Foxtel Upfronts 2023

FOXTEL GROUP UNVEILS 2023 MAJOR SLATE OF NEW AND RETURNING CONTENT

Groundbreaking line up of local and international content revealed at Foxtel Media Upfronts

Largest ever slate of 4K Ultra HD sport content planned

Foxtel Group has announced a significant line-up of premium entertainment and sport over the next 12 months, featuring a commanding slate of Australian Original content alongside the world’s best scripted and unscripted television shows and movies.

Foxtel Group offers subscribers more than 75,000 hours of content from top-tier studios and distribution partners, on both ‘owned and operated’ channels and partner channels, as well as live and On Demand sport. With many highly anticipated new shows and Originals set to premiere in 2023, Foxtel Group brings subscribers the most comprehensive entertainment and sport slate in Australia across its platforms.

Amanda Laing, Foxtel Group Chief Content and Commercial Officer, said: “Foxtel Group is the partner of choice for many major overseas studios and content distributors, unlocking the world’s best shows to be made exclusively available for our customers here in Australia.

“We are incredibly excited about the content we have in store for our subscribers to enjoy in 2023. From the biggest sports to the best local and international TV shows and movies, we offer the best range of premium entertainment and sport in the country.

“The diversity of quality content across drama, comedy, unscripted reality, factual, and movies is what sets the Foxtel Group apart, and is a critical factor in our ongoing success in an increasingly competitive entertainment market.”

Original scripted

More Australian original stories will soon find a home on Foxtel Group platforms, with new commission STRIFE from Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories, and starring Australian icon Asher Keddie, being slated for production in 2023. Set in the ever-changing world of publishing during the emerging digital age, the story is inspired by Mia Freedman’s memoir, “Work, Strife, Balance”.

Other local scripted Originals coming soon to the Foxtel Group include the second season of award-winning comedy drama series UPRIGHT starring Tim Minchin and House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock, comedy series COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS, created and written by and starring Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall; and the second season of critically acclaimed drama LOVE ME.

Overseas

New international dramas coming soon include post-apocalyptic video game series THE LAST OF US, starring Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsay and Australian Anna Torv; and the much-anticipated series THE IDOL, created by Sam Levinson and Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and starring Lily-Rose Depp. Other exclusive shows include period drama MARIE ANTOINETTE created and written by Deborah Davis (The Favourite); British comedy-drama CHIVALRY written by and starring Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani; and LOVE AND DEATH, a new crime drama starring Elizabeth Olsen and written by David E. Kelley.

Returning international favourites are much-anticipated next seasons of THE WHITE LOTUS, the award-winning anthology series created by Mike White; dark comedy SUCCESSION starring Australian Sarah Snook; second season of the wildly popular AND JUST LIKE THAT starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis; as well as new seasons of YOUNG ROCK, DEVILS, OUTLANDER and the addictive BELOW DECK, REAL HOUSEWIVES, and BAKE OFF franchises from around the world.

Lifestyle

LifeStyle’s most loved Original franchise SELLING HOUSES AUSTRALIA will return for season 15 with hosts Andrew Winter, Wendy Moore and Dennis Scott. THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BAKE OFF will also return in 2023 with new judges Rachel Khoo and Darren Purchese and hosts Natalie Tran and Cal Wilson. GRAND DESIGNS AUSTRALIA will premiere its final season with the Foxtel Group and award-winning host Peter Maddison on January 25, 2023.

The much-loved GOGGLEBOX AUSTRALIA will return next year as well as a reboot of Australia’s beloved music trivia show ROCKWIZ.

Fboy Island

New to Foxtel Group in 2023 is FBOY ISLAND, an Original production based on the hugely popular U.S. format. Soon to head into production, the series will follow three modern women who in their attempt to find love must uncover which suitor is there for love, and who is just a player.

Factuals

Foxtel Group will see a huge breadth of factual content debut over the next 12 months including docu-series ICONS UNEARTHED exploring the iconic television and film franchises that have shaped the industry, kicking off with Star Wars in December; and thought-provoking human-interest pieces like MASTER OF LIGHT, the story of an imprisoned artist and the power of redemption and identity. Hit survival competition series ALONE returns as well as widely popular series’ AUSSIE GOLD HUNTERS and 60 DAYS IN. Also returning will be long-running US titles PAWN STARS, STORAGE WARS, and AMERICAN PICKERS.

Sport

In 2023, the Foxtel Group becomes the exclusive destination for WWE in Australia, adding all of WWE’s extensive archive as well as premiere and live events to our platforms. Foxtel subscribers will enjoy a dedicated 24/7 WWE channel and VOD hub, and in January 2023 BINGE will launch as the streaming Home of WWE in Australia. All of WWE’s Premium Live Events, previously only available through pay-per-view, will be available to Foxtel and BINGE subscribers at no additional cost.

