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Gyngell talks up 2010

Nine's David Gyngell says he is more confident about Nine in 2010 than he has been in the last two years.

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david gyngellA defensive Nine CEO has brushed aside criticism that the network is lagging behind Seven and TEN with its programming plans for 2010.

“They haven’t seen us yet,” David Gyngell told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I am very confident about Nine for next year. I’m more confident about Nine [in 2010] than the last two years and I’m looking forward to telling the market about that at the end of the month. Seven is going to come off next year, TEN is going to come off, and we will go up.”

Yes it’s spin time of year.

“Top Gear will be the best show on any commercial network next year, no one will argue [with] that,” he said.

“Our underlying message is we are very, very confident. Just watch.”

Amongst Nine’s goodies are the Winter Olympics, Underbelly 3, Hey Hey specials, Top Gear and V -which just debuted to an impressive 14m viewers in the US. It also has more Sea Patrol, Rescue: Special Ops and The Story of Maria Korp. Another drama series is in pre-production.

But media buyers are more sceptical.

Henry Tajer, chief executive of Universal McCann said, “Nine needs a strong mothership. That’s what I’m looking for. On what I’ve seen so far, Seven and TEN should have a good year. Nine will be last to market so they really do have to make it count. They will be judged very quickly.”

One Nine source yesterday told TV Tonight it was on track to win 18-49 and 25-54 demos this year, adding: “Seven is skewing older each year. The over 55’s give Seven its volume in Total People numbers, but they’re not worth a minty wrapper for revenue-generation and advertisers and media buyers. 95% of the total TV ad spend occurs in the three demos 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54.”

Source: smh.com.au

36 Responses

  1. Call it abysmal, an also-ran, a wank, a joke, call it what you like, fact is they’re #1 in 2008 with 25-54, their target demo, and on track to win it again this year.

    In other words, they must be doing something very right.

  2. Gyngell needs to talk it up as much as he can. Nine has been abysmal for years now, it is an also-ran, its glory days are long over. There appears to be real problems in program development, particularly the reality series they commission. In a word, they suck. Badly. Same with their dramas. Gyngell is also forgetting that Top Gear is not a show with hugely broad appeal. Yeah, it’s entertaining, but it appeals to a relatively niche audience. It does not have the broad appeal of a variety show or even a sitcom. I note there is no mention of the ongoing problem of the tanking of Nine News in every major city, and the inability of ACA to lay much of a glove on TT.

  3. David posted: While we’re on the topic, I’m still trying to work out how an Avatar trailer fits into Australian Idol, as it did last weekend. It’s not even a music film.

    I’m also wondering why Channel 10 kept calling it an “exclusive Australian premiere” when the clip had already aired on Sunday Sunrise a good 10 hours earlier!!

  4. I am with David Gyngell on being more confident in Nine in 2010 than over the last 2 years. However I do not believe Ten will come off but rather gain audience. Ten will eventually have an extra channel most likely post-Masterchef to boost shares while their programs continue with the networks success in the middle of the year.

    Nine will be stronger as Go! was only introduced in August so it only had an impact for the last few months. The hey hey specials will rate well plus 10-15 of them will see more weekly wins plus the Winter Olympics which will give the network more exposure. The new shows are of little interest and I do not think I will watch V as Sci-fi is not my cup of tea. not into Top Gear neither. Will only watch new Two and A Half Men and ignore the repeats. Just hope Big Bang Theory continues and keeps a strong audience. The dramas especially Underbelly should be great as well as the Maria Korp telemovie.

    I believe Nine will do much better in 2010 and if they do everything right, make gains in the news and so on, they could win the year in total people. Seven might win its fourth year (impossible to lose this year) but who knows. Ten will do more harm to the others from late April to mid July next year thanks to Masterchef which could gain viewers next year.

  7. @tomothy. The annoying new trend of networks squeezing in advertising into their station IDs is a means of getting around the restrictions on advertising time each hour, as apparently station IDs with sponsorship logos don’t count as “advertising” (though clearly they are still getting paid for it). Media Watch did a story on it a couple of weeks ago after Seven started disguising a Cadbury ad as a station ID, and even now Ten seems to have done the same with an ad for the movie “2012” featuring a Ten logo.

    1. Yes I saw that MW story. This is an issue to keep our eye on, so please continue to alert me to them.

      While we’re on the topic, I’m still trying to work out how an Avatar trailer fits into Australian Idol, as it did last weekend. It’s not even a music film.

