‘Zoning in on their strengths’: The industry reacts to Seven’s upfront

Nathan Jolly

October 23, 2025 10:48

‘Zoning in on their strengths’: The industry reacts to Seven’s upfront

A bagpiper came on stage to spruik the Commonwealth Games

At long last, there’s peace in the valley. After decades of Seven and Nine stoushing it out, each claiming to be the country’s most popular TV station, they have realised the real enemy are the foreigners — the overseas interlopers offering cheap streaming services and social media platforms without being held to the same standards as the ol’ faithful TV networks.

The Australian free-to-air networks have stopped fighting, and instead come to the industry with a unified message: Free TV is the best place to spend your marketing dollars.

According to both networks’ upfronts, held a week apart, overall audiences are growing, not shrinking; the younger generations are still glued to the biggest screen in the house; and free TV offers the biggest, widest, least-distracted advertising audience in the land. Social media platforms may come and go, but Summer Bay is forever.

That was basically the message at Seven’s upfront, but did the people who actually buy the advertising, buy Seven’s big pitch?

Note: our first interview, with UM’s Brittany Crowley, was conducted in person immediately after the event. It was spoken. The other responses were written and sent by email.

Brittany Crowley, national head of investment at UM

Brittany Crowley

I thought it was strong. It seems to be a consistent theme across these upfronts and, even coming from a couple the past weeks that there’s not as much new news as there has been in previous years, but I want to be clear, I don’t see that as a negative. In years gone by, there have been big announcements and then a lot of them don’t come off.

I think Seven have a strong proposition, with strong content — their sport offering is stellar. They’ve got the Commonwealth Games coming up, they’ve got cricket and Ashes, not to mention AFL.

News continues to be a strength. I think on that front, it’s a similar conversation to the other upfronts — the conversation around brand safety … I fully agree with. I think Seven and some of their counterparts offer a safe environment and that’s not nothing, especially for brands.

There was not a huge amount of blockbusters or big content announcements … I’m interested to see the Mick Molloy and Glen Robbins show, there could be something in that. Otherwise, I think they’re really pumping up the content on Seven Plus. There’s a huge focus on Seven Plus … they have seen growth across linear in patches, as well as Seven Plus and overall total TV is looking strong for them.

There were a lot of similar themes between Nine and Seven and what they had to focus on and talk about … a couple of nice little digs about some of the global streaming counterparts and numbers.

Directly linking advertising exposure on Seven Plus to sales outcomes — I think that’s a big incentive — I would’ve liked to have heard a little bit more beyond that in terms of measurement and effectiveness. I think it sounds great, but there’s much more to unfold there.

I think they’re zoning in on their strengths. I feel, from a broadcaster perspective, that there feels like a bit of a change this year. They’re coming together a bit more, and it would just be good to see what that looks like.

Thomas Macerola, Sydney head of investment at Zenith Australia

This upfront season has really centered on one thing: the effectiveness of total television. Seven wrapped it up by championing the power of free TV. You could feel the conviction in the room as the network set out to challenge the idea that audiences have moved on, reminding everyone that 16.4 million Australians still watch free TV every week. It’s a high-attention, high-scale environment, and Seven made a confident pitch that Total Television deserves a louder voice in the growth conversation, going toe-to-toe with the digital giants on effectiveness, not just efficiency.

It’s also clear how much emphasis Seven is putting on supercharging 7plus. With over 6,000 hours of new content coming in 2026, a refreshed user experience and strong audience momentum, the platform is coming into its own. Add in the new Westpac partnership to boost insights and attribution, plus the launch of 7GeoPlus for hyper-localised targeting, and you can see how Seven is building a genuinely full-funnel proposition that drives short-term sales while building long-term brand impact.

For clients, the opportunity is clear. Those who can harness the full breadth of total television by building smart, data-led partnerships, leveraging the network’s reach, and re-engaging audiences with localised and personalised messaging are the ones most likely to unlock both immediate ROI and sustained brand growth.

While it wasn’t the headline topic of the night, the potential Seven and SCA merger could be one of the most significant shifts on the horizon. It would create another Australian-owned media company with real scale, giving advertisers a powerful homegrown alternative in a market dominated by global players. More importantly, it opens up the chance to connect total television with total audio. Imagine a brand aligned with the AFL or cricket, appearing across live matches, panel shows and highlights, then continuing the conversation on radio or sports podcasts.

That kind of cross-platform synergy could be a serious advantage for brands wanting to stay connected with audiences through the moments that matter most.

Daniel Cutrone, managing partner of media at Avenue C

Seven’s 2026 upfronts signalled a deliberate shift, less about self-promotion and more about championing free TV as a collective force with 16 million daily Australians engaged. It was a confident reminder that national storytelling still commands audiences the global streamers can only chase.

Seven stuck to its strengths: news, sport and entertainment, but the execution has sharpened. A stronger spine built around the AFL, cricket, The Voice, Farmer, MKR and Australian Idol showed a network that knows what it’s good at. Add the Glasgow 2026 Common Games and the Rugby League World Cup into the back half you’ve got a competitive formula to rival the market.

It was smart to spotlight the strength of free TV’s BVOD audience, now doubling the scale of several SVOD rivals. The Phoenix platform and data tools like 7Geo+ and Westpac Data X show that scale and precision can finally coexist.

Seven also touched on the proposed SCA merger, outlining early benefits without overplaying them.

It’s still moving through approvals, but it clearly signalled long-term confidence in both businesses.

There’s a quiet confidence in how Seven’s approaching 2026: measured, data-led and unmistakably ambitious. It’s shaping up to be a year of two halves.

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Sue Cant, head of investment at This Is Flow

Seven’s Upfront continued the common theme this year of keeping it simple, collaborative but easy and reinforced the need to think about both content and context together. All networks seem to have taken a ‘play nice’ attitude this year too, no talk of one being better than the other, but more about coming together to deliver on their total TV promise of previous years.

The announcements from a data play perspective were the most interesting for me. The partnership with Westpac’s DataX merging Sevens 15m+ registered 7plus with DataX’s more than 12m customers will allow us to look deeper into consumer buying habits to strengthen brand campaigns, reach audiences at scale and accurately attribute and measure for the greatest outcomes.

7GeoPlus is another exciting one allowing for geo-targeting technology across CTV and being able to optimise placements for better ROI and ensure relevancy of placement, viewer engagement and ultimately being able to deliver true addressable campaigns for our clients.

There was a slight nod to the SWM and SCA pending merger and how they will bring together the synergies across the two through sport and news, but we’ll need to watch this space as things start to move next year.

Taylor Fielding, CEO of TFM Digital

First thing that you noticed in the crowd was the positioning of it all: “free-TV” this, “free-to-access” that – a clear shift that it’s now free-to-air against the world, and the shared enemy of SVOD and rising COL impact.

But I felt that it was missing some tangible integration for brands. There was a passing reference to some digital upgrades. There were case studies of how things have been successful historically – but innovation was a little lacking.

The potential for building full-funnel accountability through the The Westpac DataX partnership feels significant though. Merging over 12 million real banking data points with Seven’s streaming audience enables advertisers to transition from generic demographic targeting into some serious actionable consumer insight.

In retail, that means not just understanding who’s watching, but who’s genuinely ready to shop, spend, or switch accounts. Building out the smart measurement to take advantage of this opportunity starts now – seeing the impact of BVOD and linear to measure sales results? Pretty compelling if the experience marries the promise.