10’s Upfronts: Why It Was All About Content, Content & Catch-Up

In this guest post, Marelle Salib (main photo), OMD Sydney’s head of trading, reviews 10’s Upfronts and says the network’s plan for 2022 looks simple – get as much content out there as possible and by whatever means (channels) possible…

Content, Content, Content. 10ViacomCBS’s upfront was less about the bold headlines and more about the streams of content across all genres, available across their diversified platforms and focussed on delivering to an under 50s audience. The second important area, front and centre, was their focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

10ViacomCBS’s tentpoles will return in 2022 which isn’t a surprise, however 10 brings competition with their appetite for bravery, testing new formats with Australian audiences. In 2022, this will be no different with new tentpole Hunted and unscripted easy viewing with Would I lie to you. The success of these will depend on each format’s ability to keep audiences engaged, as well as the consideration 10’s programming team put into what these are scheduled against.

The other announcement new to 10ViacomCBS, but not new to broadcast, is the revitalisation of  First Dates  moving onto the network from Seven.  Even with a refresh, this addition has the potential to kill the ‘finding love’ genre on the network, crammed with Bachelor and Bachelorette which have been around for many seasons.

Importantly, the trend of declining broadcast audiences and increasing BVOD audiences will continue.  A tentpole will not live or die solely by its overnight broadcast audience but the holistic total TV audience it engages.

As audience viewing continues to migrate to BVOD, predominantly CTV, the power of in-program integration becomes even more important. Through brand research studies and bottom line measurement, 10ViacomCBS demonstrated how their Effect and Imagine teams can work with brands to deliver success. Continuing to draw on innovation within the broadcast space to engage audiences is key for brands. To this end, 10 announced two new formats available in BVOD; the first,  Dynamic e-trading placement, designed to allow brands to showcase multiple products and alter creative in real-time, beneficial for retail clients and not too dissimilar from products we expect to see launched across other broadcasters. The second format announced, Happy Hour, is the first of its kind allowing brands to essentially sponsor and provide viewers with an ad-free hour, cut-through and positive sentiment back to the brand affiliated.

With new engaging ad-formats and a trusted partner in LiveRamp, through their SafeHaven product, brands have the ability to safely match their data with 10’s growing database, without the need to have costly technologies to gain greater insight into their current and potential customers, as well as activate across the 10 Play platform targeting these audiences.

10ViacomCBS has a strong offering and, although numbers aren’t yet in the same league as other broadcasters, they have quality data partnerships in place to allow for greater targeting at scale to deliver improved business outcomes that are supported by measurement.

Outside of content, one of the key pillars presented was 10ViacomCBS’s plans around diversity, equity and inclusion.  Australian media brands and advertisers can use their scale, reach and influence to drive change. For years we’ve seen through 10ViacomCBS’s casting and storylines a mirroring of the diverse Australian population and culture on-screen. They shared their involvement and support of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples as well their intention to reach net zero emissions as a network. More will come on this and with many brands sharing a focus on sustainability, 2022 will see new partnerships and possibilities emerge in this space.

New local content and the much-anticipated partnership with A-Leagues on Paramount+ took up a large portion of the presentation. While this is an exciting platform for the market, with a plethora of welcomed new Australian content as well as overseas content, considering the advertising opportunities are currently extremely limited, one has to wonder if an ad supported version of Paramount + on the horizon. \

With a stable suite of returning and new content, new premium digital ad-formats, valuable data partnerships and diversified content platform in Paramount +, coupled with an easy to buy system in Buy-10 that alleviates risk, 10ViacomCBS is a worthy competitor in the broadcast landscape in 2022.