As media agency bosses continue to roll into Seven West Media's offices as part of its new more intimate TV upfront sessions, we caught up with some of adland's head honchos to see what they thought of the network's 2016 offering.
Brett Dawson, managing partner at media agency Bohemia, which has clients on its books such as Twitter, Vodafone, Pandora, Lion, and Caltex, said it was a good event and the 'NewFronts' were well articulated and presented. He said with its two big sports platforms coming up, the Australian Open and the Olympics, Seven has a great dynamic and strong offering to go to market with.
Paul Brooks, managing director, investment and partnerships at Amplifi, part of the Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ, said there was a lot of new ground covered off in Seven's NewFronts.
“In previous years, Seven tended to focus a lot more on its programming slate and then launch one new initiative, and they have been big all industry glitzy events,” Brooks said.
“This year was different with a lot more focus, running more intimate events - from ‘one to many’ moving to more of ‘one to one’ with deeper engagement.”
He said with the several new initiatives around automation, programmatic, live-streaming plus an e-commerce app, he is very much looking forward to “getting under the hood” and understanding a little more around the capability and timing on these. He added “it's what we have been asking for”.
“With regards to the programming, there is obviously the Olympics which could and should grow audience for them, the rest of the programming looks solid enough and may maintain audience rather than grow.
“They are the first cab off the rank with regards to the TV upfronts - we will have a better indication on what next year looks like in a few weeks' time once we have seen all the 2016 offerings.”
Chief investment officer at Omnicom Media Group, Tony Harradine, said Seven's message was “spot on” - emphasising a commitment to content available across all devices.
“Beyond the Olympics and their usual programming 'bankers', their forthcoming local dramas looked strong,” Harradine said.
“Next year, including the lead-up to, has the makings of a highly disruptive but exciting year for the media sector.”
Keep an eye on AdNews for all the latest and breaking TV upfronts news and reactions.
Did you catch all the details from the event?
Read Innovate, disrupt or die" – what Seven's upfronts delivered and The networks cannot afford to over-promise and under-deliver - Upfront season kicks off.
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