Nine has unveiled the major partners and sponsors for the 2023 Australian Open.
With brands leveraging off Nine’s combined assets spanning Total Television, Publishing, Digital and Audio, the 2023 Summer of Tennis gives brands the opportunity to start the new year with a large audience. Last year’s Australian Open was the second most searched Google term of the year, while the sport’s athletes also dominated the lists of most searched subjects.
After recently confirming Nine will hold the Australian Open rights for an additional five years until 2029, Nine’s major partners and sponsors for the 2023 Summer of Tennis are Kia, Samsung, Uber Eats, APT, Chemist Warehouse, Peters and Stan.
Qantas, Chubb Insurance, McDonalds, Optus, Bupa, and Berocca have also accessed the full suite of Nine’s Summer of Tennis premium assets as new partners and sponsors.
2023 has also seen Tennis Australia partners Bondi Sands, Ralph Lauren, Life-Space, and Gordon’s Gin capitalise on Nine’s customised AO Extender packages.
Matt Granger, Nine’s director of sales – sport said, “We have seen more of Australia’s leading brands engage with Nine and summer’s biggest marketing platform than ever before.
“Our partner brands have utilised the unrivalled tennis content ecosystem across all of Nines assets – Total Television, Publishing and Radio, leveraging the power of the Summer of Tennis to engage millions of Australians in one place. The Australian Open is the ultimate launchpad for brands delivering the ultimate advantage.”
See also: Nine’s Matt Granger on the network’s big plans for a 2023 tennis season
From a special edition of Tennis, by Good Weekend magazine and two brand new 9Podcasts series titled AO The Happy Slam and AO The Happy Slam Daily – featuring an all-star lineup including Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier and Ajla Tomljanovic – to content on WWOS.com.au and brand integration throughout the broadcast, partners have an entire ecosystem to reach Nine’s 20 million signed-in users.
Left to right: Todd Woodbridge, James Bracey, Anne Gruber, Brent Williams, Matt Granger
See also: Good Weekend serves up inaugural Tennis Magazine to celebrate 2023 Summer of Tennis
One of the most talked-about brand insertions in 2022 saw Nine utilise state-of-the-art in-house augmented reality technology to partner with KIA, with viewers seeing a new model car drive around the rooftop of KIA Arena.
Nine’s head of content partnerships, Anne Gruber, said this year, more partners and sponsors are leaning into a 360 degree proposition than ever before.
“Our ecosystem connects brands with tennis enthusiasts throughout the day beyond the screen, into lifestyle content, in depth analysis on WWOS.com.au, mastheads, podcasts and two way conversation on radio.
“We know the innovative nature of tennis lends itself to impactful advertising that works for audiences. Nine’s Summer of Tennis is recognised by brands as a completely immersive sports marketing platform that allows their story to be right there when those big moments happen.”
“In 2023 we are again excited to see the work of Powered and our premium partners come to life through branded content and bespoke commercial solutions, linking the country’s biggest brands with the tennis phenomenon sweeping Australia over January.”