SBS director of TV Tony Iffland has emphasised the importance of tentpole TV such as the A-League, the World Cup and Tropfest in drawing in viewers to the network and grow its audience share.
The hybrid public broadcaster/commercial TV network held its upfronts yesterday in Sydney, rolling out a slate of upcoming programming. One of the highlights will be its coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. SBS has the exclusive broadcast rights across all platforms including TV, digital and radio for every match.
Iffland said this will equate to 700 hours of coverage across 64 live matches. Asked if digital rights are crucial in the modern TV age, Iffland told AdNews: “It's absolutely ingrained in what you do, in everything we do. It's almost a deal breaker if you can't get digital rights, we really seriously look at a deal and look at whether this is a deal you want to do.
“In 95% of cases, we have the full suite of rights so we can provide the level of engagement and access that audiences in 2013 and 2014 demand.”
In addition to the World Cup, Iffland identified the A-League, Tropfest and the Tour de France as other tentpole programs for the network.
“[Those programs allow SBS to] aggregate big audiences and we can talk to those people and open up the world of SBS to them. It's quite a multi-layered approach in how we [grow audiences].”
He elaborated: “There's a couple of things we need to do. We need to have a real consistency about what we do. We have a committed audience who watch us and then we have what I like to call a promiscuous audience, who dip in and out. We have to have consistency so that every time they come to us, they have an experience they enjoy and then they start to build a viewing habit with us. So that's the long game.”
Iffland said the launch of SBS2 attracted an extra one million viewers to the network within the first three months which had not been on the network in the three months prior. Calling it an “unmitigated success”, Iffland said SBS2 grew the network's 16 to 39 audience 74% year-on-year.
On that front, forthcoming programming highlights on SBS2 will see The Feed extended to a 30-minute program, a new comedy commission hosted by The Chaser's Chas Licciardello, Orphan Black, which has been generating a lot of buzz internationally, and the free-to-air premiere of The Walking Dead. A-League games will also be on SBS2.
SBS will also broadcast Junior Eurovision in 2014 and Rockwiz will return.
In drama, a new series called Rectify, featuring Australian actors Aden Young (Cosi) and Adelaide Clemens (Parade's End), will debut next year as well as World War II dramas Generation War, Spies of Warsaw and Restless. Returning series include the original Danish version of The Bridge, Borgen, Vikings and Masters of Sex.
Living with the Enemy, a factual series about social cohesion, The Great Australian Race Riot, a three-part documentary series about racism, riots and reconciliation, and Australia's Secret Heroes, a series about an Australian special forces unit, anchors new factual programming. The Once Upon A Time series will continue with the Punchbowl instalment to debut in January and a commission for one set in Carlton, Melbourne.
The next series of Who Do You Think You Are will explore the ancestral backgrounds of Andrew Denton, Jacki Weaver, Rebecca Gibney, Richard Roxburgh and Lisa McCune.
Food programming highlights will include Gourmet Farmer Afloat, Luke Nguyen's France, Mexican Fiesta with Peter Kuruvita and Shane Delia's Spice Journey Turkey.
SBS's indigenous TV channel, NITV, will feature In The Frame, Kriol Kitchen and Hard Rock Medical.
It will also continue to have themed nights, such as Thursday night food night, which Iffland said brought “some uplift and some new audiences” to the network.
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