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PROGRAMMING WRAP | Seven’s 3 multi-channels outpace Nine’s 4 but at what expense?

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Seven started the year on shaky ground with lacklustre audiences for My Kitchen Rules, but has recovered with the AFL and the Channel 7 rebooted version of Big Brother with back to back weekly wins.

No shaky ground on the multi-channel front with the combo of 7mate, 7two and 7flix outperforming Nine’s suite of channels, even with Seven having 3 multi-channels and Nine having 4.

Seven have found themselves in a difficult dilemma of appeasing advertisers versus appeasing loyal viewers with the network recording, by far, the highest amount of changes to their schedule, leaving viewers unable to attach themselves to any of their offerings, particularly on 7mate.

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Previous to 2020, Seven were super clear in their individual brandings and identity for each channel, but this year viewers could be confused as to what channel is offering what particular content. Border Security repeats air Sunday nights on 7mate, but also air Wednesday nights on 7two. The Simpsons now air episodes across 7flix and 7mate, with viewers having to guess where to find the new episodes.

7two

The ‘best of British’ channel is growing in year on year share, being the number 1 multi-channel in its target demographic of women over 40 and is currently averaging a 5.7% share in that demo.

Despite a plethora of classic British drama, 7two has had some great original content in 2020 including the popular Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Brit Cops, Billy Connolly: Great American Trail and new episodes of Escape to the Country that continue to air on Friday and Saturday nights.

Bushfire Wars was the only major program to be pulled from the schedule in 2020 without being rescheduled. Seven would not comment when asked about this show.

Seven would also not be drawn into commenting on why original content continued to sit on the shelf, in a slew of so many repeats with Hospital, The Frankie Drake Mysteries and The Yorkshire Vet gathering dust.

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Seven assures us that new content is part of the channel with Murdoch Mysteries finally returning this Thursday and Cliveden: A Very British Country House Hotel beginning this Friday night. Wild Bill, The Coroner and Jeremy Wade’s Mighty Rivers are still to come in 2020.

7mate

The channel continues to dominate in males aged 16-54 averaging a massive 7.8% commercial share in 2020and is 2.3 points ahead of the next best multi – 9GO which is on 5.5%.

This channel continues to be an overall ratings success and kudos to Seven for providing brand new Australian made content through the likes of Fat Pizza , Rostered On, Outback Truckers and Desert Collectors to name a few.

Aussie comedy is about to get a shot of adrenalin with Housos vs Virus: The Lockdown and Regular Old Bogan, a noisy fresh adult animated series from Melbourne’s Stepmates Studios. Aussie Salvage Squad returns later in the year with a second season, along with Demolition NZ and Scrap Kings.

Despite the investment in production and high ratings, 7mate’s success has come to the detriment of loyal viewers with a ‘throw it at the wall and hope it sticks’ approach to programming with Highway Thru Hell, Heavy Lifting, Yukon Gold, Jade Fever, Graveyard Carz, Full Custom Garage, Counting Cars, Ultimate Movers and Big Easy Motors all joining the schedule and then being pulled before the end of their runs, with no dates fixed for their returns.

A spokesperson states

“Seven strategically acquires a broad range of programming for its multi-channels, programs move in and out of the schedule for a number of reasons, which primarily relate to achieving maximum ratings share for clients and complementing the Channel 7 schedule. Seven extracts value out of its acquisitions in a number of different timeslots during the license period.”

This may seem justification for the changes, but this has rarely been seen in the past. Across 10’s main channel, plus 10 Bold and 10 Peach, the network has just one single program they have not played out, preferring to mix ratings with viewer satisfaction.  Across Nine’s five channels, including their primary main player, the network has just 4 shows not played out. 7mate alone has 9 programs not played out.

Viewers have expressed dissatisfaction with American Dad being a full season behind America.

7flix

Probably the most interesting multi-channel of all networks, the offerings from 7flix are wide and varied. Still airing contracted content from the closure of 7food in 2019, the channel offers anything from Modern Family and The Simpsons repeats, to new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder, to a range of movies and then reality shows like Geordie Shore.

Even the morning schedule is hap hazard with Seven running children’s programs at 6am, then 30 minutes of cooking, followed by 30 minutes of religious programming and then a return to cooking thereafter for most of the daypart. Most religious programming airs on 7two, but Seven have made the decision to use 7flix to show James Robison sandwiched between two cooking shows.

CEO James Warbuton announced in 2019 that the channel would be refreshed with “Another plan of Seven’s is to re-launch multichannel 7flix and position it as a destination for women compared to male-focused 7mate.”

Seven chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette said in 2019 they had not picked a name yet and there were few details on the plan but the re-brand is scheduled for 2020.

Although we have seen a few programs fitting that description coming into the network such as Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta and Geordie Shore, the ‘refreshment’ does not seem to have taken place with TV Blackbox hearing that the re brand will now be more subtle with plans for a new name now ditched.

7flix is up year on year for all key advertising demographics of people 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54.

Marry Millions begins on Sunday night (June 28) with Ink Master returning for a new season next week. Ink Master: Redemption, which was pulled mid season earlier on, returns with new episodes and My Crazy Birth Story is coming later in 2020.

Bridezillas is another show that had been airing on the channel but has been yanked mid season, despite the channel airing repeats of the show in the same kind of time slot on another night.

Points of Reference

Seven, without a doubt, shows more overall new programming across its multi-channels compared to Nine and 10 (with the exception of 9Rush which has a content deal with Discovery) and showcases the most amount of new Australian programming.

The new strategy for Seven throwing shows at the wall and hoping they stick, playing the same show across 1, 2 or 3 channels and not playing out shows, is really only a recent change.

Seven’s three channels, outperform Nine’s 4 channels, ratings are good and advertisers are happy, so only the loyal linear viewers are being aggravated.

Surely there is a way to appease viewers and advertisers?

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Staff Writers
Staff Writers
TV Blackbox - Where People In The Industry Get Their News!
Comments

1 COMMENT

  1. In regards to 9’s Rush TV which has been on air for a few months. I cannot watch it. If there was a deal with Discovery why didn’t they incorporate more interesting shows from Discovery in the topics of ancient history, natural history and science for which Discovery was originally renown?

    As it is, 9 Rush has similar programs to 7Mate. Generally and I mean generally the similarly 7Mate and 9Rush have shows of the outdoor adventure type as trucks driving through snow, searching for gold and shows with alligators in swamps.

    But I prefer 7Mate because it has other kinds of programming such as buying and selling antiques in the form of “American Pickers”, “Pawn Stars”, the show on people buying abandoned goods stored in a locker, and restoration shows “American Restoration”.

    Most likely explanation for my aversion to 9 Rush is the expectation that because of the deal with Discovery, that 9 could have purchased the rights to those shows that Discovery was renown.

    Thank you,
    Anthony of Belfield

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