Seven's free sports coverage is reaching more Australian homes through the 7plus app, according to the network's national digital sales director, Jordan King.
The media group's results for the December half showed a 1.5% year-on-year increase in total TV audiences, with digital platform 7plus seeing a 43% increase in engagement.
King, who joined from Nine in November, said he is feeling “pretty optimistic” about the TV advertising market.
“There's a bit of energy about the market. People seem like their budgets are opening up a little bit more,” he told AdNews.
“You don't want to be celebrating summer after one hot day, but it feels we're on a positive trajectory, more so than the start of the last two years at least.”
King said Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming service Max, which will launch next month, is a good introduction to the Australian market.
“At Seven, we're in a premium content game, whether it's live sport, first time exclusive or the back catalog of things that we've produced, so the more Australians who are getting in the habit of consuming premium content in apps, the better,” he said.
“I think about 10 years ago the projection was that the Australian market could only sustain two streaming services and one aggregated TV platform.
“We're seeing more people streaming than ever before. That's an excellent thing. Having more options is a good thing.”
The network has secured the rights to the AFL for the first time for the full season, following a successful summer of cricket.
King revealed that the rapid expansion has led to Seven restructuring its digital sales team.
“With onboarding the digital sports rights you need more coverage,” he said.
“We've brought in Anthony Rodrigues down in Melbourne and got Stuart Kruger here, so we're making these key acquisitions that are going to position us so strongly for 2025 and beyond.”
King said one of the network's key focuses is on rolling out its AI strategy.
“One of the things that we've been doing with Databricks is using their AI analytical tools to forecast our audience more accurately than ever,” he said
“It's just super exciting.”
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