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Nine in 2020: MAFS, Lego Masters, The Voice, Ninja Warrior and The Block all returning as network champions ‘pillars of proven consistency’

In 2020 Nine is looking to replicate its 2019 success, with the entertainment company championing consistency and premium content as part of its upfronts event. Rather than relying on the introduction of big new players to its programming slate, Nine will be pinning its hopes of further success on Married At First Sight, Lego Masters and The Block.

On top of the existing favourites, 2020 will see Nine take full advantage of its new properties, including the formerly-Fairfax print titles and its new and developing ownership of radio business Macquarie Media.

Consistency is Nine’s plan for 2020

Nine’s 2020 will begin with the Australian Open, which delivered the best start to a year Nine had ever seen for 2019, before the prime-time schedule begins with Married At First Sight. This year, the show delivered huge figures for Nine, with a series high of 1.685m metro viewers, outside the finale which brought in 1.9m. 

MAFS will be followed by Lego Masters, returning for its second season, before The Voice, Australian Ninja Warrior and The Block round out the slate. Nine currently holds the number one program of the year for State of Origin game one which brought in 2.178m metro viewers, and the number one non-sports program in the MAFS finale which delivered a total viewership across metro and regional of 2.611m.

In 2020 Nine has its eyes set on Facebook and Youtube the competition for eyeballs heats up [Click to enlarge]

Nine is aware it hasn’t always been the market leader, chief sales officer Michael Stephenson said, so there’s a sense of humility to its success – but for 2020 the business is confident it can back up its 2019 success.

“We’re not preaching consistency – we’re delivering it,” said Stephenson.

Doctor Doctor, Travel Guides, Paramedics, RBT and the TV Week Logie Awards will also return to Nine next year.

Nine’s programming lineup for 2020 will look very similar to 2019, with its flagship reality formats all returning

In the video-on-demand market particularly, Nine is keen to challenge some of the bigger players like Facebook and YouTube, championing its own social video abilities and pushing the success of its products online, including MAFS and Love Island UK which both sit in the top programs on BVOD based on total minutes.

New to Nine in 2020 will be drama Halifax: Retribution, which will see Rebecca Gibney reprise her role as Jane Halifax, and Informer 3838, a new mini-series about Lawyer X. They join reality series The Parent Jury, variety show Step Back In Time, medical program Emergency and Taronga: Who’s Who In The Zoo.

Nine will also premiere David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds, One Planet.

Furthering its reliance on ‘consistent’ brands, Nine’s upfronts also saw it champion it’s ‘superbrands’ – Good Food, Domain, Car Advice and Drive, Good Weekend and Sunday Life and Traveller. These will all be expanding their reach with TV programming and the rebuild of customer segmentation offering 9Tribes.

As a result of 2018’s Fairfax merger, Nine is now the owner of a number of ‘superbrands’ including Domain and Good Food

“Each of these superbrands is incredibly successful in publishing across our digital and print platforms,” said Lizzie Young, Nine’s managing director of commercial partnerships.

“We are supercharging them for their very engaged audience using our new data proposition and where relevant, giving them a home on television to create our very own stable of content superbrands with which advertisers can partner.”

Good Food will have its first TV special for Christmas 2019. It follows the launch of the Good Food glossy print magazine in October. Nine’s publishing director, food and travel, Trudi Jenkins, said: “Good Food is the most revered food brand in Australia, with an extremely loyal and engaged readership, and we are thrilled to expand it further across news and magazine print, digital, events, The Good Food Guide and cookbooks.”

Domain also recently launched its own TV program – Your Domain – and the introduction of seven property focused datasets across 9Tribes. The Traveller and Good Weekend and Sunday Life brands also regular feature on TV in partnership with the Today and Weekend Today programming.

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