Introducing advertising on the platform represents a truly valuable opportunity for marketers who are looking to connect with a passionate, engaged and loyal audience. This is the next level of watchability on BINGE.”
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Top image: Mark Frain