Features
Media buyers lick their lips as Nine launches the biggest sporting event on Australian TV
With the Australian Open kicking off today, Mumbrella's Calum Jaspan looks at why the competition holds so much weight amongst advertisers, and how it gives its broadcast partner, Nine, the edge at the start of the ratings year.
Last year’s Australian Open couldn’t have delivered a much better scenario for both Tennis Australia and its broadcast partner, Nine.
After the entire nation placed its focus squarely on the tournament’s build-up (thanks to Novak Djokovic’s Covid-19 vaccination status), the on-court action brought even more non-traditional fans to the table.
With Ash Barty taking her maiden home grand slam title, as well as ‘Special Ks’ Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis winning the Men’s Doubles, 2022 proved a ratings hit across the entire two weeks.
This year, Djokovic is back, but Australia is without its best shot at a slam following Barty’s retirement. What is certain though, is that from 11am, viewers will tune into Nine’s coverage in swathes.
Managing partner at media agency Hatched, Stephen Fisher tells Mumbrella there are once again high expectations for the AO.
“It is a fantastic platform for Nine and for clients to kick off the year, and they will be very, very happy to have agreed the contract extension before this year’s tournament as it will have allowed them to have longer-term conversations with advertising partners.
Nine has the tennis covered
Nine locked in the rights through to 2029 in November, in what despite some noise from Seven, never really looked in doubt.
Since the key summer sports were switched out in 2018, it’s been a fruitful relationship for the network and Tennis Australia. The new five-year deal saw Nine and Tennis Australia settle on a mouthwatering $425 million, a rise on the previous contract.
Nine has now become a one-stop shop for tennis lovers and brands looking to place themselves in the tennis ecosystem, with coverage available across all of its touchpoints, with linear and BVOD, as well as all games on its SVOD service, Stan. It has the rights to other three slams too. And unlike Australia’s other ‘tier-one’ domestic sports competitions, Nine is the exclusive rights holder for the Australian Open.
Nine’s head of content partnerships, Anne Gruber tells Mumbrella that being the sole provider is “really positive” from a commercial standpoint, only needing one briefing session and one team looking at the cross-platform opportunities for a particular brand.
This time, Fisher says he is interested to see what innovations Nine has added to its coverage, and how advertisers approach that opportunity which is set to be a focus for the entirety of NEC.
“I think it’s going to be especially interesting once again to see how they grow their connected audiences and where viewer attention is across Nine assets. I’d expect them to again see out-sized growth in 9Now and across the digital masthead video assets.”
Hatched’s Fisher says both parties will be happy with a long-term contract extension
“The Australian Open has always been one of the premier events on the Australian sporting calendar, delivering consistent ratings for Nine, and I’ve got no doubt that will continue this year,” says Sam Buchanan, CEO of industry body, the Independent Media Agency of Australia (IMAA).
Extending its rights deal importantly allows the network to continue using it as a launchpad for the key programs and properties it has at the start of the year, CEO of Havas Media, Virginia Hyland says.
“Importantly Nine has the opportunity to establish itself on social platforms to connect with audiences that may not tune in as regularly to their network. With linear television numbers continuing to decline each year what will be key is how Nine can utilise the Australian Open to engage with audiences in new ways to continue to be highly relevant to younger audiences.”
And given how close the 2022 ratings year was, says Fisher, a positive start with the AO “certainly could be key in terms of giving Nine an edge in the longer term as we look at 2023”.
Gruber says that the media company works hand-in-glove with brands and advertisers to evolve the storytelling opportunities across each of its divisions, including its audio and publishing suite, alongside broadcast.
“It’s evolving the different ways that brands can tell their stories throughout the coverage rather than just your standard, big mass market broadcast moments, which are still very important.”
Gruber
Lucrative partners
It has been another good week in the lead-up for Tennis Australia too, securing new deals with major partners ANZ and Kia, the latter becoming the most lucrative in the Australian sporting landscape at $20 million+ annually.
Kia’s general manager for marketing, Dean Norbiato told Mumbrella that the AO is “box office” for marketers, allowing brands to execute an integrated campaign across multiple customer types, via a true omnichannel approach.
He says it also uniquely has a far broader age and gender appeal than most other sports, with a close to 50/50 male-female split.
“With a projected 900,000 punters expected through the gates over the 14 days, the AO also provides a unique opportunity to get people to see, touch and experience your products at scale, like our new EV6 GT electric SUV that we are launching at the 2023 event.”
Kia’s onsite activation at Melbourne Park, Kia Wave
Alongside Kia, Nine has partnered with APT, Chemist Warehouse, Samsung, Uber Eats, Peters and Stan (owned by Nine) for its 2023 coverage, while it said Berocca, Bupa, Chubb, McDonalds, Optus and Qantas, have also accessed its full suite of Nine’s Summer of Tennis premium assets as new partners and sponsors.
2023 has also seen Tennis Australia partners Bondi Sands, Gordon’s Gin Life-Space and Ralph Lauren, uptake on Nine’s customised AO Extender packages.
Gruber adds that for the official partners of the Australian Open, Nine has developed a separate entry point for them to activate within its network, due to their “special standing” with Tennis Australia.
Hyland says the power and results of sponsorships during the Australian Open have been enduring over past years.
“Measurement of sales results from the television sponsorship alone have seen sales uplift continuing four months post the end of the sponsorship period.”
Buchanan agrees that the AO is one of the premier events for advertisers to be associated with, but that it has to be utilised by the right brands, in the right way.
“The better the integration, the better the result – sporting events have often set the bar for witty, sophisticated brand integration; they’re examples of brand integration at its very best. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with for 2023.”
Hyland predicts this year will come down from the highs of 2022
The Aussie factor
As mentioned, the success of local favourites last year contributed to the success for Nine.
Fisher says the ‘Aussie factor’ means that of all sporting events available to advertisers in Australia, the AO has the most upside of them, yet conversely, the most risk too.
“Nine will certainly be doing everything they can to support and promote any Australian success. If any Aussies go into the second week it’s a huge bonus for both Nine and the partners.”
Hyland says it was a “truly special moment” witnessing Barty’s triumph in 2022. Yet if there isn’t to be another Aussie seeing success in 2023, people in great numbers remain highly engaged for hours on end, she says.
“This means that advertisers have a more powerful opportunity to connect as engaged audiences retain brand information for longer and this leads to purchase consideration.”
And after the Djokovic saga last year, she adds the public just want to see the greatest players compete at an elite level on Australian soil, and this includes him.
IMAA CEO: Tennis is back in the public consciousness.
“This year, final numbers will be dependent on whether key players can compete until the finals or are plagued with injury. Without key Aussie talent tipped to make the finals I believe we will see audiences settle closer to 2021 figures where audiences were closer to 11.2 million,” compared to 12.5 million in 2022.
Overall, Buchanan says that despite Barty’s retirement, she and other stars have “really put tennis back into the public consciousness”, with Aussies showing a renewed appetite for the sport.
How big is that appetite? Over the next two weeks, we will find out.
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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