  8. why are nines and sevens ceos always so arrogant and while top gear is a good show is not the best show of tv year and it seems that many people can argue with that. @franz chong; right now men is still rating a lot higher than temptation did, but i think eventually everyone will have seen all the eps and their rating will fall and they have to put a different show in it’s time-slot

  9. I fit into all three demographics 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54. However there is nothing for me on Nine. TG will not be the best rating show of the year. Maybe for Channel Nine it will, but not across the board.
    @Patrick: “Ch 9 basically need another Don Lane show type variety format to provide a central focus to their weekly programming.”
    Nine had this, it was Micallef Tonight, but it was too quirky for Nine, go the canned it. I miss “Shaun on his High Horse”, and “Audience ParticipaShaun”

    Nine is a tired old brand that needs a shove in the right direction with a makeover too. The current onscreen graphics are beyond hideous.
    And I didnt like how GO! as incorporated the Windows 7 logo in its idents, very unprofessional. We know Nine loved MSN, but dont thow Microsoft advertising in your idents.
    V should be on GO! or SciFi, I dont know why Nine is bothering with this.

  10. V (if it takes off in the US, which I don’t think it will) will be a good fit for
    GO, but a poor one ratings wise for Nine, who’ll quickly move it to GO.

  11. It’s interesting to not DG didn’t mention any new show for GO?

    GO need to start putting on some new aussie shows. It’s a great network but I’m getting sick of Just stuff from the states.

  13. Personally I would like to see Nine return to giving us a game show at 7pm weeknights like what we had for close to thirty years during the year and only show comedies in that same timeslot over the summer.

    No More Charlie Sheen Marathons Please.

    They are getting old and tiring

  14. I know that 9 are looking at a few proposals at the moment that if done correctly could be huge, but for some reason there seems to be this reluctance to break out new ideas, and stick to the formulaic stuff which tends to be hit and miss.

    Look at what 10 did with MasterChef, Thank God You’re Here, TBYG, and many others, sure not everything 10 have done has been great, but they are out there and come off as innovative.

    Perhaps what 9 needs is a superstar franchise like programme that reaches across different media platforms, instead of this internal stoush that seems to be going on in terms of which direction the network wants to go 🙂

  15. A minty wrapper lol. he’s right though the vast majority of ad dollars goes to the 25-54 demographic which is where Nine dominate.

    I also find it interesting that Nine are winning the younger demos while Seven is skewing older each year as these roles were completely reversed in Nine’s final year at the top 2006 where Nine only won due to it’s over 55 numbers.

  16. Ch 9 basically need another Don Lane show type variety format to provide a central focus to their weekly programming.

    Whatever can be said of Rove on Ch 10, at least he provides a great springboard for Ch 10 to plug their shows.

    If 9 are willing to spend a bit of money creating a show like that then perhaps they’ll reap rewards.

  17. Sounds very cocky for a guy with limited new shows to impress:
    Winter Olympics – nice for 2 weeks
    Underbelly 3 – big meh
    Hey Hey specials – nice, will rate extremely well
    Top Gear – sure it’s good, but not the “best show on TV” by a long shot…
    V – will draw a crowd
    Sea Patrol – serious meh
    Rescue: Special Ops – will rate
    The Story of Maria Korp – who?

    I think the real reason Nine can expect to do well is because GO! has been picking up numbers so quickly (and Nine should be congratulated for that), but with this current list of shows I’ll not be tuning in any more than I currently do… [Hey Hey and Olympics an exception].

  18. “but they’re not worth a minty wrapper for revenue-generation and advertisers and media buyers. 95% of the total TV ad spend occurs in the three demos 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54”

    Yeah but Nine didn’t have a problem when those older viewers were all that was keeping them “Still The One” for so many years.

  20. Top Gear will be the best show on any commercial network next year, no one will argue [with] that. he said. Really Mr Gyngell you are sure about that. Do you think it will be better than Masterchef or Packed to the Rafters. I don’t think so. If top gear can be better than masterchef I take my hat off to nine.

    Listen to them already they think they are over the line.

  24. Top Gear is a good show no doubt; but the best show of the year? Dude it has been around for a very long time now and only hits under the million mark; no doubt I can see it hitting around the 1.3-1.4 million mark, but making bold statements like that is a little silly; When Kath and Kim came from the ABC to Seven it didn’t rise That much, the telemovie which aired on ABC hit over 2 million; Seven’s airing of Season 4 got around 500K extra viewers so assuming the same would happen with Top Gear I don’t see it going much more than 500K more than what it already gets; its not an “unknown” brand there are so many people in this country who know what that show is all about.

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