The ABC is making moves to shore up revenue opportunities as a deal announced today with Virgin Airlines signals its intentions to survive against a backdrop of cuts.
Passengers on Virgin’s domestic and international flights will be able to access exclusive ABC news bulletins via its in-flight app following a new tie-up with the airline.
The partnership between Virgin Airlines and ABC will see exclusive content made available to travellers in the shape of four separate 15-minute daily news bulletins covering news, sport and weather.
The move, by ABC’s commercial arm, comes in the wake of yesterday’s announcement that the broadcaster is on course to suffer $254m of cuts over the next five years.
ABC Commercial director Robert Patterson said: “I am thrilled that ABC Commercial are to partner with Virgin Australia and offer such a great news service, along with the variety of ABC comedy, drama and children’s programming to travellers on Virgin Australia flights.”
Qantas recently quit its partnership with Nine and handed responsibility for its in-flight entertainment content and advertising to MCN and Foxtel, as part of the airline's overhaul of on-board services. MCN quickly followed the announcement with the unveiling of Mercedes-Benz as its first advertising partner.
Virgin Australia’s wireless In-Flight Entertainment app has been downloaded more than 1.4 million times since January 2013. The ABC bulletins were also introduced to Virgin Australia’s fleet earlier this month, through the airline’s seatback entertainment system, Red.
Virgin Australia chief customer officer Mark Hassell said: “The Virgin brand was born in entertainment and has a long history of leading this space. Today we are delighted to be taking our in-flight content offering to the next level with one of the most comprehensive and reputable news services in Australia.”
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