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Seven philosophy: “We are roast chook”

CEO Tim Worner gets to the heart of Seven's philosophy: "Part of our brand is that we are everyman, we are roast chook."

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There’s an excellent profile piece in today’s Australian on Seven CEO Tim Worner.

It gives some good insight into Worner’s background growing up in Perth, early media roles, overcoming personal challenges, and the importance of family.

Of particular relevance are the quotes about Seven’s current performance and philosophy.

Worner, who moved from Head of Programming to network CEO last December, talks about a depth of schedule, telling Australian stories and having consistency for advertisers.

“We aren’t all over the place. We don’t have patches where we’re really strong and then fall off a cliff,” he notes.

He is a strong believer that live sport is at the core of Seven’s strategy.

“Free-to-air TV is going to become more valuable because it’s the one place where you can mass eyeballs and mass an audience and deliver a message to that audience. The most effective way of doing that is going to be big-event TV and live sport is absolutely at the forefront.

“Live sports events will be critical. Collingwood versus Carlton will rate well in 2012 and in 2017. But I can’t tell you, for example, if The Voice in 2017 is going to do the same numbers it is doing now. I suspect it won’t.”

The next statement gets to the heart of Seven’s philosophy, aiming for middle Australia and demonstrates why some shows that are too edgy, too niche don’t fit the Seven brand.

“We have said Seven would be a great home for the NRL. Part of our brand is that we are everyman, we are roast chook. Whenever we try something that is a slightly trendier version of chicken, it doesn’t work. When we go with roast chook, it absolutely hits the spot.

“We are comfortable in our own skin. We want to be the broadest possible network. We want to be the most Australian network. We want to be the network that the biggest number of 25- to 55-year-old women say is their favourite network. That’s us and we are proud of that. It might not be too groovy, but it’s a great position to be in the market.”

You can read more here and there’s a video here.

18 Responses

  2. If the scheduling for “The Great Race” is true and correct and they really are starting the telecast at 9.30am they will be remembered as the most arrogant network in Australia,a Roasting they will receive but it will be the least of their problems.

  3. When I saw the “roast chicken” reference I thought I’d read it a long time ago in reference to Seven.

    And a Google search reveals that in 2004 Seven under new CEO David Leckie was trying to get away from its “roast chicken” image:

    smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/03/1093939135282.html

    Seems they didn’t get far 🙂

  4. @ Pertinax If I agree the budget level needs to be in the $1.5+ Mill per hour range to achieve great production values ( and I’m not sure that I do) then hopefully an increase in the Producer Offset may remove the financial obstacle and encourage a few more ambitious series. I cannot agree, however, that we don’t have the talent to producer these series. Cloudstreet, for example was a minor masterpiece and there has been a lot period drama done incredibly well lately – increasing everyone’s skill set. Standby for a range of dramas commemorating 100 years since the commencement of WW1. Finally – I don’t just mean period either – I mean ambitious – aiming for more than what you can achieve on a W&L or PTTR long form budget and production approach.

  6. @Ronnie
    DA costs about $1.6m per episode. Australian TV does not have the audience size or international sales to justify anything close to that.

    Nor do we have the writers or production to make that sort of TV. The British have been doing period dramas on TV for over 60 years. You can see what Lurhmann’s Australia looked like, then imagine it being done on the budget of Seven’s Wild Boys.

  7. @Ren.. about 1.2 million viewers apparently love their daily dose of chook.. just have to look at the ratings.

    Great piece by The Australian.. gave real insights into how Seven sees itself. It’s not the TV home of older viewers but the home of ‘everyman’..

  8. And sport means NRL and AFL which have large followings in the North and South respectively and long seasons on the weekends in the middle of the ratings season. They are a solid addition that doesn’t compete with what the networks are trying to do Sunday to Wednesday nights in primetime.

    Again this is largely just kicking Ten when they are down because they don’t have the money to outbid Seven and Nine for those sports.

    The big thing at the moment though is reality TV contests like Masterchef, The Voice and The X Factor that get a massive audience and buzz going.

  9. It’s great to see the guy with a production background run a Network, in stark contrast to the trainwreck at 10. Given there is so much stability and depth in the Seven schedule I’d love to see Tim take a few risks and aggressively programme Sunday night. Downton Abbey is perfect of course – but how about an Australian Downton – high quality mini-series of 6-8 hours?

    1. BarrieT: Yes but I don’t think Worner would disagree with you. He’s making the point shows of this nature come and go but sport is dependable and allows you to built your schedule around some certainty. In fact in the video interview he acknowledges some shows will not be going forward, he just doesn’t name them. This week I tipped AGT was looking increasingly unlikely.

  12. i wish seven would promote programs beyond 7;30 and 8;30

    i would like the price is right to have better products to win rather than cheesey product placement that no one wants

    live seven sports is all good but v8s on seven just does not work when you showing afl at the same time

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