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Report: Nine poised for $525m Australian Open deal

If a new deal is done, Nine would pay over 60% more to lock in tournament until 2030.

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Nine is reportedly on the cusp of a deal for the Australian Open rights at over $500m -according to a report in Nine newspapers.

The five year extension, yet to be confirmed, would give Nine rights through to 2030.

According to the article, Nine’s tennis deal could be worth about $105 million a year – or $525 million over five years – including advertising credits or “contra”, according to the sources who could not speak publicly because the talks are confidential.

That would represent a big lift on the last deal at $60m a year and Seven’s last deal worth $35m annually.

Of course the timing of the AO in the calendar is pivotal given its run-up to the start of ratings survey, but the loss of big names including Ash Barty, is likely to impact viewership.

James Warburton Seven CEO recently told TV Tonight, “If they pay $100 million for the tennis, good on them.”

Tennis Australia is reportedly keen to finalise its deal ahead of Cricket Australia’s next broadcast rights -those bids were due last Friday with Seven, Nine, Paramount and Foxtel all said to be in the mix.

Nine declined to comment on its own speculation while a Tennis Australia spokesperson said: “We continue to have productive conversations. No deal has been done.”

9 Responses

  2. I think some are forgetting the noted sports rights inflation has returned, a la the recent AFL deal, not to mention paying overs to lock out rivals as well.

    And an understatement is what the tournament and wider summer do overall (not just one or two players or big matches), all those tuning-in and out including on the app selecting what court you want to watch. All it can take it one Bunnings ad or Married promo for their jobs to have worked so to speak.

  4. 9 has been very lucky with their current contract, Barty, Kyrgios at the top of their game and big 3 + Serena in their twilight years. This has been a golden era. It would be a risk to assume that will continue until 2030. by 2025 Nadal and Djokovic will be on the way out, if not retired already. They need to start hyping the next generation now if the rights are going to get their money’s worth.

  5. This has repercussions on the cricket deal. 9 is paying a lot for what is essentially 2 weeks of tennis and a couple of weeks of minor tournaments. 7 and Foxtel both have paid a lot for the AFL. It leaves cricket wide open for 10 and Paramount. If you have ever watched A-league on Paramount, there should be alarm bells ringing. The app is terrible and lacks basic features and 10 pushes most games each week behind the paywall.
    As for tennis and 9, they haven’t done badly. Thankfully AO is never locked behind paywall on Stan, but all games are available on 9Now for free. They can do more with marketing including competitions, free tickets, etc but so far so good

    1. “paying a lot for what is essentially 2 weeks of tennis.” – if the figures quoted in this article are correct – they’re paying $7.5 million per day to broadcast the event. Crazy
      Anyway..they need somewhere to over promote MAFS I guess.

  6. I predict that 9 will continue with the tennis until 2030. Nine do have a good relationship with TA and will use it on various platforms including print, radio and podcasts. GTV-9 had a strong association with telecasts including Carols by Candlelight, AFL (2002-06), Storm NRL matches and now the AO.

    1. Agreed. Without big draws like Federer, Barty and a declining Nadal, Serena it certainly has lost some of its glamour.

      If you didn’t have one of the big three men or Barty the finals had relatively poor ratings.

      Big risk!!

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