Clive Bingwa, poached by Nine from Initiative Perth in late 2017, has been on on a mission to take on the "dominant" Seven West Media, while strengthening the network's ties with the local community and growing its news offering.
Bingwa, now MD and sales director at Nine in Western Australia, is synonymous with the local media market, previously leading 303 MullenLowe's media operations for 16 years before joining the IPG Mediabrands agency.
Bought on the change the direction of Nine's WA operations, he has been pivotal in improving the company's advertiser offering, managing the impacts of the Fairfax merger and growing audiences in primetime and with its main news platforms.
Bingwa told AdNews he was attracted to the opportunity of turning Nine into a "suitable challenger" to Seven, while also creating a business in market that could provide a more dynamic solution for advertisers across more than just TV.
"Seven are the dominant player and have had a significant heritage in the market. I think quite a few people questioned why I would want to play in that field in WA," Bingwa says.
"I took on the role for no lack of a better reason other than the thrill of the challenge and the ability to be able to make a difference. I'm convinced that with the business that we've got, we can actually be a suitable challenger for Seven."
Since taking on the role, Nine has seen a 4.8% increase year-on-year with total individuals in primetime on its main channel and 1.8% year-on-year across the entire network.
However, Bingwa says it's not all about "pegging itself against Seven" and that the business is making a concerted effort to be a "competitive communications business" for the state.
This is in part due to the changing landscape in Perth and greater WA following the end of the mining boom and the subsequent downturn in the economy.
The city is now returning to what some have described as "financial equilibrium" and is starting to find its feet again.
Bingwa says the major shift has also created a "new Perth", one with a different audience, consumer and worker.
"There are different demographic groups that live here and there are new levels of opportunity. So, for us it's really about redefining the way we see the state and the way the state sees itself which means new energy, a new approach, new stories,' he says.
"When you start investing back into the market, you expect a response and we've seen that response from what is a very different demographic to a few years ago."
One of the core factors behind this has been community engagement, according to Bingwa. Nine has improved this strategy by creating a hyper-local news focus.
Year-on-year growth for the Perth market only, including Nine News, Nine News 6:30, Nine News Saturday & Nine News Sunday has seen 1.5% growth in overnight viewership.
"What we've done is had a look at what is working and what isn't working across the community in regards to our news, entertainment and advertising," Bingwa says.
"There's a strong degree of visibility from a brand perspective but there's also this strong degree of hyper localisation to talk to communities and recognise them for their individual voices.
"At a consumer level, beyond entertaining and informing, I think it's really important to have a strong one-on-one connection, to be able to have a voice and to be able to articulate exactly what's going on in Perth and reflect what I like to refer to as the new Perth."
This one-to-one connection has been also established through Nine's event business, which also includes the valuable Skyworks contract.
Skyworks is a fireworks show in Perth held each year on Australia Day over Perth Water, the section of the Swan River adjacent nearest to the CBD.
Nine were awarded the contract for the event last year, on a 12-month contract, but have recently had it extended by a further two-years following recent success.
Bingwa says events such as the Skyworks allow Nine to have a "very real" on-ground presence in Perth, while also helping connect relevant brands to the community.
"If you have a look at the majority of the large events and the large community events now reside at Nine. Some of those have been loaded through in the last 18 months," Bingwa says.
"Now, the tender process on something like Skyworks was fairly comprehensive but what we were able to do was demonstrate how we can connect the community more compellingly and as a result of that, we were awarded, and then extended, on that contract."
While a strong focus has been on engaging the community locally through news, entertainment and events, it has also been a focus of Bingwa's and his team to develop greater brand integration for clients.
The recent Nine/Fairfax merger has played a significant role in creating a stronger local offering for clients looking to engage with the Perth market.
Bingwa says the business now works closer than ever with both WA Today and radio station 6PR to produce cross-platform campaigns for advertisers, whether that be major national clients operating out of Perth such as the TAB, RAC, HBF and Cash Converters or local small businesses.
"What the merger allowed us to do is to be able to join the dots on solutions in an integrated neutral manner. We've been working closely with the teams at WA Today, Fairfax Digital and also collaborating with 6PR to be able to develop and deliver integrated solutions seamlessly," Bingwa says.
"At a consumer level too, we're a population of 2.2 or 2.3 million. So as an overall market, it's a relatively easy place to test propositions, to see what works, what doesn't work, what moves the needle, what doesn't move the needle.
"Perth remains a great market to further develop the Nine brand and identify further opportunities for growth."
(Disclosure: The reporter went to Perth as a guest of Nine)
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