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Warburton brands 10 “desperate”

James Warburton has come out all guns blazing against 10 after a pitch to advertisers yesterday.

Seven CEO James Warburton has come out all guns blazing against 10, after the network made a pitch to advertisers yesterday.

In its Up Close presentation yesterday, 10 Chief Sales Officer Rod Prosser encouraged advertisers to align with socially progressive values.

“I encourage you to ask yourself whether media companies and publishers, 10 ViacomCBS included, are doing all they can to align with the values of your consumers?” he said. “Are we being held to account as strongly as your customers hold you to account? Today brands must reach the most progressive, switched-on, socially active fan-heavy audience. A high value customer is a high intent customer. And if you want to reach those customers at scale, we can do that. We are no longer the third network. We are one of three, and our audience has more income, more purchase intent, and is more socially progressive,” he said.

But Seven CEO James Warburton, a former CEO of 10 himself, told the Australian Financial Review, “Three odd million people watch the Seven and Nine news brands every single night. That absolutely dwarfs everything they do. They program for 90 minutes a day, they’re irrelevant in the back end of the week. Their biggest franchise just halved. That just sounds desperate.”

Yesterday 10 spruiked its upcoming 2021 content including Australian Survivor, Celebrity MasterChef,  The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Masked Singer, Making It Australia, Mirror Mirror and The Dog House Australia.

National Sales Director Lisa Squillace, who was poached from Seven to 10, said the network was the leading network in Under 50s viewers.

“10 ViacomCBS is undisputed in Under 50s. 49% of our audience in 25-54 is significantly higher than Seven and Nine’s. We are the youngest Free to Air network, and our audience thinks younger too. By that, I mean we don’t have the rusted-on viewers with fixed mindsets and habits that can’t be broken. Our audience is more progressive. It’s open to new products, new brands and new ideas. Our audience sees something, they act. They love something, they share. They like something, they buy. More progressive means more valuable to you,” she said.

In the current survey year, Nine leads with a 38.7% share then Seven 33.1% and 10 28.2% share.

21 Responses

  1. I watch a lot of 10…but I don’t count…I am as old as dirt…..
    I don’t watch news much anymore…I miss Tim…his joy…his nightly pics and his charity sojourns….worse mistake 10 made…among many they let go…..
    I think 7 are worried to be making such a big fuss…just my opinion…

  2. … 10 was very successful as a ‘yoof’ station years ago before people like Warburton got their fingers in it … it may not have been the ‘top’ rating, but it delivered its target demographic in spades and was very profitable as a result … then they did stupid things like trying to take on 9 and 7 (not to mention ABC and SBS) in news … spent a load of money and went broke … the best thing ViacomCBS could do with them is take them back to the way they were, much as Viacom has been doing with Channel 5 in the UK …

  3. 10 is right. Most of the audience for 7 and 9 news would be older and not big spenders.Shows like The Project do not rate as high but with a much younger audience, are the ones who are spending, meaning much higher value to advertisers. You can see 7 now chasing 10 with younger shows like Big Brother and the talent shows. The 28% share 10 has is not insignificant.

    1. Yep there’s older viewers watching News but it also gets a ton of younger viewers. If you look at the 25-54’s ranking this week, both Seven and Nine News are right near the top. News has been #1 in 25-54’s 3 of 5 days.

  4. Comments like this usually indicate that at a board level there has been discussion on 10. The cold hard reality is that ViacomCBS has way deeper pockets than Stokes. 10 is still lagging behind , but I am assuming that their potential is gaining momentum.

      1. 10 not too flash in terms of linear tv. But then Seven are the only ones without a paid streaming product, which is where the future profit is

  5. The detail on content was bang on. Yes Masterchef has halved on last year, yep they’re dead at the end of the week (Soccer won’t fix that). After the 7.30 program they sit in an audience void with way too many repeats.
    The Ten Sales Director comment on leading under 50’s isn’t quite true. Nine and Seven both have more under 50’s than 10.

    1. Yes Seven and Nine have more under 50s in total audience size, but I think 10 is saying a higher % of their audience is under 50 (I.e. If you want 50 with 10)

  6. If they’re desperate and irrelevant, why give them oxygen by making such brash statements?

    Just ignore them if you’re not at all threatened by them.

    Ch 10 would be delighted with this free headline from the competition.

      1. Agree, ten is a huge mess, the brand is on life support, news watched by nobody, the network has been ignored for years Friday and Saturday nights, and nothing fires except for noisy and expensive reality and even that is hit and miss… much rather be 7 or 9… you can put lipstick on a pig all you want but it’s not going to make it look any better

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