Nine promises brands ‘huge audiences’ and ‘unrivalled storytelling’ via tennis in 2022
Nine has launched its summer of tennis with a virtual presentation spruiking the power of the Australian Open and surrounding tournaments to reach tennis fans in 2022 more than ever done before.
Off the back of this year’s Australian Open, and broadcasts of Wimbledon and Roland Garros across the Nine Network and its subscription service Stan Sport, director of sport, Brent Williams, promised brands that the tennis would “deliver even bigger numbers in the coming year”.
“We’ve kept an eye on the rest of the world to make sure we have the best technology available. The Australian Open will engage fans like never before. Nine is going to be the only place Australians can experience premium tennis in 2022.”
Also speaking during the presentation, Tennis Australia CEO, Craig Tilley, said plans are being made for big crowds and for Australia to be open, by the time the tournament comes around.
“We pulled off an event in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic with crowds that nobody expected us to happen. We will have as many fans as we possibly can have on site,” he said.
“We will have record audiences around the world. We are hoping Australia will be at the 80% plus target for vaccination, and we are working with the government on what crowds and the situation will look like specifically.
“There are many opportunities to have a great story.
“In terms of the proposition for brands, Nine head of content partnerships – sport, Anne Gruber, said 2022 is going to be a “turning point”.
“This is a call to arms [for brands] to say it’s time. We’re here to help marketers get a front-row seat to all the action. The blend of assets at Nine gives something to our audiences that no other media company in the world can provide.
“TV is there to create those deep emotional connections. We will be bringing tennis to all of Australia through our new regional partnership with WIN. Tennis is the only event over summer proven to increase brand perception.
“We know that sport delivers big impact for brands and delivers outcomes. Our effectiveness studies prove just that.”
The presentation cited brand studies with the likes of Samsung, which saw a considerable shift in consideration attributable to the Australian Open integrations.
The launch comes the same week Tennis Australia confirmed that it has hired former Nine CEO Hugh Marks in a consulting role to assist with its global media strategy.
Speaking with Mumbrella, Nine director of sales – sport, Matt Granger, reaffirmed Tilley’s thoughts on working towards having big crowds at the event.
“We’ve worked with Tennis Australia around multiple scenarios, but we are looking at it very confidently… that we’ll be having the event early in the year,” he said.
Coverage of Roland Garros, and Wimbledon – where Australian Ash Barty won the title, will be significant in terms of the audience Nine has built across its ecosystem for the upcoming summer of tennis, Granger added.
“That’s part of our strategy, the work we’ve done around effectiveness for brands as we’ve used that unique tennis ecosystem across all our verticals.
“We’ll use the exclusivity of the tennis that we’ve got, to be able to build out stories for them and deliver that to the audiences across all those platforms. I think we were looking to, again, double down on that for our partners as we move into 2022.
“We are in a unique position where we have two Aussies as world #1s and the mercurial entertainer Nick Kyrgios, let alone other Australians pushing more deeply into week two of the open.
“It’s extraordinarily exciting for advertisers. Ash Barty in particular, what a story that would be and we’d love her to win. There’s also [international stars] Serena Williams, Dom Thiem and Roger Federer back. Novak [Djokovic] looking to match Rod Laver’s slam record.”
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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Anne Gruber
Ash Barty
Australian Open
Brent Williams
channel 9
Craig Tilley
Matt Granger
Nine
Tennis Australia
