Nine is betting on the State of Origin decision to move one of the games to a Sunday night to attract new audiences outside traditional fans and has already seen new clients show interest in the Sunday night programming slot.
Nine head of sales of sport Matt Granger tells AdNews he is confident the decision will pull a broader audience because Sunday night rates well for free-to-air TV even though other networks may run some of their tent pole shows against it.
"This is 'that' event TV. It's a bit like a Married at First Sight or another one of those pillars but arguably greater because of what sport does in the engagement," Granger says.
"You can't turn away, and that is what State of Origin does uniquely. For us that was very much the opportunity we wanted to capitalise on."
Granger believes that the game can mirror, or improve on, the ratings from last year, which saw 3.7 million viewers tune in for game three of the 2017 series.
Nine and the NRL have worked in partnership this year, adjusting the traditional Origin schedule in a bid to broaden interest in the series.
Granger says this year's series is going to be even bigger for commercial engagement, factoring in the continued year-on-year growth and the shift in NSW and Queensland line-ups.
"It's a new era with the change in teams of both sides and we are seeing a lot of interest around that," he says.
He adds the advertisers interested aren't "typical clients", but ones that are chasing the reach State of Origin can offer.
While most committed Origin fans will follow the series no matter what time it is on, Granger believes the Sunday game now plays into a different audience mindset.
"If you think about it from a mindset point of view, that period of time is really their last bit of time off before they start their week. What better way to do that then with Origin," he says.
This year’s State of Origin series will also be the first time Nine has had the exclusive digital rights to broadcast the games.
The network is placing further investment in its broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) platform, 9Now, offering a main stream, accompanied by four different angles throughout the games.
It will offer more behind-the-scenes content through 9now, including memorable moments, clips from the archives and highlights from last year’s series to bolster its coverage.
Granger, who recently joined Nine from ARN, has been focused on growing premium revenues across Nine's key sports properties, such as integrations.
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