What did advertisers think of Nine Upfronts?

Media buyers have given the tick to Nine’s Upfront presentation and the depth of total TV, total audio and total publishing, as well as going after youth audiences across their various assets.

There was much enthusiasm around the 2024 Olympics, if some curiosity in seeing how it plays on given the timezone differences.

AdNews spoke with several advertisers for their reactions.

Here are two excerpts.

Michael Kay, client experience officer at Havas Media Network, said overall it was a confident showing from Nine just two weeks after their FY23 results were released.

“Backing tried and tested content properties on broadcast such as MAFS, LEGO Masters and The Block with a fresh injection of new shows (Food Stars, Blood on the Tracks and Jeopardy with Stephen Fry some stand-outs). There were also some really smart content syndication strategies to try and bring in younger and more diverse audiences via Stan and Pedestrian TV whilst driving future subscription revenue for Stan.

“The Olympics and Paralympics in Paris will be another cultural moment where Australia comes together, and fresh off the recent national wave of excitement given to us by the Matildas at the Women’s World Cup, it wasn’t surprising to see this segment get so much focus.

“The Paris time zone remains a challenge, but securing this event until the Brisbane 2032 games is a long-term strategic play and it gives Nine a real advantage next year both in the lead up to and during the event as a marketing platform for the second half of 2024. It will be an incredible showcase and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the immersive and interactive elements that were announced for viewers.

Tom Kirkham, head of transformation at OMD Sydney said,”Returning programming such as ‘MAFS‘, ‘The Block‘, ‘The Hundred‘, ‘Travel Guides‘ and ‘Lego Masters‘ will hero their schedule with Nine testing a few new series such as ‘Gordon Ramsey’s Food Stars‘, ‘Do We Really Want To Live Forever‘, ‘For The Love Of Pets‘ and ‘Human Error‘ drama.

“Nine pride themselves on their sport line-up recognising the importance of sport to capture light TV viewers. The “Summer of Tennis” and in particular “The Australian Open” in January sets them up for the quarter (Q1) before the NRL season begins in March. Nine will have a strong winter with “State of Origin” in May-July leading up to the Paris Olympic Games on July 26 2024.

“It was interesting to see ‘Millionaire Hot Seat‘ being replaced by ‘Tipping Point Australia‘ in the fringe time-slot (5PM-6PM). Up against the ‘The Chase’ on Seven and “10 News First” on Ten, this is a critical time-slot to win leading into the all-important news programming at 6PM. Seven News still consistently dominates, so this could be Nine’s hope to switch viewers to Nine News.”

You can read more at AdNews.