“Playing It Safe!” A Media Buyer Reviews Nine’s Upfronts

Hot off the press! Here, The Media Store’s head of investment, Paul Wikinson, casts a keen industry eye over Nine’s upfronts from last night…

I’d say on the whole, Nine played it “safe”. If the audience was expecting some big news stories, some may have walked away disappointed, but it’s hard to criticise given Nine have been purposefully, carefully and methodically building out their overall proposition for the last few years and we’re starting to see that hard work come to fruition.

They undoubtedly have the largest single network footprint in the country, and now with the Fairfax and Macquarie acquisitions, they command a holistic, multiplatform network that allows advertisers to tap into parts or all of, as is most relevant for their audience, campaign and budget. Combined with the data capabilities they now have within their arsenal – which are arguably some of the strongest in market – it’s an exceptionally strong proposition and I believe will help them deliver into 2020 and beyond.

No doubt along with the other investment folks in the room, Michael Stephenson’s closing piece was the part I was most interested in, and I was pleased (but not really surprised) that he took on the leadership position of announcing the single buying platform across the TV market. I am intrigued to see how (and when) that will play out given its been talked about for at least two years already, but it is absolutely necessary for the medium as a whole.

I was also pleased to hear that Galaxy will be available across the entire schedule over the Olympics period – ultimately I do believe this is how we will buy in the not unforeseeable future, so this is a welcome move. Also moving to a cost per completed view across Ninenow and BVOD is a welcome move and really highlights the confidence they have in their product.

From a Programming POV, there was nothing really surprising but they have landed a strong content schedule that resonates well with viewers and allows advertisers to integrate seamlessly, plus on the whole its well-balanced across both male and female audiences alike.

As I said, overall it was a safe plan into 2020 with no real surprises but they have worked hard to get to this point and they’ve landed on a strategy and model that works.

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Nine upfronts 2020 Paul Wikinson