Home » Nine’s Michael Stephenson Takes A Victory Lap With Us After Record-Breaking Start

8 February, 2022

Nine’s Michael Stephenson Takes A Victory Lap With Us After Record-Breaking Start

Nine’s chief sales officer, Michael Stephenson (ubiquitously known as Stevo!), has opened up to B&T about Nine’s big start to the year!

Nine has come out hard this year with the Australian Open that earned the network record-breaking numbers. The women’s final beat the men’s final by 1.2 million viewers thanks to Ash Barty’s win that racked in 2,838,000 OzTAM metro viewers and seemingly took over the national conversation.

Let’s face it, Nine was the network behind one of the biggest sporting moments in recent Australian history with Barty’s win.

The network couldn’t have scripted it any better if it tried. Barty’s win will likely be made into a movie one day that Margo Robbie will star in.

So, the massive win is something to be smug about and Stephenson is definitely not bashful about the success of The Australian Open. But why would he be? It’s show business baby!

Then once the tennis was done and dusted, Nine launched straight into Married At First Sight – it has been winning entertainment consistently and is always making headlines thanks to its contestants’ behaviours.

There’s no escaping that Nine currently has a hold on the public’s attention, so it makes sense why Stephenson would be so up for a chat!

Naturally, Stephenson is clear these ratings aren’t just a happy accident, he told B&T, “the strategy we have created over a number of years is playing out exactly as planned, and that was to create the strongest summer schedule.”

Turns out a master plan isn’t just for villains in Disney movies, it’s also for television networks; kidding! But on a more serious note, part of Nine’s strategy is building momentum for Nine’s Summer.

This is why Nine ended the year strongly with SnackMasters and LegoMasters. It wanted consumers to already be watching the network and relying on it for great and creative content. Which meant consumers were hooked and ready by the time it unleashed its summer lineup – smart!

Of course, this brings us back to Barty winning the women’s final, which Stephenson describes as a “high”.

And then to Married At First Sight’s strong start to the year. Yes, the ratings are down from last year, but as Stephenson is quick to point out, the way we are watching things is changing, “You must look at the delivery of audience across all platforms: live linear, live stream and catch up on 9Now.

“Marriage At First Sight is seeing year-on-year growth. Every episode from last week has delivered more than 300,000 people on 9Now.

“If you are looking ratings just through overnight ratings. Then you are missing the point, because it’s not how we consume any more and it’s not how advertisers look at it and it’s not how we monetise it,” Stephenson explains.

Stephenson also doesn’t hold back when putting Married At First Sight’s ratings into perspective, “Last week more people watched Married At First Sight than Survivor and The Voice combined.” Okay got it!

Still, interestingly Stephenson still shies away from the idea that Nine is after winning the ratings. Last year Seven took out the crown but Stephenson doubled down on his insistence it’s not about ratings; it’s about demos.

Stephenson said: “The thing that we always are focused on is winning the demographics and delivering more people in those demo’s than anyone else because that’s what advertisers care about.

“We’ve done it for five of the past six years, and I have no doubt we will do it again this year.”

Of course, some things never change, while Stephenson refuses to admit what shows consume on other networks, he did reveal, “I always tune in and consume, but the vast majority of my consumption is on Nine and Stan . . . I’m not massively invested in any of the content right now from other networks.”

Of course, that might be because Nine is currently bringing out so much content! His eyeballs are busy at home.

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