With the TV ratings war heating up at the backend of the year, Mediaweek caught up with Nine’s director of 9Now and programming, Hamish Turner, about why Nine thinks they are the winners of 2021.
With three weeks remaining in the 2021 ratings survey period, Nine is now claiming the following:
• The 9Network will be the No. 1 network across the 2021 ratings survey period (excluding
Olympics) with People 25-54, 16-39 and Grocery Shopper + Child*
• Channel 9 will be the No. 1 primary channel across the 2021 ratings survey period (excluding
Olympics) with People 25-54, 16-39, Grocery Shopper + Child and Total People*
• The 9Network will be the No. 1 network across the 2021 calendar year (excluding Olympics)
with People 25-54, 16-39 and Grocery Shopper + Child**
• Channel 9 will be the No. 1 primary channel across the 2021 calendar year (excluding
Olympics) with People 25-54, 16-39, Grocery Shopper + Child and Total People**
• 9Now will be the No. 1 BVOD platform across the 2021 ratings survey period (excluding
Olympics) with People 25-54, 18-39 and Total People ***
• 9Now will be the No. 1 BVOD platform across the 2021 calendar year (excluding Olympics)
with People 25-54, 18-39 and Total People ***
“This is us getting the numbers out there – they are the official numbers and haven’t been sliced and diced to deliver rhetoric and hyperbole,” said Turner. “We always talk about consistency. This year has been a great year again for us and it’s delivered consistency which is getting pushed all the way through into November.
“Based on official metrics, we’ve pretty much won every single demo and audience share bar one for the year. When you look at 9Now it strengthens that position. We will end the year as the number one primary channel on our key demo. It’s also fair to say on our opposition’s key demo we’re a clear number one.”
Turner said that despite the hotly contested survey that Nine’s programming won’t stop when the survey ends as the broadcaster tries to put out a year-round programming schedule.
“We’re still pushing deep into outer survey. For us we don’t look at it as a 42 week run, we look at it as a 52 week year. That may have been the case (42 weeks) when there were five channels, and you could afford to switch on and off.
“But we’ve got audiences that we want to entertain all through the year. And we’ve got some big events still to come. We have the Lego Masters Christmas special, we’ve got a brand new show Snackmasters that have been constructed in a way to really deliver that kind of festive cheer and family spirit and that sense of togetherness.”
Parental Guidance on Nine
Nine launched its latest 7:30pm franchise Parental Guidance last week, with the premier bringing in 629,000 viewers. Turner said that Nine is happy with the results so far but acknowledged it’s only the first week of release.
“It’s been amazing to see the response from a majority of families and for us, delivering that real co-viewing is important for us and it underpins our strategy.
Some of the Parental Guidance parents
“It’s delivered really strong numbers Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, holding its number Tuesday to Wednesday. The demo of 25-54 has been above where our expectations were. The demos are what the advertisers are looking for. Our ambition is to deliver the best possible audience against 25-54.”
Love Island Australia’s total TV results
Love Island Australia has always been a BVOD darling, but with the new total TV ratings being released, the shifting audience of a show like Love Island has become even more noticeable. Turner said that this wasn’t overly surprising considering that they knew what to expect after airing the first two seasons of the Australian format as well as the UK version of the show, but that it still provides valuable insights.
“It gives us insight into how those younger demos consume content. Love Island is powerful in that it really attracts an audience that’s hard to get, and that’s primarily a female 16 to 39 audience. The numbers we are seeing on 9Now of its total impressions from a BVOD perspective, nearly 50% of the audience come from that demo. It’s really providing a great insight into where future consumption is going to go. Those early adopters are really what sets the trajectory for us as a business.”
The Today show on Nine
When asked about Nine’s breakfast program, the Today show, Turner said that the team that the broadcaster assembled two years ago has been doing an amazing job after making inroads on Sunrise’s lead this year, especially in Sydney.
“The chemistry and the rapport between Karl (Stefanovic) and Allie (Langdon) has really built over the last two years. It’s just a fun comfortable watch and you feel like they’re part of the furniture and that’s what you want from your breakfast TV. You want them to feel like they’re part of the family and part of the home.
“The way to look at the numbers is you don’t look at it from a night on night perspective, you look at the overall shift in consumption and share. What we are seeing is the tides coming in the tides coming out, but every time the tide comes in a bit further. And they’ve had an amazing year this year, and are only going to go from strength to strength.”
Tim Davies, Karl Stefanovic, Allison Langdon, Alex Cullen, Brooke Boney
The Block wrapping another year
One of Nine’s most storied franchises, The Block, concluded its 17th season for the broadcaster last night and Turner said it was another amazing year of results for the show despite competition at launch.
The heated Block body corporate meeting
“It had a troubled beginning, in a very competitive environment when it came off the back of the Olympics. Seven obviously had the momentum with the Olympics. What we see with the Olympics is that halo effect where for about a month after it you have that audience come into the ecosystem and they kind of hang around that they’ve pre promoted to a very big audience through the Olympics. And The Block was able to hold through that period, and then really accelerate from about week four on. In its seventeenth year, it’s just done phenomenal numbers. The share it’s delivered over the past four weeks, you couldn’t ask for a better result.”
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*Source: OzTAM Metro (5CM) Wks 7-13 & 16-45 (excludes 23/07/21-08/08/21), Various Demos, Con 28, 18:00-24.00
** Source: OzTAM Metro (5CM) 01/01/21 – 6/11/21 (excludes 23/07/21-08/08/21), Various Demos, Con 28, 18:00-24.00
*** Source: OzTAM Live + VOD VPM, CFTA Only, 7/2/21 – 27/3/21, 11/4/21 – 22/7/21, 9/8/21 – 30/10/21, duration 0+, includes coviewing on connected tv devices