Seven’s new dating shows are part of a new strategy to attract young women and rule the 16-39-year-old demo.
Seven’s chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette says the network identified the demo as a key target this year and has commissioned shows, including Seven Year Switch, Kiss Bang Love, The Big Music Quiz and The Secret Daughter, due to run later this year, to win over young female eyeballs.
The strategy is not a specific response to advertiser demand, but Burnette says once Seven establishes a leadership position in this demographic, he expects it to have a pull effect on brands looking to target younger women.
So far the strategy is working. When comparing the women 16-39 audience share of the commercial network's primary channels, Seven has 46.5% share, to Nine's 26.8% and Ten's 26.7%.
Seven's analysis doesn't factor in secondary channels like 9Life, which is also targeted to this demographic and has a higher audience share than 7Flix. This ratings year, 9Life has attracted a audience share of 1.7%, but this would higher in the women's 16-39 demo, while 7Flix has an overall audience share of 0.7%.
“If you are are dominant in the top end, the 40-54s, and you want to grow further then you’ve got to target the younger end as well,” Burnette tells AdNews.
“We have actively are gone after that group while still maintaining the leadership position in audience. Also, 7Flix is designed for women aged 16 to 54, it’s Grey's Anatomy, romcoms, and that’s the way it was designed. Not a lot of people know we are leading in 16-39s.
Burnette says Seven had previously assumed that targeting females in the 30-54 bracket would pull through younger viewers, but further analysis shows that isn’t the case.
“You need to be specific, but if you only went there you would shed audience in the other demographics,” he adds. “It’s a fine balancing act, but the schedule now is very fresh and new around that particular demographic.”
Although Burnette accepts that he would have preferred higher overall ratings for Kiss Bang Love, which posted a metro audience of 513,000 in its premiere on Tuesday night, he points out the show is still doing its job.
“For who we were targeting in that demographic it was the number three show, which is fantastic,” he says.
Burnette says that young men should not feel blind sided by the female-centric programming as Seven Mate and Seven's sports coverage already caters to them.
He adds that the Rio Oympics will provide a great marketing platform for Seven to promote new shows.
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