Nine’s head of programming for Nine and 9Now Hamish Turner spoke with Mediaweek’s Andrew Mercado and James Manning in a special episode of the weekly podcast TV Gold.
TV’s Upfront season started this month with Nine Entertainment first out of the blocks as it spruiked what’s ahead from now into 2024 for its FTA channels. In a wide-ranging discussion, Turner spoke about audiences who watch via 9Now and the programs that will be key to Nine’s programming strategy.
Below are some of the highlights from the podcast. Listen to the full, unedited interview:
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9Now overhaul
Hamish Turner: In its most simplistic form, 9Now was built as a catch-up service for our linear offering. What we’ve done is to really try and rebuild the platform to deliver live and really make that the front and centre of the experience. Within a closed terrestrial world where you’re confined by the amount of spectrum you have, there’s only so much you can do in that environment. In digital, there’s no barrier to entry. There are also no restrictions around things like spectrum. You can have every stream in HD, you can have an unlimited number of channels.
What we’ve been working on is ensuring that when you go to 9Now you get a better user experience. We’ve turned all our streaming into HD streams. All the multichannels Go!, Gem, Life, Rush are in HD. Nine is obviously in HD – 50 frames per second 1080p.
We brought in start-over functionality, which means if you come into a show late you can hit the start-over button and it takes you back to the beginning of the show. This is really the beginning of our digital journey and ensuring that we really enhance that user experience and give our audience control and make it as good or experience as possible.
9Now ad load
We have frequency capping to ensure you don’t receive the same ad five times within your viewing session. In fact, we’ve capped at two per hour so you won’t get a holding board. One of my pet frustrations is when there are no ads to serve, the screen displays a banner, and it’s a dead sign. It actually breaks that viewing experience. Now that we are seeing a greater proliferation of FAST channels, we are starting to be more specific around the type of ad load we see. You will see less ads in a FAST environment. Instead of the old broadcast model, the three and a half per ad break, I think the maximum you’ll probably see is two per ad break.
The first season of Love Triangle screened on Nine to help promote the new season on Stan
Will all Stan Originals ultimately be screened on Nine?
I don’t think we will have hard rules in play where we marginalise [the Stan] offering. If it makes sense for the linear offering, but also makes sense to Stan, then we’d look at some of those opportunities. There’s not a blanket rule that if it’s on the Stan, then it will necessarily find a window on Nine and vice versa.
Where we’re moving into is a world where we’re more open to experimenting with ways in which we can help drive audiences across our owned and operated ecosystem. That talks to the broader strategy that was on display [at the Upfront], when we talked about the Olympics and the Paralympics.
The power of a business like Nine, with its portfolio of assets, is the ability to not only touch 98% of the Australian population and deliver unique content to that population but also deliver something like the Olympics and the Paralympics in a very unique way for that kind of broad audience. How we bring that to life through those assets is a real game changer. Not only for Paris but as we move into the future and into [Brisbane in] 2032.
New Nine drama for 2024
Has Nine backed away from FTA primetime drama?
We are a broad business that has multiple entrants into the premium TV space. We don’t think of how we commission things in isolation. In terms of where you get the best return, and also where that product best sits. Within the SVOD environment, that’s where the majority of drama has been made. SVOD platforms went really hard into drama. That’s where the likes of Netflix really started with House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. After that, it became harder and harder to find an audience. I absolutely take on board that something like The Newsreader has a big total TV audience, but it also doesn’t have any ad breaks. It’s sitting on a bit of a different playing field. Drama is expensive. Then you have the fragmentation of [the drama] audience – especially within what was being offered from an SVOD perspective.
Changing VOD business and writer’s strike impact
It’s going to be a really interesting next 12 months for all the [global] SVOD platforms where you’re not going to see so much product because it’s been delayed. The number of shows being commissioned will be reduced as well. That provides an opportunity for other players. The great thing for Australian businesses and Australia’s media company is you create your own content. You will both remember a day when Nine was chock-a-block with US drama. Thankfully, we’re not entering a period of the writer’s strike with that still the case. Who is going to come under pressure are the streamers who haven’t really diversified their offering beyond that of premium drama.
How many Nine shows will Tracy Grimshaw host?
[Andrew Mercado asked as one of Australia’s best TV interviewers, would Nine have Tracy do what she does best?] We absolutely plan to play to Tracy’s strength. In fact, we would have no choice in that matter. Tracy will choose to play to Tracy’s strengths. Over the coming months, more will emerge around what that project initially is. We want it to be befitting of someone of Tracy’s stature and experience. We’ll be looking at other opportunities as well. She’s an absolute force and we’re so just so proud to have her back on Nine in 2024.
[Just to clarify, there could be more than one Tracy Grimshaw project?] Absolutely.
A series originally pitched to Nine that became a hit for Stan
Do all content creators still pitch to FTA platforms?
Good creators understand their show and the audience. There are shows that people definitely will not pitch to the Nine Network because it doesn’t make sense in terms of that audience composition. Having said that, we are a really big broad business. Something that may not make sense for the Nine team, we will quickly direct them in the direction of Stan. An example of that was when The Tourist came across our desk. We saw great value in it, and then put them in contact with Stan. And we know how that ended. When you have different arms that talk to different audiences, and different ways to get to those audiences, it opens up the options for producers, and how they engage with us as a broader business.
See also: Nine Upfront 2024: Every announcement
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