The Sydney Seven Upfront 2023 started with short intros from Seven execs in various Hoyts cinemas before screening a Seven movie filmed all over Australia. The only live component was the brief intro from various members of the executive team.
Discussing the 2023 content strategy for the company, chief executive James Warburton told Mediaweek Seven is still running big formats, but maybe not every year.
“When you look at all our shows we have the ability to run them less often,” he said just before the Upfront movie started. “We can give some of them a rest and refresh them. There are a number of tentpole programs we are very happy with that are working well and not showing signs of fatigue. It is important to have the ability to recognise trends and step into new and different areas.
“It is our belief that people are looking for other areas in a schedule apart from just stripped reality. We don’t have shows that run for 20 to 30 episodes, we run our series for a sharp three or four-week run.”
Seven has reviewed many familiar formats, but hasn’t been tempted by all of them, Warburton said. “We looked at a whole swag of programs. Seven has gone from making very little, if anything, with the production sector, to being one of their best customers. If you talk to any of the production companies, we are constantly talking to them about what have you got?”
Seven has taken risks too with programs like Holey Moley and Ultimate Tag where the gamble didn’t pay off. “Some of those shows didn’t hit the numbers that we wanted specifically, but we’ve got the ability to think differently about those. Like Dancing with the Stars which is something that we will continue to use, but we might not run it every year. MKR is another example, we were really happy with it. It was basically the number one cooking show [when it was on].”
The Seven boss also noted they will take time to get it right when necessary. “Things like Apartment Rules. We’re still developing a property format, obviously we wouldn’t play it in the second half of the year [against The Block]. We’ve still got something that we’re developing, which probably will be ready for 2024.”
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News and current affairs investment
“We do 23 and a half hours of live and local news. We have 65 news offices, remembering the Seven brand is now national, and the Prime brand has been retired. We do 55 bulletins a day across 20 different regions and we win the national News ratings by about 300,000 a night.”
The #1 show every night across Australia is Seven News. Warburton said the news division is at maximum hours in terms of broadcast. As to recent highlights, Warburton pointed out its coverage of floods in multiple states and the international newsgathering whether it be in Ukraine or covering the British Royal Family.
“Spotlight has been building and if we can put a bit more investment in that I think we can be more consistent,” said Warburton referring to the news division’s Sunday night show. “We just need [director of programming] Angus Ross to make a bigger donation to [head of news and current affairs] Craig McPherson.”
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Securing TV’s #1 property
Being incumbents, and a bag full of money, helped Seven and Foxtel retain the AFL TV rights. Warburton noted: “Without a shadow of the doubt it is single-handedly the most important piece of content available in market. There was no doubt the competition [for the rights] was going to be big.”
Talking about the AFL rights underbidders, Warburton claimed Stan and Paramount both needed the boost AFL would give the respective streaming platforms. “We knew the AFL would be a game changer for those businesses.”
Warburton noted Seven offers what other networks don’t necessarily do with their sports – integrate players into their programming including various formats like Farmer Wants a Wife to Dancing with the Stars to programs like The Front Bar that Seven is looking to expand nationally.
‘Very difficult’: Cricket’s future
While Seven’s relationship with the AFL is rock solid, cricket not so much. As the cricket season gets underway with WBBL now and then BBL and Test Cricket to follow in December, Warburton noted the legal stand-off continues with Seven wanting to cancel its TV rights deal. A legal challenge Cricket Australia calls an unwarranted action, which will be strenuously defended.
Since Seven started being vocal about improving the white ball game, the season fixtures have been tweaked, there is now an international draft while more international Australian cricketers are having the chance to play in the Big Bash.
When asked about bidding for cricket when the renewal comes up, Warburton said Seven likes Tests and he noted with Foxtel the audience for Test Cricket has grown substantially. Despite the fractured relationship with cricket authorities, Warburton said: “We’ve been getting on with it. It was a great outcome last year, we’ll get on with it. But you know, [Cricket Australia has] been a very difficult organisation to deal with.”
New NBCU deal, but more to come?
The deal announced this week gives Seven the first window for NBC broadcast and NBC-owned cable channels, said Warburton. “A lot of that content is screened at 9pm where it does well, and then the seven days consolidated and the streaming numbers build into a very healthy audience.”
Could Seven be Peacock’s partner?
Seven has long talked about its wish to start a streaming business. It has a preferred partner. Warburton on launching SVOD: “What I’ve said many times, it’s not about any partner, it’s about the right partner. Obviously, NBCU would be the right partner. There’s no secret that we’ve been sort of pitching to partner with them on [a local launch of its streaming service] Peacock. That hasn’t materialised this time around. We’re still very interested in partnering with them though.”
Being the last mover in the market has advantages, said Warburton with a nod to an expected sector consolidation in the future.
FAST channels galore at Seven
While FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming) channels have become a TV sector buzzword, Seven has been playing in the space for a long time with no less than 45 separate channels buried on 7plus. But not buried deep enough for the audience or advertisers to miss them. “Those channels represent over 10% of the viewing on Seven plus they deliver great revenues,” said Warburton.
Going for gold: Seven open to mega Olympic deal
As to Seven’s appetite for an Olympic package that could include Paris 2024, now less than two years away, Warburton said they are ready for discussions. The dream IOC deal would perhaps also include Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 (now less than 10 years away!).
Warburton: “Seven has an outstanding relationship with the IOC. We are open to doing a deal, whether we’re doing a deal, just on Paris, or whether we’re doing a deal through to Brisbane is up to them. I’m sure that will be in market at some point, to run a formal tender process, but that hasn’t happened yet.”