In sport, 2023 will be a huge year for Cricket on the Foxtel Group, with two World Cups - the Women’s T20 World Cup over summer and the Men’s ODI World Cup in October - every Australian Men’s and Women’s home international, every match of the BBL and WBBL, plus major domestic and international matches live and ad -free during play with select matches available in 4K Ultra HD on Foxtel.

As a key broadcast partner of ESPN in Australia, Foxtel Group is proud to be bringing all NBL games and select NBA games to fans across the summer along with select events from the WNBL. March will also see the return of winter codes with every game of every round of both AFL and NRL to be broadcast live and ad break free during play.

Foxtel Group will showcase every match of the Super Netball Season along with Australian International Tests and Quad Series.

We will also broadcast must-watch Supercars and Formula 1 events along with Main Event Boxing and UFC, Golf, AFLW, NRLW, NFL, Surfing and more, as part of the Foxtel Group’s unrivalled sport offering. Foxtel will also continue to bring fans closer to the action with more 4K Ultra HD sport than ever before including Cricket, F1, NRL and AFL, to name a few.

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Foxtel Media ups FoxTest initiative to $5M following breakthrough initial results

Foxtel Media today announced it will increase investment in its FoxTest ad experimentation initiative to $5 million, following exceptional results since FoxTest was rolled out last year. Announced at Foxtel Media’s 2023 Upfront event, Game Changed, the additional investment will allow Foxtel Media and its advertising partners to harness existing attention data and incorporate it into planning and buying tools across the agency landscape and refine the number of tests being conducted while speeding up experimentation.

Originally announced at the 2021 Foxtel Media Showcase, FoxTest helps brands explore the frontiers of advertising, and run experiments across advertising content, experience, and data. In the first stage of the Foxtel roll out, Foxtel Media partnered with clients such as Westpac, Suncorp, NAB, Uber, KFC, IPG, OMD, Spark and GroupM to test ad formats, duration, delivery and more to find the best way to retain audience attention for each brand.

In total, Foxtel Media has worked with 25 clients since the launch of FoxTest and conducted tests across ten projects, covering the power of women in sport, trading to high value audiences, and testing new ad formats.

One FoxTest conducted with Amplified Intelligence helped to prove higher levels of attention of ads across Foxtel audiences, based on higher consumption and considerably less advertising per hour than other broadcasters. In particular, the strength of Kayo was again highlighted in this test, delivering 30% greater engagement when compared to free-to-air channels. The output of this test with Amplified Intelligence will see the Foxtel audience and program data ingested into Amplified Intelligence’s Attention Plan tool, enabling agencies to further optimise their media investment across Foxtel’s highly engaged audiences.

Another test for Spark Foundry saw a brand optimise creative executions for a campaign that ran across linear TV, BVOD and social video. This FoxTest leveraged audio content recognition technology provided by Beatgrid to identify cross-media campaign exposure, alongside survey data and modelling from Nature to determine impact on brand and ROI. This test allowed Foxtel Media to better understand their role in future media planning across elements such as channel, frequency and ad length, ultimately contributing to a better experience for viewers, and a better outcome for advertisers.

Foxtel Media CEO, Mark Frain, said that the decision to increase investment in the initiative came after the increasing appetite from clients and agencies to test and learn.

“We have been blown away by the demand and feedback for FoxTest. This initiative was the first of its kind and while it has certainly been a challenge, the support from our agency partners and the revealing insights we have been able to uncover has spurred us on. The additional capital we are investing solidifies our commitment to this path of collaboration and evolution as we venture into new frontiers of advertising.

“The results have been disruptive at times, but necessary for us to continue to lead video advertising as the media industry evolves. The learnings from FoxTest are changing our way of working. For example, a test run with a popular auto brand earlier this year prompted us to modify our workflows and adopt an agnostic screens approach.”

Toby Dewar, Director of Customer Engagement at Foxtel Media, said, “ FoxTest has proven itself beyond any doubt as something the market can leverage and use to evolve media planning. The experiments we are running are having tangible outcomes, driving industry rhetoric and further proving the distinct advantages clients have in advertising across our platforms. The results are contributing towards Foxtel’s journey to be the most watchable TV and streaming partner in the market and the most impactful and effective platform for advertisers.”

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New BINGE advertising tier to create unparalleled opportunities for brands in 2023

Foxtel Media today announced at its 2023 Upfront, Game Changed, that an advertising tier will be introduced on the BINGE streaming service in 2023, giving brands the ability to connect to a new, high value and highly engaged audience segment.

Slated to launch in the first quarter of 2023, BINGE advertising will be modelled on the success of the Kayo Sports and Foxtel Go services, which ensure minimum disruption to the viewer experience, and maximum impact for brands. The tier will launch with in-built audience scale, meaning there will be immediate access to a buyable audience and advertisers will not have to wait for viewers to accumulate.

Advertisers will be able to book pre and mid roll ads on BINGE. Select solus breaks will also be available, with FoxTest research revealing that spontaneous ad recall rises 34% in this format. However, ads will be capped to 4 minutes per hour, with strict ad-serving controls and a frequency cap of one per hour per user to prioritise the watchability and bingeability of the platform.

