Did Nine really win the year? And how Ten could turn it around
The OzTam ratings year finished up last week, with Seven claiming the number one spot by total audience share, however according to Initiative’s Chris Colter, it is hard to argue anyone but Nine came out on top in 2022.
“At the end of the day, I think all networks performed well in their own right, but if you look at the stats, with Nine winning share in those key demos off the back of a really strong content slate, I think it’d be hard to argue that they haven’t won the year.”
Chief strategy officer at Initiative, Chris Colter
The week has seen those across the top networks claiming to have come out as number one across the year, but is this the be all and end all, and how much should onlookers take from this?
“When it comes to whether or not people should care, I guess first and foremost, sure ratings are always a good, reliable indicator of future performance because there’s momentum and all of that sort of stuff, and we want our clients to maximise their reach and their cultural visibility.”
But I think at the end of the day, as the industry starts to move more towards addressable audience-first buying, it’s kind of waning as a bit of a metric in terms of how we evaluate partners moving forward.”
So how are agencies buying now? And how useful are these metrics in planning major investment into 2023?
Colter said the approach Initiative takes, as well as a broader Mediabrands approach, is a “screens-led strategy”, as opposed to splitting BVOD, and the likes of the newcomers in Netflix and those to come.
“If you start to bucket things into traditional versus digital versus streaming, you start to do things around accidentally falling into audience overlap, duplication, and kind of limiting what you’re actually doing in terms of buying asset for purpose.”
“A perfect example is, the vast majority of clients that activate in a BVOD arena think of it as an extension of their digital channel buys, and they put digital screens assets in it. But we know that upwards of 75-80% of people are viewing BVOD on a TV screen, so it’s like, why not capitalise on the bigger screen in the house and how they’re doing it?”
A standout performer of 2022, Colter said was Ten’s Hunted, which was deemed the most popular new format of 2022.
“I guess it kind of reminded media buyers and networks that effectively a good concept, well executed will generally deliver results.”
As for the rest of the network, it languished in fourth place behind the ABC, and for Colter, the network needs to lay some big bets in 2023 to turn things around.
“If you look at Ten’s slate, their key sort of bets from an agency perspective, things that usually were safe, your Masterchefs of the world have started seeing significantly declining performance.”
Cricket Australia broadcast rights are currently up for grabs
“Sport is by far and above the smartest strategy that a network can invest in, so if I was Ten, I would be throwing the kitchen sink at premium deals.”
Its owner, Paramount went in for the AFL rights this year, missing out on a total package to the incumbents Foxtel and Seven, yet Colter said now it needs to go hard to secure the next one.
“If you’re going to turn around a channel like that, you’ve got to back it, you’ve got to invest, and you’ve got to play a big bet and you’ve got to do it well.”
“Don’t just get the rights and undercook it, because the thing is once you put big serious coin in it, you create news that consumers actually listen to, and therefore you create an expectation that you are going to one up the broadcaster prior and give you a new reason to lean in.
“And if you do that effectively, yes, it definitely sets a year up for success.
“So if I was Ten, I’d be going hard, I’d be thinking less A-League and more cricket and going premium, big bets, and locking it in early.”
Listen to the full conversation with Chris Colter on the year in TV below on the Mumbrellacast, beginning at 27:35.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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