Thanks to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Australians have turned to Nine’s digital cross-platform ecosystem in “unprecedented numbers,” the business has said.
During the Nine Publishing strike that started on the opening day of the Games, the company reported that Nine Publishing recorded 69.2 million page views since the Games began (from 24 July to 30 July; the strike began on 26 July) while nine.com.au attracted 6.1 million page views.
9Now recorded 1.3 billion minutes during the same period. The BVOD platform has provided 18% incremental reach, with nearly 50% of those who have watched the Olympics solely via 9Now being aged 18-39, the business said.
“The Olympic Games is simply the biggest digital event we’ve ever seen,” said Nine’s director of sales – sport Matthew Granger.
“Whether it be through streaming or through our premium digital brands, our multi platform content ecosystem is delivering a highly engaged premium environment for our partners at a massive scale, one that only Nine can provide as part of the greatest show on earth.”
Journalists employed by Nine Publishing “overwhelmingly” voted in favour of going on strike on the first day of Nine’s coverage of the Paris Olympics.
The Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) said the decision to take action followed Nine’s refusal to deliver a fair deal. Just hours after journalists from the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday returned to work on Wednesday morning, they reached an in-principle deal with management.
On Tuesday, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby arrived back in Australia, after a week in Paris. MEAA members were contacted about an “urgent meeting” at Sydney’s Qantas international terminal and told to arrive at 3:30 pm to “welcome Sneesby back and remind him of the sacrifice you have made.”
Just over a dozen people showed up, wearing the matching t-shirts featuring a caricature of Sneesby running with the Olympic torch that have become synonymous with the pay deal campaign. Sneesby never appeared.
Nine’s Olympics broadcast has also experimented with using gaming tech to create a virtual studio, visually expanding the 7x7m “shipping container” the team is broadcasting from.
“It was the perfect opportunity to push Nine into a new area that I’ve been interested in, that being virtual sets and extended reality,” Alex Rolls, Nine’s head of creative and innovation at Wide World of Sports, told Mediaweek.
“We went into the virtual direction because a seven by seven metre space for 22 hours a day for 17 days on Nine, no matter how good your set designer might be, it’s going to look small and it’s not going to be worthy of the event.”
See also: Mike Sneesby avoids protesters at Sydney Airport as journos return to work