Streaming channel 7Bravo, eight months after it first went to air, now reaches 3.8 million viewers a month on the Seven Network and 358,000 on 7plus.
The partnership between Seven and NBCUniversal International Networks & Direct-to-Consumer draws on NBCUniversal’s portfolio of reality content, including unscripted TV franchises and series from Bravo and E!, plus true crime content from Oxygen True Crime.
Director of 7RED, Katie Finney, said every month, 7Bravo continues to grow.
In August 2023, 7Bravo’s average broadcast audience was up 60% versus its first full month in February, up 29% in people 25 to 54 and up 25% in women 25 to 54. Over the past eight months, more than 686 million minutes of 7Bravo content have been streamed on 7plus.
"With the economy. people are looking to rationalise their spend - we're giving our viewers the hottest place to get this content for free," Finney told AdNews.
"With these supercharged reality formats, a lot of the people in Australia haven't been able to view them before if they didn't have a subscription service, so it's been a really great benefit for our viewers, but it's also bringing new viewers to Seven, because it's a really complimentary suite of programming.
"It was very different to what we'd had before so that's been a really big benefit for us."
7Bravo has boosted Seven’s broadcast audience share, finding its greatest success in its target market of women 25 to 54. Among all commercial multichannels, 7Bravo ranks third in viewership by women 25+ and holds the fourth highest percentage of viewers in women 25 to 54 and 16 to 54.
Finney said Seven had already had the success of 7Mate for several years targeting a primarily male demographic and now to have a channel that targets women 25 to 54, and also the younger skew of women 18 to 39, and with Bravo content, the network has been able to talk to those audiences and get brands closer to those viewers.
"That's why we extend from an advertising point of view opportunities to integrate with influencers and really engage audiences at a level that is certainly targeting those women and also the harder to reach women in the 18 to 39 category as well."
Finney said that Seven is continuing to grow brands coming on board; from when launching at Seven's Upfronts last year, there was a lot of excitement in the market because for a long time, brands may not have been able to actually get close to that content.
"We've got over 500 brands advertising across our metro, regional and 7Plus content in 7Bravo, which is fantastic, and it's brought new brands to Seven as well," she said.
"We're seeing brands that may have been digital-first buying on 7Plus, coming across to the linear channels, and vice versa and also embracing our piece of buying on a converged approach in terms of audience delivery.
"This is the perfect channel to actually do that because the makeup of the different programmes differ on the linear channel and we're seeing a lot more of the Oxygen content doing really well. And then in 7Plus is those super streamers watching VOD with the Below Deck and the Real Housewives and those other franchises definitely delivering the big audiences."
Shows coming soon to 7Bravo include Below Deck Down Under season 2, Below Deck season 10, Botched season 8, Buried in the Backyard season 5, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss, Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake, Vanderpump Rules season 10, The Edge with Orlando Bloom, House of Villains, Made in Chelsea season 25, Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard and much more.
Seven’s director of content scheduling, Brook Hall, said 7Bravo now makes up 7% of all streamed minutes on 7plus, with 79% of this content viewed on big screens through connected TVs.
“Audiences have responded to our massive collection of free binge-worthy and award-winning shows – helping our commercial partners achieve reach and impact across engaged and hard to reach younger female viewers,” he said.
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