“A Confident Presentation With No Great Reveals Or Surprises But A Reminder Of What They Do Well” – Adland Reacts Positively To Seven’s Upfronts

Yesterday the media industry descended on the ICC in Sydney for Seven’s star-studded upfronts.

The reaction was largely positive, with commentators praising Seven for their use of talent, slick presentation, consolidation of their considerable strengths, and their new TV total trading system – Phoenix. 

You can read all of yesterday’s announcements by clicking the links below:

• Seven Reveals Its 2024 Content Plan

• What To Expect From 7Plus In 2024

• Seven Launches Total TV Trading System – Phoenix

• Seven Joins Forces With Databricks

• Seven And Channel 4 Co-Commission Made In Bondi

• Seven Adds AFL And Cricket To Seven Plus

Highlights:

• “A Reminder of what they do well” 
• “Sport is a key strategy for Seven next year” 
• “Phoenix is an exciting proposition”
• “A Future Focused Proposition”
  

“A Reminder Of What They Do Well” 

For Stephen Leeds, CEO at The Media Store, Seven’s upfronts were a reminder of their incredibly strong position in the industry. 

“It was a confident presentation with no great reveals or surprises but a reminder of what they do well – they are a content company who are number 1 in 25-54, 16-39, sport and everything else,” he told B&T. 

“With an evolved digital offering, AI technology to predict audiences and offer ease of trading and data sets to match with any clients first-party data, Seven are once again likely to be a consistent and easy buy on a screens schedule”. 

“They reminded us of 2023 and the shows that performed well which are all returning along with some new ones in tried and tested categories such as home renovations and dating.  Predictable and safe, with no breakout new formats or concepts”.

“7 Plus is a priority for them, focusing on premium first-run content.  The announcement that they will stream live AFL and Cricket on the platform will be a huge hit with audiences and advertisers. Providing Australia’s most popular summer and winter sports on a streaming platform will be a massive winner”.

Stephen Leeds

 “A Future Focused Proposition”

For Jess Armstrong, Melbourne head of investment for Zenith, the upfronts showed Seven to be an intelligent player, aware of the ever-changing video market and its position within it.

“Seven produced a refreshing perspective last night, with a future-focused proposition,” she said.

 “Yes, they may be ‘massive’ when looking at total audience potential across their stable, but there is no point spruiking your size if advertisers can’t effectively reach your consumers across platforms. Insert Phoenix. Phoenix is an exciting announcement, with the ability to buy all markets, across all platforms and all inventory, plus a data overlay, on your very own plug-and-play interface. It’s what media buyers dream about. The benefit of controlling reach and frequency across platform will consolidate Seven as a smart, serious, and successful player in this ever-changing video market”. 

She went on to say that their data proposition will largely prove skeptics wrong.

“Further to this, the rights to stream AFL (from September 2024) and Cricket (from October 2024) across all devices will ensure that the opportunity to interact with Seven remains a regular event for the masses, no matter what your platform or device of choice. A partnership with Databricks also reinforces Seven’s shift to future proof at scale, with the aim of delivering personalisation with every ad load. To help alleviate the sceptics, Seven are putting their money where their mouth is by committing to a partnership with Adgile that will measure and report on every converged buy across their network. Well done there, Seven.”

Jess Armstrong

“Sport is a key strategy for Seven next year” 

Jessica Longley, Brisbane marketplace director at Wavemaker agreed that the upfronts were a reminder of Seven’s key strengths. 

“That’s Massive’ was Seven’s underlying theme for the night signifying their strong audience and capabilities across Seven & 7Plus”.

“With content, storytelling and emotion at the heart along with their ambition to lead News, Sport & Drama content this year, Seven has seen success across the key demographics of P25-54 & P18-39 as a result”.

For Longley, sports is clearly a large focus for the broadcaster in the coming year. 

