delicious. has announced a new digital-first video program for Australian audiences called Make it delicious.
The show is hosted by chef Darren Robertson (Three Blue Ducks and The Farm, Byron Bay), and takes viewers on a food journey around Australia following the creation of one meal at a time, meeting the chefs, farmers and producers behind it.
Robertson will show viewers how to make restaurant-quality dishes at home with help from notable names such as Peter Gilmore, Josh Niland, Colin Fassnidge, Khanh Nguyen, Adam D’Sylva and Alanna Sapwell.
Make it delicious. will premiere weekly on delicious.com.au and its social channels. The show will take a non-linear approach with each episode of the eight-part half-hour series watchable in its entirety or able to be broken down into segments that can be enjoyed in isolation – allowing consumers to decide on their own content journey.
Mediaweek caught up with News Corp Australia’s editorial director of premium food and travel Kerrie McCallum to talk about this new venture which she said that the brand has wanted to do for years.
“The discussion would always be around doing a traditional format show. delicious. really lends itself to telling a visual story. There are a lot of emotional layers around food and delicious. always felt like a natural fit to bring to life visually.”
Kerrie McCallum
McCallum said that while the project was originally planned to be a linear program that the delicious. team changed course during the pandemic.
“Covid hit, and the availability of talent changed and we reassessed how we were going to produce it. We decided to produce something that can be viewed in a traditional linear way but filmed digital-first, and cut for social platforms first, rather than in the last instance. That’s actually where our audience is now. delicious. pioneered video, we started a video channel five years ago and we are the leader in our category by a long way. When we thought about it, why are we producing something that wasn’t actually for our audience? We have multi-million video views every month on and off-platform and it made sense to film it in a more innovative way that sits with our audience first.”
McCallum said that going with a non-linear format meant that it had extra appeal to both viewers and advertisers.
“The beauty of the way we film the programme is that it’s like a jigsaw puzzle, you can put it together and run it in one long format in the traditional way but how amazing that you can actually break it apart and run segments on their own anywhere in our network. That lends this complete element of longevity and flexibility that will appeal not just to our audience, but to Massel who came on board as the sponsor because they were looking for something innovative and different.”
When asked about working with the show’s host Darren Robertson, McCallum described him as a great talent.
“He’s done a lot of video for us before. He’s done commercial television before. He’s also worked with Massel before. He’s got the credibility and the relationships to talk with top chefs but he equally can speak really well to a farmer and he knows his produce really well. His food is really in keeping with delicious. by cooking recipes that are impressive, but effortless.”
Darren Robertson
Discussing the overall delicious. strategy, McCallum said that it is a video and digital first brand.
“While we have a beautiful print experience. We’ve been digital and video first for some time now because that’s where our largest audiences lie. Video is the audience that is growing and has been growing the fastest. It’s something we’ve taken seriously for five years now. We’ve got a good understanding of what works and what doesn’t and we review it constantly. If something’s not rating, or not being watched, or not being engaged with, we stop and start again. It’s constantly under review, it’s constantly evolving, and constantly developing and that’s probably why delicious. has the most engagement of any food brand. That’s tough for a premium brand to say that, but we do and I think our video and the quality of it is testament to that.”
Make it delicious. is created by the delicious. editorial team and produced by PDB Creative.