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5 Year Plan: ABC moves towards “digital majority” audience.

Multichannels to be 'respositioned', commissions for iview first, as ABC moved towards a digital future.

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ABC has announced a 5 year plan towards digital platforms as it follows a “digital majority” audience.

Over the next five years, the ABC will undergo a significant transition from maintaining both traditional broadcast and digital processes towards becoming an integrated digital operation.

ABC says while broadcast will “remain important”, by 2028, more than half of the ABC’s audience engagement will be via digital services.

ABC multi-channels will be “re-positioned to align more closely to audience preferences. We will have reduced overlaps across broadcast audio services and reduced our investment in AM band transmission.”

There will be increased investment in core digital products ABC listen, ABC iview (including to upgrade) and ABC News.

ABC will also move towards commissioning for iview first in the future.

The ABC in a statement says it will “enhance its primary digital products, ABC News, ABC iview and ABC listen, to provide a seamless, personalised service that enables audiences to more easily discover content that is relevant to them.”

Managing Director David Anderson said “By 2028, the ABC will serve more Australians on the platform of their choice with made-for-digital content and journalism on ABC News, ABC iview, ABC listen and on major third-party platforms.

“Australians trust and value the ABC and this will not change. As we move through this period of digital evolution, Australians can continue to rely on us for the content and services that inform, educate and entertain.

“Our audiences can be assured we will safeguard traditional broadcast services as long as these remain essential for keeping Australians informed and entertained.

“As Australia changes, so must the ABC.

“This means changing to meet the needs of our audiences wherever they live. We will continue to serve all Australians, contribute to our national identity and remain an essential part of daily life.”

ABC said ABC will continue to inform, educate, and entertain.

“We will serve and strengthen communities with trusted, impartial and independent news. We will produce specialised content that contributes to and celebrates Australian culture. We will tell stories that reflect, shape, and enrich the lives of Australians” it said in a statement.

This post updates.

15 Responses

  1. The ABC is forgetting that the vast majority of regional Australia has very bad (3rd world) internet coverage. Driving in Qld, about 80kms north of Longreach, you have nothing, because ABCs AM service has been switched to FM, which doesn’t have as big a coverage footprint as AM. You can’t stream anything because there’s no mobile reception. The Federal Government investigating turning ABCs Shortwave service back on, because since it was switched off a few years ago, vast areas of Australia have had no radio coverage at all, and little to no reliable internet, and no mobile coverage. It’s ok for ABC to increase it’s digital presence in cities, but in the bush, a large portion of their audience will have no access to programming if they shut down AM broadcasts.

  2. I don’t disagree with what’s being said, but I wish they could incorporate SBS content into their digital apps.

    I’m not saying merge the two, calm down. I’m saying share tech stack/infrastructure.

    There is no reason to have 2 sets of UX designers, engineers, product teams, QA teams, DevOps teams etc etc etc.

    It’s very easy to have it so SBS content has x ads and ABC has none. They can easily maintain separate identity – look at “Lifestyle channel” content in Foxtel app for example.

    Shared services = more money for programming.

  3. And with all content hosted locally, I presume? There’s a reason we’re finally seeing movement around satellite capacity – about six reasons actually, all fairly vulnerable to breakage and mostly lying underwater to the north/northwest of us. Major subsea outage and no terrestrial infrastructure? It’s Your 404.

  4. …. I’m a little confused … there is currently a Five-Year Plan 2020-2025 which has 46 pages and goes into a reasonable level of detail … now we have another five-year plan halfway into the existing five-year plan that is 12 pages, mostly either pictures or motherhood statements that says virtually nothing but refers on page 6 to an “accompanying Background to the Plan document” except it’s not there … the booklet itself has a picture of a cartoon dog straddling the world but, given that it is the BBC that owns the world rights to said dog, not the ABC, I’m not sure of the significance of that … so having read the “plan” I’m none the wiser as to what or even why? can anyone enlighten me?

  5. I think a few people need to get off the some elderly people are not tech savvy bandwagon. My generation now in their 60s are quiet tech-savvy and have worked our way from the first birth of the net and laptops to today’s tech-savvy environment very comfortably and are therefore very much capable of handling these changes. Even my 90 year old father can handle the internet and mobile phone. Though apps do his head in sometimes.
    The world is moving to digital and i must admit i am using SBS on demand and iview a lot more than the TV channels. The NRL on 9 is the only time I cross to commercial TV and they are more likely to fail by 2028 than the ABC. Channel 10 is a perfect example of a basket cask waiting to be put out to pasture.

    1. Good point. My grandfather is in his mid 70’s and uses on demand apps on his TV. He gets frustrated by it all sometimes but he gives it his best shot.

      1. I’m in that age group too…I’m a retired CPA and I was into computers in the late 80s for work…I was in charge of the networking and used to keep the “monster” up and running for a national housing association…I’ve even taught my daughter nearing 50 quite a few things about software, using apps, a demo of my smart tv when she decided to buy a new one, I showed her how I installed Foxtel up grade to IQ 5 with hard drive myself and even some features she was unaware of Xero on her iPhone that she uses for her business….not all us oldies but goodies struggle with the digital era….I believe it’s called “tech savvy “.

  6. Just another sign we don’t need the ABC anymore, and they should no longer be funded. The purpose of the ABC is to provide access to all, and they already focus too much on digital side.
    Regional areas, especially further out, still don’t have access to all the multi-channels, and have much limited access internet wise. With the broken NBN, I don’t see that changing much in the short term either.

    1. NBN Fixed Wireless is undergoing a major upgrade which will improve it’s speed up to 250 mbps. And extra 120,000 customers will be able to ditch Sky Muster and join up to it. Sky Muster will only have to serve a much smaller number, who haven’t signed up to another commerical satellite service. People in urban areas with HFC connection will not get anything approaching that until their NBN connections are upgraded to fibre to the premises. The ABC will be competing against the rest of the internet and will become a niche service competing against Netflix, Disney+, The BBC, PBS etc. and will not remain a mainstream one. Already the ABC has more revenue all the other FTA networks combined and doesn’t have to show ads, yet only the same share as Paramount’s main channel. It’s radio audience is collapsing as people use Spotify etc. and listen to music podcasts that suit their own tastes.

      2. Not all areas have options, and upgrades take time. The problem is most people can’t think beyond their own needs, and forget regional areas.
        HFC technology is fine, the problem was co-existing with current services, and making use of untested frequency ranges.

      3. I have no problems getting 900+ mbps on my HFC NBN connection. The problem is that I can’t afford the monthly cost. On the other hand, my daughter has FTC & the best they can do is 50mbps. The issues with the NBN are certainly not just in the regional areas … but I do accept that the major cities are generally better served overall.

    2. “Just another sign we don’t need the ABC anymore, and they should no longer be funded.”

      I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree, as I strongly believe that we should have a fully funded public broadcaster covering all of the broadcast mediums, TV, radio, etc. etc. With all the misinformation going on these days, having a such is even more important.

  7. I think that’s a reasonable outlook. Having visibility on mainstream platform services is crucial for any channel. It’s preferable to be present on platforms that offer various streaming services and channel bouquets in one place.

    However, achieving this may be more challenging than the change from analog to digital. Instead of phasing out or transitioning services or platforms, I think the goal should be to be available on as many platforms, bouquets, or services as possible. This will ensure optimal visibility in a diverse landscape of viewing options.

    Even the transition from analog to digital posed difficulties, especially for non-tech-savvy individuals. Some elderly people still rely solely on free-to-air TV without smart or streaming capabilities, unlike younger generations.

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