Matt Stanton. Credit: Nine Entertainment
Australia’s top TV executives are talking less about beating each other and more about working together, as they try to claw back advertising dollars leaking to global platforms.
That shift played out at the Future of TV Advertising conference in Sydney, where leaders from Nine, Network 10 and Southern Cross Media Group pointed to collaboration, better measurement and easier trading as the path forward for a market under pressure.
Matt Stanton, CEO of Nine, said the change has been building behind the scenes.
“Everybody recognises that we are stronger by working together than apart,” he said.
Stanton said the old obsession with daily ratings battles has faded.
“Traditionally, two, three, five years ago, everybody would be waiting for the results the next morning to say, ‘Have I beaten Seven? Have I beaten Ten?’ We don’t do that anymore,” he said.
“We don’t think of them as the key competitors.”
That doesn’t mean the fight has disappeared.
“There’s still competition,” Stanton said.
The bigger threat sits elsewhere. TV groups now see themselves competing with global platforms for a much larger pool of advertising spend, not just each other.
Stanton points to a system where too much money disappears before it reaches media owners.
“When they’re spending $1, where does that dollar go and how much of that leaks out of the industry… that has to stop,” he said.
Fixing that means improving measurement, increasing transparency and making TV easier to buy. It also means making a stronger case to advertisers.
“It’s not an option to do nothing. You have to do something. You can’t stand still,” Stanton said.
Network 10 president Beverley McGarvey said the collaborative mindset has been forming for years, even if it’s only now becoming visible, and the willingness was already there.
“We would be willing to…collaborate on the things we need to, and collaborate as much as we can, and compete on content, compete for audiences,” McGarvey said.
She said strong performance by one broadcaster can lift the entire market.
“If there’s a big night on TV, your audience often goes up, it doesn’t go down,” she said.
“It’s actually good to see everybody do well, because it’s better for all of us.”
McGarvey also points to the need to sustain local content, which remains a key differentiator from global streamers.
“The viewer wants to watch it and they really want to engage with local content,” she said.
Southern Cross Media Group’s CEO of TV and Audio, John Kelly, back in TV after years in audio, said the industry has moved on from ego-driven competition.
“The world’s changed,” he said.
“The egos were massive and it was more about ratings as the key and only driver. I think that’s all changed now.”
Kelly’s focus is simple, grow the pie.
“We should be doing everything we can to grow the industry and work with advertisers to grow the industry,” he said.
That includes collaboration in areas that were once off-limits.
“Let’s share everything we can, perhaps except the tech and the day-to-day combat in terms of direct advertising practices,” he said.
One area of focus is making TV more accessible to smaller advertisers, long dominated by global digital platforms.
Stanton said tools such as self-serve buying platforms and improved targeting will open the door.
“I think you will see really strong growth over the next three to five years,” he said.
At the same time, the industry is trying to fix what executives describe as a perception problem. TV audiences are not shrinking in the way many assume.
“The 16 to 39 age bracket for us is growing quicker than any other bracket,” Stanton said.
“The myth that it’s only for older people is just completely wrong.”
The challenge now is to turn that audience growth into revenue.
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