Ten’s Rod Prosser has started to see positive signs for the second half of the year with brands and agencies increasing their planning.
Prosser, well known as the head of sales at Network 10 and who now leads all ViacomCBS Australian sales teams, is seeing optimism from clients.
He now has a broader offering, including ViacomCBS subscription brands MTV, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., able to target every age and every stage under 50.
Ten is preparing to launch a new channel, the fourth for the network, later this year, targeting the under 50s demographic.
“We’ve just had our April revenue share numbers come through and we had our seventh consecutive month of growth,” Prosser tells AdNews.
“For the most part the agencies have reacted well to more viewers turning to TV over this period. They're being quick to adapt to that changing viewership.”
He presented this week to Ten’s UpClose at Home virtual event for media agencies.
He told the audience of about 1,000: “In this market, it's critical to be agile, dynamic, fast moving and to recognise that the world has changed, including the TV world.”
Prosser told AdNews the pandemic had brought plenty of challenges and, like every other business, Ten has had to adapt.
This current quarter, the three months to June, will probably be the toughest. After that, Prosser sees more activity.
“There's a lot of dialogue with our clients around planning for the second half,” he says. “There is some optimism around.
“The planning conversations that we’ve been having with brands and agencies have really dialed up over the last few weeks.
“I’m going to call that green shoots for sure.”
Prosser has seen brands quickly change messaging to meet the current coronavirus crisis.
“We've actually created an asset which allows clients to change tact, have a different message, through this period,” he says.
“And obviously we see clients take the initiative and change their creative.
“I know there was a lot of chatter around the market that brands just couldn't get TVC production done.
“That isn’t the case at all. I've got a TVC production arm that sits under my division and we've never been busier.
“Ads can still be produced, we’re still doing integration, we're still producing pieces of content for brands.”
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