Rules for an Upfront
James Warburton has been a key player in TV Upfronts for as long as they have been held in Australia. He worked first as an agency executive and then as a client. He later became a Seven sales executive, next the chief executive of Network 10, and is now chief executive of Seven West Media.
We asked him how long an Upfront should run for. “An hour is the ideal time,” Warburton told Mediaweek. “We have always done it for an hour. There have been somewhere it might have crept over by five or 10 minutes. But in general never more than an hour.”
It crept over a little this year. Running time was close to an hour and 20 minutes.
How many talking heads?
How many people should be paraded in front of hundreds of media buyers, clients and media. “In our case, where we eat, sleep and breathe content, we have a lot of talent – the people who connect with viewers – so we may as well use the talent to express our message in the best possible way.
“The rule is the CEO opens the event and the chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette, wraps it all up. There are a few executives in the middle, but it is mainly a talent-driven show.
“You need to put on a good show, entertain your guests and be very respectful of peoples’ time.”
The CEO opens, the chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette, closes
Upfront team for 2024
There have been a number of executive changes at Seven. Former head of Olympics at Seven Andy Kay used to have a team working on the Upfront, but he retired earlier this year. Also gone is former chief marketing officer Charlotte Valente, replaced by a new CMO, Melissa Hopkins.
Does that mean the Upfront was quite different this year? “Yes and no,” replied Warburton. “We are still the same network. There are a few things starting to come together for the television industry we will focus on. In particular VOZ and VOZ Streaming, a new measurement system that talks to reach.
“Mel Hopkins brings a very relevant client-focused lens to us. When you distil it all down it will be about content. Making sure our entertainment shows, our news, our sports and dramas are all delivering the numbers across linear television and BVOD.”
Seven chief marketing officer Melissa Hopkins
Seven’s Upfront decision makers
“It’s the senior leadership team. Every content decision we make at any time we agonise over. With all the great content we have it’s a relatively easy thing to distil and start to build. It’s based on how the year has gone and what we are changing.
“A great example is Australian Idol. We were really happy with it this year. After a 20-year hiatus, do we think we could make a much better show the second time around, absolutely.”
Warburton said a lot of work goes into the Upfront every year and there is significant planning to enable Seven to secure the time of 60 of its stars to attend. “About 40 of those will actually present.”
Apart from their on-air duties, much of that talent will be hopping on planes to Perth today and tomorrow for Telethon 2023.
Room for new programming
With a schedule crammed with returning hits, Seven has managed to find the funds and space in the schedule for six news shows – seven if you count a new look First Dates.
Warburton: “It’s a balance. What we have been able to do this year is grow four existing tentpoles – My Kitchen Rules, Farmer Wants a Wife, Dancing with the Stars and SAS Australia.
“You will hear the words at the Upfront – consistent, reliable, and growing. What clients are looking for is consistency in the types of programs, reliability and consistency in the numbers and consistency in growing in new categories for advertisers.
“There is always room for something new. If things don’t pay their way they go very quickly.”
Seven wants Dream Home to be massive
Will Dream Home have a dream run?
From the six new shows, Dream Home, being made for Seven by Endemol Shine Australia, is perhaps the most likely to become a big franchise for the channel.
“We had a long successful run with House Rules,” Warburton reminded Mediaweek of another program in the popular property space. “We subsequently rested it. Our feelings were that the house reveals were never inspirational and not up to expectations in terms of what people might want to do in their own homes. Dream Home is about a family being able to live in a home they could only ever dream of, yet probably never afford. It’s a very emotive dream versus a reality show which is more around building and bitchiness.
“We already have a lot of clients on board who want to integrate into the renovation space in the right way.
“Chris Brown will be fantastic as host and it’s a very import show for us to get right.”
Keeping Seven easy to buy
Announcements at the Upfront this week included a partnership with Databricks and the launch of Phoenix.
“With Databricks, what it can do is look at individual segments and viewers and predict what they are going to watch which is very valuable to an advertiser,” explained Warburton. “It’s an innovative addition to the 7plus stable. The Phoenix launch is an add-on and a further development for Code 7plus.
“We have to be the easiest people to deal with. A fragmented media space gives viewers so many choices and in the past television has been hard to deal with. Now you can press a button and it optimises a campaign and delivers which sees makegoods becoming a thing of the past. From the vast majority of buyers, you will hear a collective cheer of relief.
“It’s been hard because we haven’t had the technology. The digital players have had this for ages, but now we have more digital rights [cricket and soon AFL] which has been very critical.”
Let’s talk about Western Australia: Anthony DeCeglie and Natalie Barr
AI for programmers
While AI is useful for predicting audiences, Warburton explained when it comes to scheduling, nothing beats Seven’s real-world experience.
“We use everything we can to forecast how a show might perform. We never launch something for it not to be a success. We have experienced people like Angus Ross [network head of programming], Brook Hall [director of content scheduling] and Andrew Backwell [director of production] who have decades of experience between them. You can see in their scheduling and acquisitions how they use that experience. Similarly, we see what Craig McPherson [director of news and public affairs] is achieving with Spotlight.
“Our team picks the eyes out of the content which allows us to have more successes than failures in what we do.”
7plus key AVOD player, Seven open to SVOD partnership
Warburton emphasised the importance of what 7plus offers advertisers at the Upfront. We asked him if there was still an appetite at Seven for an SVOD partnership.
“I have always said I don’t believe in last mover advantage. In this case, given the sea of red across the industry, we are probably in a pretty good place from the perspective.
“Clearly we have a good relationship with NBCU, but they made it pretty clear they are not launching [Peacock] any time soon. We would be a very good partner for the right content pipe when the time is right. There is nothing at this time.”
Selling the Seven Upfront
The midweek Upfront event for 1,000 guests during SXSW Australia is just the start of selling in Seven’s 2024.
Each state flew in what Warburton called “a strong contingent”.
He added: “We will then take it to the local markets and out agency by agency until the sales team has delivered it to the entire market. They will present a cut-down version with all the videos to their clients.”
See also: Seven Upfront 2024: Every Announcement
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