Nine reveals Kia, ANZ, Uber Eats and AGL as inaugural Australian Open tennis sponsors
Kia, ANZ, Uber Eats and AGL have been unveiled as Nine’s lead advertisers for the network’s first year of broadcasting the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Nine won the rights to the tournament in a $300m deal last March, beating out Seven who had held the rights for 40 years.
A month later, Seven took the cricket rights from Nine in a joint venture deal with Foxtel worth nearly $1bn.
Nine’s Granger said the tennis was “an opportunity to develop a relationship with new clients”
Matthew Granger, Nine’s director of sales for sport, told Mumbrella the switch from cricket to tennis opened a range of opportunities for both the network and its advertisers.
“We have natural relationships with a lot of those categories already across the Nine business,” he said.
“It’s very exciting to start new partnerships from the ground up. We’ve been able to develop a go-to-market approach from the ground up.
“We’ve still got cricket with The Ashes and the World Cup coming up next year. There are some cross-overs but, by-and-large, it was an opportunity to develop a relationship with new clients.”
In July, Nine and Seven reached an agreement whereby Nine bought this year’s tennis rights for $48.5m. The deal allowed Seven to focus on its summer of cricket, while helping Nine fill the hole it would have had in its summer sports broadcasting schedule.
At the time of winning the 2019 tennis rights, Nine CEO Hugh Marks said: “The timing of tennis and the audience demographics it delivers are a perfect fit for Nine and its advertisers. We’re also mighty pleased to have been able to settle on a price for the additional year that is consistent with our original offer to Seven.”
Along with the major sponsors, Nine has also secured advertising packages for brands including Mastercard, Bunnings, Chemist Warehouse, Stan (now owned by Nine), Industry SuperFunds, Peters, Blackmores and APT.
Nine’s advertisers will also be looking at using the network’s key properties and platforms, including Wide World of Sport, Today and 9Honey, Granger pointed out.
Granger also said the network’s addressable and programmatic offerings had also been an attraction for advertisers: “I think for a number of them it was particularly important around Nine Now, complemented with the broader package from broadcast TV.
“So that was the element around the integrated component across those assets. It was certainly important and for some of the clients targeting certain audiences and certain creative even more so.”
Michael Stephenson, Nine’s chief sales officer, added: “Our cross-platform strategy, including Today going live from the tennis precinct, will provide a fantastic platform for brands, showing how Nine can use all its assets to deliver real results for marketers.”
Nine’s Australian Open coverage began today with the Today Show broadcasting live from Melbourne Park, along with content over broadcast, digital, live streaming and video on demand.
