Senior media buyers and agency chiefs walked away from Sydney’s Town Hall confident in SBS’s market position as a premium, digital-first media business that offers advertisers a unique audience they cannot get anywhere else. SBS’s challenge to rip up demos and focus on ‘golden oldies’ also landed, but work will need to be done to convince advertisers and younger media planners to give up their addiction to younger demos and 25-54s.
Back in the days when Australia’s multicultural broadcaster was famous for its football coverage – led by Les Murray and Johnny Warren – and raunchy foreign films, SBS used to be called “Sex Before Soccer” (even though the ‘sex’ used to often come after football).
It’s a phrase that doesn’t get bandied about so much anymore, but received a surprise mention at yesterday’s SBS Upfront in Sydney’s Town Hall.
“We know Australians affectionately, if not jokingly, think that SBS stands for ‘sex before soccer’, and we’re okay with that,” SBS chief commercial and marketing officer Jane Palfreyman said. “It’s reflective of the fact we’re the most distinctive and authentic media brand in Australia.”
Palfreyman’s comments not only entertained more than 450 media and marketing executives, they oozed a grown up confidence as SBS heads into its 50th anniversary.
For example, rather than try to prove it can reach younger audiences found on YouTube and TikTok, like other broadcasters have been, SBS wants to challenge the industry to embrace the ‘golden oldies’, who have far more disposable income and increasingly make up a larger chunk of Australia’s population.
Media agency bosses and buyers welcomed the bravado, confidence and positioning of SBS as a place to find unique audiences that advertisers cannot find anywhere else.
“Great content, provocatively delivered and a challenge to the industry,” was Omnicom ANZ CEO Peter Horgan’s takeaway. “SBS is a hidden gem and their message is we deserve to be on mainstream communication plans, not just ones limited to targeting ethnic or diverse groups.”
Horgan said the unique audience message landed, as too is the “superior” SBS On Demand platform that offers lower clutter and more attention for advertisers; a point he believes the market sometimes forgets.
Accenture Song ANZ managing director of Media, Sam Geer said SBS did a really good job reminding the industry that “they’re in a category of one”.
“When you look around the room at their talent, content and sales proposition, they look and feel different. So their positioning around being the most distinctive broadcaster is bang on,” he said. “Does that then translate to media plans? I still think there’s work to do there.”
It’s a point that UM Sydney head of investment Brittany Crowley agreed with, telling B&T that SBS has carved a unique market proposition.
“One of the takeouts for me is how they are not positioning themselves in alignment with the commercial networks, as they have done in the past,” she said. “They are positioning themselves more as a digitally-led offering, with premium content for the modern Australian.”
SBS claims that 70 per cent of its audience do not watch Seven, Nine or Ten and, increasingly, it competes with the likes of streamers such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Spark Foundry chief investment officer Lucie Jansen said that in a fragmented media landscape, SBS provided a compelling case for brands to build unique incremental reach.
“In a similar way, while it is not hugely surprising that the older demographics are facing less financial pressure than younger generations, particularly in the current economic climate, the way SBS presented the numbers was very pronounced and served as a good reminder,” she added.
‘Golden oldies’ – the hard sell
One of the key messages from the evening, as Jansen alluded to above, is that SBS wants the industry to focus more on two new demos, 40s and older, and 35-64s, rather than the decades long obsession with 16-39s and 25-54s. The rationale for this is that Australia is an ageing population, and over time TV audiences have skewed older.
“When you reflect back on how much has changed in that half a century… our continued obsession with a 25 to 54 demographic hasn’t,” SBS national sales manager of TV and digital Kieran Beasley said.
“We know that reaching Australia’s under 40s at scale is really complex and also really costly, but interestingly, there’s actually fewer of them, so as a percentage of the population, under 40s today represent just 50 per cent of the population, compared to 66 per cent only 50 years ago.”
It’s a message that was heard loud and clear by all media agency bosses and buyers speaking to B&T; Jansen points out that Spark Foundry has already begun shifting its media planning practices to reflect ageing Australia.
“We also need to place the clients’ long-term goals at the centre of our planning strategies,” she said. “For some, targeting a wealthier, older demographic works. For others, the need to build long-term brand awareness will still require messaging to younger demographics.”
Accenture Song’s Sam Geer said that the message around older generations being a growing audience in terms of size, spend and economic potential was well made, but there is now an education piece for SBS to get that message to stick in an industry hooked by youth.
“I think a big part of their challenge is they’re saying younger people aren’t watching our platform. A part of that younger cohort are the planners at media agencies,” the former Initiative MD said, adding that “clever” advertisers are already considering greying consumers.
“Unfortunately, a lot of planners at media agencies think about what comes first to mind, and if they’re not consuming the platform themselves, that’s always a challenge for the broadcaster.”
Geer points out that other broadcasters such as Nine and Seven have tried and failed to remind advertisers not to forget about older consumers and their bulging wallets, but the timing of SBS’s plea could turn the corner.
“We’ve heard messages before about ‘let’s not forget about the golden generation’ but I have still not seen that manifest in briefs right. Clients are still obsessed with youth audiences and building for the future,” Geer said.
“However, if there was ever an inflection point when you could say, ‘there are hard economic times, low disposable income and young people are struggling with income’ – this is it. This is the time to experiment in marketing, put aside some budget, target that audience, measure the shit out of it and prove that it either works or doesn’t.”
Content is king, again!
Everyone in the room speaking to B&T enjoyed the format of the SBS Upfront – a one hour presentation with lovely food and wine that leant heavily on talent and content.
“I love the ‘less is more’,” said Horgan. “Get people in, land the points before the cognitive overload hits, and let them get back to their day jobs.”
Crowley enjoyed the showcase of “powerful, local content about modern Australia” including a new Rachel Griffiths program, The Idea of Australia, and 2.6 Seconds, the story of how 19-year-old Warlpiri Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker was killed by cops.
Jansen said she loves SBS’s commitment to representing all Australians. “As they head into their 50th year, SBS looked back proudly on how they have always done this, and talked confidently on how they will continue to do so,” she said. “They announced new programming that reflects this, including The Idea of Australia, ROBODEBT and Australia: An Unofficial History.”
Geer said he loved seeing SBS’s focus on content. “I don’t feel like there was that focus from some of the other broadcast upfronts,” he said.
Geer believes SBS put up a compelling case that it is the place to go to for: “premium content, delivered in a premium user experience to a premium audience that has more money to spend”.
“All of those things are real,” he said. “It’s a matter of that manifesting in how media agencies actually plan to break their bubble and come into the real world that Australia is actually living in.
“What I felt coming into this room today is that it was far more representative of the real Australia. That landed with me, that resonated with me, and that is not what I felt at any other upfront.”
It’s a case well made, but will the advertising industry respond?
