It is only mid-February, but the TV networks have all had a fast start to the year, including Channel Seven which has completed its Summer of Cricket, launched the 7Bravo multichannel, and brought back the beloved Australian Idol.
Mediaweek caught up with Seven’s chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette, to discuss the broadcaster’s outlook for the year – which he was optimistic about, after what he described as a very successful Summer.
“We had our best Summer in many years and our best calendar year to date since 2018, with our biggest 25-54 share since 2019. It was our biggest year for growth since 2005. In terms of the strategy for growth, that’s what we’re doing.
“The Test Match was terrific and the Big Bash stepped up again and it just goes to show what can happen when you have Test players playing the Big Bash, which set up our start of the year nicely. It is not just about linear, it’s also about what it’s doing for 7plus – when you’re promoting 7plus inside that environment, which is largely male-skewed, it helps drive the 7plus product as well as the other formats that we are launching. 7plus is up 41% over the same period in 2022. That’s to do with NBCU coming in, but it’s also to do with the cricket promotion as well.
“Australia Idol is also doing its job across total television and growing the audience for advertisers.”
Burnette described 2023 as the culmination of several years of work in the strategy of content acquisition and consolidation of the video marketplace.
“With the acquisition of Prime, we are now running on all cylinders as it relates to national total television. The strategy was built around creating growth and incremental growth in everything that we do. Selecting the content for that and delivering audience growth in commercial share and then connecting advertisers up with that audience.”
When discussing the strong rating base that Seven offers its advertisers, Burnette pointed to the strong performance of Seven News, Seven’s breakfast programming and its sports slate.
“There’s no question that we’re in a year of uncertainty. In a year of uncertainty, we want to be a certain media investment, we want to deliver on what people are buying. We want to be more certain than what is happening around the marketplace.”
Burnette said that this strong base allows Seven’s other programs to succeed off the back of it, such as the returning Home and Away, The Voice, Rural Flying Doctors Service, Farmer Wants a Wife, and SAS Australia.
“News is a rock solid base, Sunrise has been enjoying the best performance it has ever had with more leadership than it has ever had. Seven News also has the best leadership it has ever had. That allows for the other shows that are coming back to fire as well.
“The AFL starts early and we have an additional round of AFL, the gather round. It’s a really important part of our audience and it’s a commercial driver, to have an additional round is fantastic before we even get into the new deal.
“The cricket of course comes back towards the end of the year and we’ve got all our racing features, horse racing and motor racing through there. It’s a very big year, but we’ve been planning for this year for a long time because it’s an execution of strategy into 2023 to be certain to be growing and be ready to bounce.”
The Age of Total TV
Burnette said that Digital-first is how Seven now thinks, but Linear TV is still the bedrock of a successful broadcaster.
“Linear broadcast is still the fastest and most effective way to get reach and will be for years to come. As part of a total television story, the way that metro and regionals work with our digital products is critical. A great example is our work with Unilever and Dove as a proof point where we’re utilising total television across Seven metro, Seven digital, and Seven regional to deliver an audience with an incremental reach of up to 30%. Total television and digital are absolutely critical and digital in particular is plus 30% growth in the marketplace.
“As you saw from the results on Think TV, the BVOD marketplace is worth $440,000,000, it was only $100,000,000 three years ago, and this year it will go past $500,000,000. It is a very big revenue opportunity that we’re all taking advantage of in the total TV world and we are taking unfair advantage of that by the very nature of the way our audience is being delivered across metro, regional, and digital. Providing certainty in an uncertain market. That’s what we do.
“We’re putting together a total television modern TV format and that just means content lives everywhere.”
See Also: Seven reveals its Dove campaign with PHD saw a 20% increase in unique reach
Seven’s thoughts on 7Bravo launch
One of the biggest announcements of Seven’s Upfront last year was the landmark content deal between the broadcaster and NBCU which saw the creation of a new free-to-air channel for reality and true crime: 7Bravo.
The deal made 7Bravo and 7plus the free-to-air home of NBCUniversal’s portfolio of reality content, including unscripted TV franchises and series from Bravo and E! and also delivers audiences true crime content from Oxygen True Crime. Additionally, the new channel features The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and Judge Jerry, as well as all the red carpet glamour from the biggest awards shows with Live From E!
The channel will also be the first broadcast home in Australia for reality and true crime content produced for Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.
See Also: Why the launch of 7Bravo is the final piece of the puzzle for Seven
Off the back of Launching 7Bravo on January 15, Burnette said that Seven was happy with the results of the multichannel and the content deal overall.
“Whenever you are launching something you put some numbers and markers in to try to meet that. What we’ve learnt when launching new linear channels, and even adding new content into 7plus like NBCU, it generally works on a hockey stick, it is a slow burner, and then it picks up once people find the content.
“You’ve got Housewives or Below Deck which is the first time it’s on 7Bravo or 7plus, people find it and that’s what’s happening. We are exactly where we hope to be at the launch of the linear channel and the content on 7plus.”
Below Deck Down Under
Burnette said that these results also don’t factor in yet that Seven’s marketing focus hasn’t been on the new multichannel but instead on re-launching Australian Idol.
“That’s before we really start to market it, we’ve been focusing on Australian Idol, we will start to really kick into the big marketing on 7Bravo and the content across 7Bravo and 7plus in the next few weeks. As we head into the second quarter, a whole lot of brand new content, such as the new versions of Housewives, Below Deck and Southen Charm start to really kick in as well.”
According to Burnette this also ties into the company’s overall strategy of growth creation.
“The results are speaking for themselves and it’s only going to grow more and more, and that goes back to the strategy of asking how do you create growth? You create growth by getting great content that can deliver you incremental audiences and that is what the NBCU Bravo deal is doing for us immediately. It is helping promote Australian Idol at the moment, on BVOD in particular. As we start to launch shows like Million Dollar Island which plays a bit younger and more female or even the FIFA Women’s World Cup, that’s where that new younger female audience is going to help us promote our own content and create a new audience for advertisers on Seven that they haven’t been able to reach before.”