Paramount’s Ten decided to pull its support from ThinkTV last June, and officially ended its membership in December. An industry source close to the body has cast doubt on whether it can continue as a standalone entity as stakeholders meet to decide its future this week.
Paramount has confirmed it left industry body ThinkTV in December – the same month that former ThinkTV boss Kim Portrate also left.
This has left Nine and Seven West Media as the two remaining commercial networks propping up the body.
One industry source told B&T, under the condition of anonymity, that ThinkTV cannot continue in its current form and had lost the support of key proponents who have left the organisation’s board in the past year.
“The entity won’t survive and will need to evolve and be folded into one of the other TV bodies. FreeTV is the most likely as it’s a lobbying body, while it would look odd for them to fold into OzTAM, which prides itself on independent measurement of TV,” the source said.
“If you look at ThinkTV’s big supporters – people like Kurt Burnette, Michael Stephenson, and Nat Harvey – they’ve all left and have been a constant.
“The irony is that they need it more than ever if you look at how audience declines have not kept pace with the drops in revenue.”
B&T understands the future of ThinkTV – which was formed in 2016 to provide research, education and advocacy for the effectiveness of the TV industry – will be discussed at a board meeting this week.
A spokesperson said: “ThinkTV continues to champion the benefits of Total TV. Seven and Nine remain committed to working together to support this mission. The ThinkTV board is in discussions about next steps for the organisation as part of a broader review of all industry bodies. We will share further updates in due course.”
Although Paramount pulling the pin is the latest blow and on the cards for at least six months, ThinkTV’s demise has been due to substantial budget cuts over the past couple of years.
Foxtel pulled the pin on its support of ThinkTV in 2023 after taking a new direction in the way that TV audiences are measured, and ongoing problems with its role at OzTAM – the audience measurement currency favoured by free-to-air networks including Seven, Nine, Ten and SBS.
Another source told B&T ThinkTV’s operations had been severely curtailed in 2024 due to budget pressure, but there had been hope these would return in 2025.
However, sweeping redundancies at Seven and Nine in 2024 placed pressure on budgets, while the new CEO of Seven West Media, Jeff Howard, recently told investors the network was looking at the value it derived from industry bodies and whether it could reduce duplication of effort and cost.
Last June, Paramount told ThinkTV it intended to leave the body in December, leaving the body with an even greater hole in its finances and another strong supporter in Rod Prosser.
A Network 10 spokesperson said: “We are no longer shareholders of ThinkTV but remain focussed on optimising and deepening collaboration with our fellow broadcasters and existing industry groups to effectively champion the power and importance of Total TV to the advertising market and community.”
Portrate’s decision to leave in December has left head of customer experience Danielle McWilliam as the only remaining full-time employee.
As the federal election looms, the TV industry’s immediate focus may be more on FreeTV’s efforts. Could that be ThinkTV’s next destination?
