The 2023 AFL season is set to kick off tonight, supported by advertisers including Toyota, AAMI, McDonald's and Bunnings.
Rob Maclean, Seven’s head of sport sales, says the network has had a “really positive” response, both from the advertising community and from its partners and sponsors.
“We've got a sponsor family who we've worked with closely together, many of them for a number of years now, and I think it's fair to say they really see the value, they see the effectiveness of the proposition, and the return on investment that they achieve by aligning to Seven AFL," he told AdNews.
“We've got a really fantastic track record of delivering great solutions for our partners, we've built up that trust and they see the AFL as one of the more powerful places for brands to activate across, particularly in the winter period.
"We've renewed almost every single partner that we had in 2022 and then we've added a couple of new brands to the mix as well, which is exciting to see.
“Seven AFL is a proposition that is broad, it has this mass appeal. It connects with communities and heartland Australians and provides the opportunity for these brands to connect with not only their current consumers, but potentially new ones as well and make that memorable connection.”
Maclean said that Seven’s possession of the AFL rights for the next eight years is “a real positive” for the network to be able to engage the market off the back of that renewal and approach advertisers with the confidence that Seven are strong supporters of the sport and will be all the way out to 2031.
“Footy is absolutely at the heart of our content spine, right across the year with both AFL and AFLW, and together with cricket really provides this powerful platform to have culturally relevant conversations and content experiences at scale, how and when users want it.
“What it's enabled us to do is talk to advertisers about how we will build for growth - we're not waiting until 2025 when the live streaming kicks in, we're building now.
“If you look at our 7Plus platform, we're revamping our AFL hub there to serve up more and relevant content to footy fans. We've added a new match sensor into 7NEWS.com.au to ensure that's a really premium experience during the coverage of live footy. We're continuing to invest in our seven AFL social platform to ensure they remain a leading destination for footy fans.
Maclean said that all of these pieces coming into place ultimately means that brands see confidence in Seven’s ability to deliver consistency into the future and to forge and strengthen partnerships.
“We know the power of that because longevity and association with a platform can ultimately deliver wonderful brand health outcomes. There's a lot of excitement that we've secured the rights, and they know that we will be building for growth and that'll be a good thing for the brands.
“Certainly when the new rights kick in, that will enable us to deliver an even more personalised, dynamic experience. Obviously live streaming will come in, but things such as dynamic interactions, geotargeted experiences, watch parties, more AR - these are the sorts of things that will excite new fans and also create more ways in for brands to meaningfully engage with those fans as well.”
Maclean said that the numbers behind the AFL – the fact that it can reach in excess of 14 million Australians via the broadcast nationally each year, more than 3.4 million Australians each week and it connects with “more youth, more females and more live viewers than the competing winter codes” – makes the national sell-through for Seven easier when pitching to advertisers.
“We're in such a fortunate position now of being able to have one conversation with brands to put them in front of not only a Metro audience, but those regional towns and communities as well.
“Obviously, it's about building an audience - brands can achieve a 38% uplift in viewership by adding regional to a Friday night footy buy, for instance - but it's so much more than just the incrementality of that audience.
“They are a heartland, passionate audience, they love their footy and they love brands who want to connect with communities as well, so it's a really valuable audience. To that end, our sell through - the partners that have not only bought into Metro, but that regional - has been incredibly strong and that's building on what we saw through the most recent summer of cricket as well."
Maclean said a key advantage is not just Seven’s ability to put brands in front of fans on its own platforms, but the scenario within the rights deal whereby it has the ability to put brands in front of fans on the Foxtel and Kayo platforms as well, something Maclean said is “incredibly unique, and there's nothing else like it in this country.”
“If you take a Friday night football match, for example, brands can connect with fans on Seven via Metro cities, on Seven via regional cities, but also via siren to siren ad break placement on Foxtel and Kayo.
“The benefit of that is comfort and security, because as the way fans engage with the content evolves, that's protection for them, because we can unlock the complete audience potential - wherever they're watching, we can put brands alongside that audience.
“That's not only for our partners and sponsors, but it's for the rest of the market as well in terms of spot buyers. It's a really unique proposition and a powerful one and one that will continue into the next rights deal beyond 2025 as well.”
Maclean said that there’s a definite level of crossover between advertisers who choose to get involved in AFL in the winter and then continue that spend through to cricket in the summer, or vice versa.
“You build up this wonderful brand equity and brand health across the course of the season and it's a real opportunity to continue to build on that out of the back of it rather than coming off entirely. The halo that can be achieved if you then continue on to cricket is incredibly powerful and I think brands have recognised the power of that.
“The other part to it as well is that both cricket and AFL offer what we call the most powerful 30 seconds in media. For AFL, that is that 30 second ad placement between goals during live play. The cricket equivalent is the 30 seconds in between overs.
“Both formats are incredibly unique and powerful by enabling brands to essentially show up and be part of the story in and around live activity and we know how effective that can be. The first positioning break of any ad placement delivers the highest active attention and when you're talking about AFL, you’re essentially talking about back to back to back, first in break SOLUS placements.
Maclean said that the cut through and recall that brands can achieve through unlocking that placement is “super, super powerful” and when you look at the entirety of the year, the ability to be part of that ad placement and drive that connection with fans, and to do so particularly if they're an official partner in a contextually relevant way, is “super important.”
“Not only is that important as it relates to inside sport content, but just across our platform more broadly as well. So, for instance, we have over 1.2 million identifiable AFL fans who have either watched footy-related content on 7Plus or bought tickets to a game.
“We're having conversations with brands around how they can continue to connect with that footy loving audience when they're not watching footy, but something else, and certainly continue the conversation with that target audience.
“We're constantly diving into our Seven Red IQ database to pull out those insights and be able to have a really informed conversation with brands about what the right mix is for them across the year.”
Looking at sports sales across the year – outside of just the AFL – Maclean said that while it’s a tougher market and uncertainty exists, the support of the AFL in terms of the partnership additions and renewals has been “a real shot in the arm for the effectiveness of live sport and its ability to have a real relevance in culture.”
“We talk a lot about shaping culture and changing behaviour and brands want to be a part of that. From a motorsport perspective, we've got the Supercars and six big blockbuster rounds of the year; we've been able to renew our partners on that and add some new brands into the mix as well.
“One of the ones we’re the most excited about is the Women's World Cup coming up in July and August. The interest, excitement and enthusiasm towards that property, and we're selling it in a slightly different way than we have previous major events, has been really incredible to see.
Maclean said that the network is going to market as a fully national proposition for the Women's World Cup, with Seven and 7Plus alongside Optus Sport (who it sublicenses the rights from), meaning Seven will be able to deliver a fully converged national proposition.
“There’s two unique aspects to this - we'll be able to deliver a really low-clutter, high-impact environment, so there'll be a limited number of brands that can play in and around this space to ensure they really cut through in a meaningful way.
“It’ll be category exclusive as well, so a real chance to own the environment and build brand love in a clean, brand safe way - there's a lot of excitement towards it.”
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