Seven’s Upfronts took place this week, with the network unveiling a wealth of new shows alongside some returning favourites and a huge sporting lineup for 2023.
This was accompanied by partnership announcements with both entertainment and gaming companies, as well as the revealing of the roadmap for CODE7+, their digital and broadcast converged trading platform.
AdNews spoke to Natalie Harvey, the national sales director of Seven Network, to discuss the importance of consistency in content, the launch of their new channel 7Bravo and the impact that winning the rights to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to have.
Harvey said that while July and August were “a little bit soft”, Seven has seen strong demand from September through to the end of the year in terms of the advertising market.
“I think that this Christmas is very important for all brands, so they're investing into television and into BVOD because they know it works and sells products.
“We actually opened this week for next year, so we've got quite a few bookings, millions of dollars on the table ready to go when we open, which is always a good sign and some early commitments on some sponsorships for next year already on some entertainment programs.”
Harvey said that consistency with their content spine - Sunrise, 7NEWS, The Chase and Home and Away - has helped to drive the strong numbers seen across the board this year.
“Layered on top of that is our strength in sport, particularly with the AFL this year, and we've seen some great results with the AFLW, and then on top of that, a bit of a refreshed general entertainment schedule, with some demo-rich content.
“We've really transformed quickly out of looking at overnights and metro only to looking at the bigger picture. If you look at 7NEWS, it's the number one program every night, with 300,000 viewers more than our closest competitor. That consistency is vital for a successful content schedule.”
While the shows premiering in 2023 - like Australian Idol - have the network excited, they’re also looking towards their new partnership with NBCUniversal to drive success next year,
“Being able to access all those shows for free on 7Plus will only drive even more viewing through the platform and there's going to be thousands of hours of content that people can watch on 7Plus and on the live broadcast as well.
“It fills a little bit of a gap that we have there on younger women, so that's where the measure of success will be for us. We're expecting to see some strong audience through there similar to what we see share-wise for 7Mate mate for men, but for women.
“I think if we're able to get the broadcast share up in terms of total network, and then have that strong audience sitting in 7Plus, that will show that it is a success.
“On top of that, an area that we're really excited to go deeper on is how we activate brands locally. NBCU has a really good track record of strong brand integrations with brands that have activated in Australia, so that's an area that we're pretty excited about as well.”
Harvey told AdNews that the one of the benefits for advertisers in the 2023 rollout of CODE7+ – their digital and broadcast converged trading platform – will be around even greater confidence in delivery.
“CODE7+ will enable us to deliver audiences across different platforms, so we will spend more time focused on strategic initiatives outside of audience trading.
“The television landscape is transforming so quickly, and when I say television, I mean broadcast and digital, so we can take out some of the pain points around delivery and ease of transaction, making it easier for people to buy our audience.”
Sports has always been a big draw for Seven, and the announcement that they’ve secured the Australian free-to-air rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup adds to their already strong slate of sporting content.
“It’s in a great time of the year – it’s the same time that we had the Commonwealth Games and the same time that we had the Olympics, so that is a good time of the year from a brand perspective.
“I used to be a media buyer, and if I was buying media now, I would start my buy with sport no matter what time of the year it is, because we know that for audiences, you get that live engagement, that talkability from a brand perspective and we see incredible results for our clients who invest in sports.
“When I was growing up, there wasn't really a big opportunity for women in sports, but now we've seen that that's transforming. I'm proud of the work that Seven does to promote women's sport and also what’s done in the community level as well."
Harvey said that the way Seven is working with brands for the World Cup is going to be different to what they’ve done in the past.
“There's going to be category exclusivity; it's going to be only a certain number of brands that will be able to be involved in it, so we're changing it up a bit.
"We'll see that those brands who do invest are going to have huge brand presence and be able to connect with that really strong audience and hopefully some amazing stories for the Matildas.”
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