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SMI: Big Bash gives Ten big revenue boost as lacklustre test series sees Nine’s fortunes slide

The Big Bash cricket has proved a sales boon for Ten which saw its share of revenue rising from 21.6 per cent in December 2014 to 26 per cent last month.

Adelaide's Tim Ludeman catching the ball in last night's BBL match.

Adelaide’s Tim Ludeman catching the ball in a BBL match.

However, the lack of interest from punters in Australia’s one-sided test series with the West Indies saw Nine Network’s share of media agency spend fall from 45 per cent share last year to 39.7 per cent in December, according to the lastes Standard Media Index figures.

Seven’s share of revenue remained relatively stable at 34.3 per cent up from 33.4 per cent last year.

However the figures for the first six months of the financial year show both Seven and Nine saw their revenue shares decline, 4.3 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively, while Ten was up 12 per cent.

“The KFC Big Bash League has once again proven to be a winner for Ten,” said Louise Barrett, executive general manager, Sydney, Network Ten.

“Our revenue and share growth in December is testament to the fact that clients see the value in advertising with Ten, as the BBL has become one of Australia’s premier summer sporting codes. The December growth also again highlights the momentum in Ten’s audience and revenue growth.”

Television expenditure grew just 0.2 per cent for the 2015 calendar year to $3.61 billion, with the December figures the first to include programmatic TV spend from Seven and SBS.

The results comes as the December bookings show the Australian paid media market ended 2015 at a record high, up 4.5 per cent year on year.

Overall advertiser spend for the six months was up $338.6m – to a record $7.924bn, with digital, outdoor, radio and cinema all at record highs for the financial year.

This result came despite weakness in December with bookings down 6.2 per cent year-on-year at $528.2m, amid weak marketer confidence going into Christmas.

Across most mediums bookings were down year-on-year in December with magazines the worst performing media with revenue down 20.2 per cent year on year to $13.1m.

Newspapers were down 17.4 per cent to $52.4m, outdoor was down 12.9 per cent at $64.3m, radio was down 10.6 per cent $42.5m and television was down 4.7 per cent.

Cinema was up 45.1 per cent on the back of the phenomenal success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $11.6m.

Nic Christensen 

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