Nine will give its broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) platform, 9Now, a $2 million boost by investing in its online content and data offering.
Over the summer and into the new year the network will increase its programs on 9Now with new shows, some of which will be tied into broader linear TV. Viewers online will be able to watch US drama Manifest, The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls and more.
Nine program director Hamish Turner says Nine wants to deliver for both audience and advertisers with the investment.
“Our goal with 9Now is to provide our audience with the best access to entertainment, anywhere, anytime enabling greater engagement for brands during one of busiest retail periods of the year – Christmas and into 2019,” Turner says.
Nine has more than seven million users on its BVOD platform and is one of the only Australian media companies to have built its own identity graph that links all devices to create anonymised user profiles.
“We are out with cookies and down to actual people, creating a single view of our customer in what we calling our Nine User ID,” commercial director digital sales Pippa Leary says.
“For the first time we can track how your campaign is performing, from creating brand awareness at the top of the funnel right through to conversion and sales – allowing you to track key business outcomes directly off the big screen.”
In February Turner told AdNews 40-50% of its overall video on demand streaming from December to February came from its new content stack following major investment in 9Now.
Instead of largely relying on its free-to-air content playing in catch-up VOD, Nine bought 15 new titles – equating to 1000 hours of new content in the drama and reality realm. The move was much like the style of other SVOD players, whereby users have access to the reams of box-sets as and when they want.
In July, following the success of Love Island, Turner said the network was revising its blueprint to better reach the 16-39 age demographic. The reality show had a cross-platform national audience average of 510,000, 20 episodes with more than 200,000 online views, and in some cases, episodes recording more than 60% of their combined overnight/broadcast video on demand audience via digital.
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