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EXCLUSIVE | Seven’s Director of Programming ANGUS ROSS talks Q1, new formats, MKR, and ratings

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In an exclusive interview with Rob McKnight for the TV Blackbox Podcast, Angus Ross discusses fixing Seven’s Q1, the My Kitchen Rules revival in 2022, and how the Olympics have boosted Seven’s ratings for the year.

In this week’s TV Blackbox Podcast, Rob McKnight chatted to Seven’s Director of Programming Angus Ross after the network’s upfront presentation earlier this week.

With a strong 2021 where Seven is set to win Total People in ratings, the lineup for 2022 features big events such as The Winter Olympics, and The Commonwealth Games, 2021 Reality staples like The Voice Australia, Big Brother, and Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars, and also some resurrected former flames: My Kitchen Rules and Australian Idol.

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With so much to unpack, Angus Ross told Rob McKnight said that 2021 didn’t have all the rounds in the chamber when it came to programming, with a show like Australia’s Got Talent forced to postpone to 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns. But with 2022 in sight, he’s confident Seven can deliver their full slate, build on their successes, and fix their Q1.

“Q1 has been that part of the schedule we need to fix and that’s what kick start in 2022 is all about, it’s about coming out into Q1 with proven formats, Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars, SAS: Australia, and then The Voice spinoff, The Voice: Generations, combined with the Winter Olympics. And I think we’re going to have our most successful Q1 in a number of years, I can confidently say.”

Working with known brands only in 2022, Rob asked Angus what the future entailed for developing new formats and programming, and he said:

“We are in the market for exciting new formats, and yes we still, for the right sort of thing we may take a chance on it. But you need to be very, very certain about things. And to be honest, the format pipeline in the current situation, in the current COVID situation, have not really been flowing. There’s not a lot around. But we’re here ready to pounce on anything that tickles our fancy, and you’re much more inclined to do that, to take some risks, if the rest of your schedule is quite stable and settled.

“We’ve come out and said we’re into year two of a three-year build, and I can confidently say that we’re ahead of schedule in where we need to be. But you know come year three if we’re in an even better shape you start to become prepared to take more risks again.”

One former popular format that was rested in 2021 was My Kitchen Rules, which has been resurrected for 2022 and promising to go back to its roots with a fresh start. TV Blackbox interviewed Angus back in May and asked whether the show would return in 2022, to which at the time Angus said it was not anywhere in the schedule.

When asked what changed, Angus said shows such as My Kitchen Rules needed some time to be rested and would be revisited when feeling more confident the format can be reinvented.

“It’s a bit of back to basics sort of thing, back to the drawing board sort of thing. Back to state versus state, cooking in people’s homes. But from an advertiser revenue point of view, there is still a great deal of demand for cooking shows. And I’d rather go with a known format that was the number one show in television I think for eight out of its ten years, then to go and try something unproven.

“Good brands aren’t things that you throw away and by the time it gets to air, it probably will have been off air over two and a half years.”

MY KITCHEN RULES returns to Seven in 2022 (image - Seven)
MY KITCHEN RULES returns to Seven in 2022 (image – Seven)

Rob also quizzed Angus on a claim Seven Managing Director and CEO, James Warburton, made about winning the ratings in both total people and all the demo’s. But the claim includes the ratings data generated from the Tokyo Olympics, which are traditionally left out of ratings calculations.

Angus said:

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“If you look at survey year today, and you strip out those two weeks, we’ve won 18 weeks of the year, Nine is on 13 weeks – we’re in an uncatchable position in terms of all people share, 16-39s, and under 50s. Again, excluding the Olympics, I think it’s too close to call on 25-54s, I think Nine will probably just hang onto the year.

“But for us as a network, we are the only network that has significantly grown share in every one of those key demo’s, and all people.”

Towards the end of the interview, Rob asked Angus how he was feeling in the home stretch for 2021, and he said:

“I’m feeling good that Seven will be back to number one this year.

“As a programmer you always feel like you’re a couple of shows short. The great thing about next year, if we get all those shows locked and loaded, we will for the first time in three years have a full deck to roll out. And that for me is what’s most exciting.”

You can listen to the full interview with Angus Ross at the beginning of the TV Blackbox podcast, where he talks more about 2022, the success of The Voice Australia, and the potential of a variety show off the back of Hey, Hey It’s 50 Years.

We thank Angus for his time with Rob for TV Blackbox.

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Know more about this or another Australian media story?

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Matthew Simmonds
Matthew Simmonds
Matthew Simmonds is a journalist and blogger, with a keen interest in the world of Reality TV. He loves exploring both what’s happening in front of the camera but also how the magic comes together behind the scenes. If not glued to the TV bingeing one of the newest obsessions or a timeless series, you’ll find Matthew endlessly scrolling through Twitter (and he may even tweet a time or two). Matthew graduated from a Bachelor Degree in Communication, majoring in Journalism, at the Queensland University of Technology in 2022.
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