Nine has announced that programming director Hamish Turner will be expanding hir role and working under the new title of director of 9Now and programming.
Turner will report to Nine’s director of TV Michael Healy and chief digital officer Alex Parsons.
In an email to staff, Healy and Parsons said: “This year alone the 9Now platform has seen 53% growth in its live streaming, driven particularly by the structural change in the growth of connected TVs, and a 23% increase on-demand viewing.
“The change in Hamish’s role signals our focus on the next steps in 9Now’s growth and his brief is to lead 9Now as we embark on the next stage of growth as part of Australia’s leading TV platform.”
Speaking about his new role, Turner said: “I’ve been working very closely with the 9Now guys over the past 18 months but what we’re doing here, and what we’re signalling, is a real focus on the area and bringing the 9Now team together.
“It’s fair to say there’s been a lot of disparate teams all working on this and what this signals is, again, bringing a team together, that’s going to deliver our future TV experience, broadcast 2.0 is what I like to call it.”
The announcement comes as Nine makes moves for 9Now to branch out from a BVOD platform to an entertainment streamer in and of itself.
Turner has said that one of his key priorities in his new role will be making sure that 9Now is on equal footing on smart TVs with streaming services such as Netflix.
“Decisions are being made in boardrooms in New York, not in the local markets and so we absolutely would like to be at the table,” Turner said. “That’s why we’re really focused on this prominence and inclusion space that we’re seeing in every market around the world – UK, Germany, France – where you’re pushing the government to ensure the sanctity of the free-to-air players.”
According to Roy Morgan and OzTAM data, 8.6 million Australians (40.6%) now view at least one of the BVOD services in an average four weeks.