“Sport is a key strategy for Seven next year with the promise of 4 billion minutes of sport content on offer across 52 weeks of the year. Live streaming is a key part of this strategy, where from September Seven are extending their broadcast coverage offering free live streaming of the AFL & cricket across 7Plus boosting audiences across all devices,” she said. 

Jessica Longley

“Phoenix is an exciting proposition” 

For Marianne Lane, head of investment at Kaimera, the ad trading platform Phoenix is a welcome solution to inefficiencies in the industry. 

“Phoenix is an exciting proposition. As an industry, we welcome technology which means an increase in effectiveness and the death of makegoods, because quite frankly, we’ve spent countless hours chasing them and it’s tedious for both agencies and the TV Networks. To have a platform which enables us to buy across all screens with guaranteed audience in a matter of minutes is a game changer”. 

Seven’s focus on adding premium content to 7plus wasn’t a revelation she added. 

“Seven’s plans to add premium, exclusive content to 7plus in 2024 is not surprising. It’s clearly worked for them this year with NBCUniversal content, so it makes sense”.

Marianne Lane, Kaimera

Meanwhile, Nick Behr, chief executive officer and founder at Kaimera, said Phoenix was a clever way to futureproof Seven in the face of declining linear views. 

“It was a succinct presentation, using their talent perfectly to take us through the night of what is to come in 2024. Through their Phoenix product and general BVOD programming, including AFL and cricket, it was a solid setup for 2024 while future-proofing the decline of linear. Now that’s massive”.

A balanced mix of nostalgia and innovation for advertisers

Chris Parker, CEO, Awaken, commented: “As we look ahead to 2024, Seven is already setting the stage for what promises to be an exciting year in television. The unveiling of Dream Home is timely, cleverly tapping into the home renovation show format that audiences love. While comparisons to The Block are inevitable, especially in its 20th season, the unique proposition of winning an actual home might just be the differentiator that pulls audiences and makes this show succeed where many have tried.

“Pairing this with shows like Made in Bondi and The Rise of Kings Cross“=, Seven is not only offering entertainment but also a reflection of the cultural fabric of Australia. This alignment with contemporary and historical narratives positions the network as both a storyteller and a mirror to society. Amidst this innovation, the continuity of the big draw cards like Farmer Wants a Wife, The Voice, and Dancing with the Stars acts as a reassuring nod to long time viewers, ensuring advertiser reach remains expansive.

“In the backdrop of these content changes, Seven’s introduction of Phoenix is a step forward while maintaining status quo with the other networks. This direct trading system, integrated with audience data, promises precision targeting for advertisers. This system is poised to democratize advertising, allowing even smaller brands to find their footing on the network. Moreover, with AI integration, agencies might soon see an expansion in the roles of performance teams overseeing broadcast networks.

“Rounding off their strategy is Seven’s commitment to sports, with the AFL leading the charge. With its broad appeal, the AFL promises advertisers access to a diverse demographic. Coupled with the acquisition of full digital rights, Seven’s sports segment is poised for demographic success, hopefully maintaining share from the excitement during the Olympic years,” Parker said.

Chris Parker

Nichola Kiely, head of client service at Frontier Australia, added: Seven’s already strong sport offering is set to get even stronger with the announcement of them taking over the full streaming rights for all of the AFL and their continued cricket partnership both falling later in mid-late H2. This, along with a strong line-up of content for 2024 both new and old, will help see 7+ continue to see such huge growth from a Total TV perspective. All of the expected old favourites are there but with a few new Australian-made numbers with the likes of Dream Home looking to be the front runner.

“For me, the Databrick announcement is a really welcome one from both a viewer and an advertiser perspective. The more personalised experience will help engage, and keep, users on the platform. And the ability to better predict audiences down to a segment and demographic level is really exciting from an advertiser point of view.

“The launch of their Phoenix product is interesting and an attractive one with the promise of guaranteed outcomes and the promise of the end of makegoods. I’m eager to understand more about how this will be rolled out and embedded into agencies but I’m sure there will be lots of follow. 2024 is set to be (another) “massive” year for Seven,” Kiely said.