Nine is backing a full-service media platform to keep shareholders happy after it floats next week. This week it rolled in the world’s biggest online newspaper into a sizeable digital platform. The company is bullish. But not so much that it thinks it can take Seven’s TV crown in 2014.
At least across all people – the old folks are spoiling it. Seven talked up the value of the older demographic at its upfronts. But Nine argues, who needs a crown atop a blue rinse? Seven was talking about the 40 to 64 demographic, but according to OzTam data, Nine won across everybody under 65.
At its upfronts this week, Andrew Backwell, Nine’s director of programming, said that was what mattered. “You read in the paper that Seven has won the year, but that is because of its complete dominance in 65-plus,” he said.
Seven could have that demographic, he said, because “you don’t commercialise those 65, 75, 85 year old viewers at the same level that you do the 25-55 year old viewers.” He said the network was “exactly where we want it to be, our schedule is fantastic and our expectation is that we will win all the key demographics next year”.
But could it win across all viewers in 2014? Sales boss Peter Wiltshire said no. The older folks and Perth were Nine’s “weakness” and Seven’s strength. The network does have something to offer in terms of old folks: The Rolling Stones are touring Australia in 2014. Nine has a commercial involvement which creates an opportunity for a big “Coles [and One Direction] type association”, Wiltshire said.
There is also an offer for both young and old, provided Nine gets something back. Wiltshire flagged Nine’s new loyalty program, Perkle, as a “big data play” for targeted advertising. Also under the Nine bonnet is the Xbox platform, Skype, which Wiltshire said Nine would commercialise, Ticketek TV and Songl.
The only weapon missing from the Nine arsenal is analytics, Wiltshire said. It has some 16.5 million IDs across the Windows platform, but it wants to be able to measure eyeballs across TV and online simultaneously. When they wander from one screen to the next, they can still be targeted and their purchase intent tracked. It’s an attribution play.
“Trying to measure the activity, cross-platform, of a consumer viewing broadcast TV and what they are doing with their second-screen device while they are viewing is a really big issue for the industry,” Wiltshire said.
He thinks that the measurement industry will have “some sort of product in the market in 2015”. But a year’s a long time for a listed company. Nine could well be building something of its own in the meantime.
This article first appeared in the 29 November 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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