The Seven Network has unveiled its content led growth strategy for the next 12 months, underpinned by new and rejuvenated primetime programming.
Recently appointed Seven West Media managing director and CEO James Warburton said: “I’ve been clear from day one that we’re executing a content led growth strategy. To that end we’re investing 30% more in our tentpole programs and franchises.”
Titles new to Seven in 2020
Plate of Origin with Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and Manu Feildel
Mega Mini Golf
SAS: Who Dares Wins
Pooch Perfect with Rebel Wilson
Between Two Worlds (drama)
RFDS (drama)
Familar franchises
Big Brother
Farmer Wants A Wife
Australia’s Got Talent: The Champions
All New Monty: Guys and Gals
My Kitchen Rules & House Rules reimagined
Seven’s Upfront commentary highlights
Seven’s renewed Sunday-Thursday 7.30pm strategy will build on the Network’s consistent leadership in news, sport, lifestyle and drama.
7NEWS is Australia’s most watched news service for the 16th consecutive year and continues to go from strength to strength, increasing viewers in 2019. 7NEWS.com.au is one of the top five news brands in the country.
Sunrise leads breakfast TV for its 14th consecutive year, while The Morning Show is No. 1 for its 12th consecutive year.
The Chase Australia has won every day this year and has grown audience share year- on-year.
Friday night favourite Better Homes and Gardens is Australia’s No. 1 lifestyle program.
7plus is the fastest growing commercial free-to-air BVOD platform in the country, up 54% year-on-year.
Seven is this country’s home of drama, with the No. 1 Australian drama Home and Away; No. 1 drama and US drama The Good Doctor; and No. 1 UK drama Manhunt.
New drama for Seven
In 2020, the network launches Between Two Worlds, a bold, seductive and glamorous new thriller from master creator Bevan Lee (A Place to Call Home, Packed to the Rafters). Justine Clarke (Tangle, Rake, The Time Of Our Lives), Rob Collins (The Wrong Girl, Glitch, Cleverman) and Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away, Wanted) will lead the cast of RFDS, a new action-drama based in Australia’s red heart, where the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service navigate private lives as turbulent as the heart-stopping emergencies they attend.
New overseas dramas include psychological thriller Reckoning, filmed in Australia and headlined by Aden Young (Rectify, The Disappearance) and Sam Trammell (True Blood); and relationship drama Gold Digger, with Emmy Award-winner Julia Ormond (Mad Men, Legends of the Fall) as an older woman falling in love with a much younger man, Ben Barnes (Westworld).
Sport
Seven is the home of sport in 2020, with the biggest events only on Seven. Starting on the 24th of July, TOKYO 2020 will redefine how Australians watch sport. The 30 days of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are forecast to reach over 21 million Australians, even more than Sydney 2000.
Seven’s broadcast coverage on Seven and 7TWO – led by the one and only Bruce McAvaney – will be simulcast in HD on 7plus. On top of this, six bonus curated 24/7 channels and 35 live streams on 7plus will allow Australians to experience the Olympics like never before. 7plus will also offer captioning in multiple languages – an Australian first. For the first time ever, all of the Olympics and Paralympics will be free, an offering never seen before in Australia.
Coming off one of the most competitive seasons seen in 2019, 7AFL’s coverage of the 2020 AFL Premiership Season promises to be captivating viewing from the first bounce in March right through to the final siren of the 2020 AFL Grand Final on the last Saturday in September.
7CRICKET returns for its second summer of cricket in 2019-20. The condensed Big Bash League season will deliver a better experience for viewers, with more primetime BBL finals and for the first time, a strategic time-out. More day/night test matches and games into November will deliver the best summer of cricket yet, live, free and in HD on Seven.
Seven’s sport coverage in 2020 goes beyond the end of play. After establishing itself as the undisputed No. 1 footy show in 2019, The Front Bar, featuring Sam Pang, Mick Molloy and Andy Maher, returns bigger and better than ever before to cover the 2020 AFL season. Armchair Experts, Seven’s innovative social sports show, continues to grow in 2020, expanding to cover the NFL along with AFL.
Between the first ball of the Women’s BBL and the 2020 AFL Grand Final, Seven will broadcast over 265 days of live and free sport. With TOKYO 2020, 7AFL, 7CRICKET, Horse Racing and much more, Seven’s sport is unmatched in 2020.
Multichannels
Australia’s No. 1 multichannel 7mate will go HD in 2020.
7mate dominates multichannels for the hard-to- reach M16-54 demographic and in 2020, Seven will relaunch 7flix with a new brand to target younger female demographics.