With only two days until the 2022 Commonwealth Games begins in Birmingham, the event is slated to be one of the premier television events of the year.
The Seven Network is the broadcast partner for the games and Rob Maclean, national sport sales director at Seven Network, spoke to AdNews about the opportunity for brands.
“We are very pleased with the strong response from the market with major brands across Australia supporting Seven’s live and exclusive coverage of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“We are delighted with the number of new partners who have come on board and returning brands who saw excellent results through their support of Seven’s previous major events, including Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, and see the benefit of activating around a major broadcast event with truly national appeal as a way to reach mass and engaged audiences.”
Maclean said that the Commonwealth Games will reach over 1 million people every night in prime time on Seven and 7plus, becoming the most watched content while it’s on air.
“Simply put, if brands want to be where the largest and most engaged audience will be, they will be on Seven and 7plus from July 29 to August 9."
Brands partnering with Seven for the coverage of the games will be able to take advantage of different platforms, targeting capabilities and content integration opportunities.
“Seven’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games gives brands a platform to engage with purpose, with many of our clients leaning into the event’s strong focus on inclusivity, diversity and sustainability as it’s the largest diverse event in the sporting calendar.
“We have also made the Commonwealth Games accessible to clients with multiple ways in for advertisers to engage with our audience – whether through our linear broadcast only, digital through 7plus, cross-platform, or targeting capital city, regional or national audiences.
“The Commonwealth Games on Seven will help our clients make a big impact, quickly, through deep content integration opportunities. The strength of our primetime schedule with exclusive and live medal events every night, will provide the platform to enable them to do that.”
Maclean said that the strong response to the Games has proven that the market has recognised what Seven can do with major events.
“We’ve built on the ground-breaking success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games experience – we have used the insights from last year to drive scale and personalisation and enhance our advertiser and viewer experience, and that has given the market a lot of confidence in our ability to deliver for our clients.”
The coverage on Channel 7 (AEST):
12.30am to 3.30am: Abbey Holmes and Ryan Daniels will lead the overnight coverage from Birmingham.
3.30am to 5.30am: Emma Freedman and Matt Shirvington will steer the morning broadcast each day, covering finals across multiple sports. They will also commentate the Opening Ceremony, alongside Paralympian, Annie Williams.
From 5.30am: Sunrise will provide the latest Commonwealth Games news and athlete interviews, with Mark Beretta broadcasting live from the Games. Reporters Amy Parks and Bianca Stone will also be on the ground in Birmingham.
3pm to 5pm (weekdays): Johanna Griggs will lead Seven’s afternoon audience through two hours of daily highlights, featuring exclusive interviews with athletes and their families.
7pm to 11pm: Following each city's 7NEWS bulletin at 6pm, evening coverage will be presented by Hamish McLachlan and Abbey Gelmi. They will provide a recap of the day's events, along with live athlete and family interviews direct from Birmingham.
11pm to 12.30am: Mel McLaughlin and Jason Richardson will report from the host city, alongside a rotating cast of nightly guests.
SBS will also cover the 2022 Commonwealth Games with daily news reports airing on SBS World News each weeknight from 6.30pm.
On the print side of the industry, News Corp Australia will send a team of 17 reporters and photographers to cover the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Led by the company’s national weekend editor, Mick Carroll, who has been appointed Commonwealth Games editor, the team will produce a daily eight-page print lift-out and 20-page digital edition, The Games, to be released each morning at 8.30am (AEST).
The content will be available to all metro, regional and local publications. The amount of content used by each site may vary, but the digital print edition will be available on all of the company's apps.
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