The 2023 Foxtel Media Upfront, also provided further insight about BINGE’s audience which includes a 60-40 split in favour of females, with the largest audience being females aged 18 to 34. Half of BINGE’s subscribers are high income earners, 60% have families and 80% are below the age of 54.

BINGE launched in mid-2020 and has amassed almost 1.3 million subscribers in that time. It has brought critically acclaimed shows such as The Undoing, The Walking Dead, House of the Dragon and local originals such as Love Me to Australian viewers, with House of the Dragon debuting to a total of 1.235 million views when it was released.

Speaking at Game Changed, held at the newly completed Allianz Stadium today, Foxtel Media CEO, Mark Frain said BINGE would change the game for entertainment advertising in the same way that Kayo changed the game for sports.

“Opening up advertising on BINGE is going to allow brands to appear alongside some truly world class content and add immense scale to our network. We are emphasising the power of the weighty one-two punch of advertising on Kayo and BINGE simultaneously.

“At the same time, we are being extremely careful about our offerings to ensure that we safeguard the watchability of BINGE that our subscribers treasure, which will ultimately have great benefits for brands as well.

“The Foxtel network is not a newcomer to the arena of ad supported subscription TV. We have years of experience under our belts and have successfully transitioned several services to avenues that allow brands and agencies to connect with audiences in unique formats and on different levels. We’re old hands at this and we’re very confident in the experience we will be able to deliver for subscribers and brands alike.”

Executive Director of BINGE, Alison Hurbert-Burns said, “In two short years we have built BINGE into a household name. We know that quality and variety are the drivers when it comes to choosing a streaming service, and at BINGE we connect the critically acclaimed and the popular.

“Introducing advertising on the platform represents a truly valuable opportunity for marketers who are looking to connect with a passionate, engaged and loyal audience. This is the next level of watchability on BINGE.”

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STRIFE

BINGE ANNOUNCES NEW COMMISSION

FROM MADE UP STORIES AND FIFTH SEASON, STARRING ASHER KEDDIE

BINGE today announced STRIFE, a new Australian series from award-winning production company Made Up Stories, with producers Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky alongside Asher Keddie, Sarah Scheller and Mia Freedman, and in partnership with global studio FIFTH SEASON, commissioned by the FOXTEL Group for BINGE with production set for 2023.

The comedic drama series tells the story of a modern, imperfect woman and publisher named Evelyn Jones, played by acclaimed Australian actress Asher Keddie, and her journey from lounge room blogger to becoming a force in women’s media.

Set in the dynamic and ever-changing world of publishing, digital media and its origins, the series is inspired by Mia Freedman’s memoir, ‘Work, Strife, Balance’*, and is written by Australian screenwriter Sarah Scheller (The Letdown).

Made Up Stories Founder and CEO, Bruna Papandrea**,** said: “I have been privileged to bring many incredible stories to the screen, from bases around the world but Australia is my home, and I am passionate about telling our stories - Australian stories - and I am so thrilled to be working with the Foxtel Group on this new original for BINGE.

“We have assembled an incredible team to bring this project to life, including the amazing Asher Keddie, who is both our series’ star and producing partner, the brilliant Sarah Scheller who leads the writer’s room and will be our showrunner and the awesome Mia Freedman whose compelling memoir and trail-blazing career is the inspiration for this series.”

BINGE Executive Director, Alison Hurbert-Burns, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with such a formidable force in Bruna Papandrea and Made Up Stories - a production company that champions

women on and off screen throughout the world, the incredible Asher Keddie, and of course Mia Freedman, who has been a strong inspiration for this series.

“STRIFE is a story full of heart, and plenty of humour, and we can’t wait to bring it to BINGE viewers.”

FIFTH SEASON President, TV Distribution, Prentiss Fraser, said: “We are delighted to join our partners at Made Up Stories on our first drama series commission with the ideal collaborators, the Foxtel Group. STRIFE is a timely and relatable series inspired by Mia Freedman’s powerful memoir and showcases Australia’s best creative talents in front of and behind the camera.”

Made Up Stories will produce the series in partnership with FIFTH SEASON (formerly Endeavor Content), which will also handle international distribution. Executive Producers are Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Jodi Matterson (Made Up Stories), Asher Keddie, Mia Freedman, Sarah Scheller, and Brian Walsh and Alison Hurbert-Burns (Foxtel Group). Commissioning Editor is Lana Greenhalgh.

STRIFE is commissioned by the Foxtel Group for BINGE and will also be available on Foxtel. Production will begin in Sydney in early 2023.


About MADE UP STORIES

Made Up Stories is a development and production company that amplifies distinctive voices to tell unforgettable stories about the diversity of human experience, driven primarily by multifaceted females on and off-screen. Made Up Stories was founded in 2017, and is led by Bruna Papandrea, the award-winning producer of the critically acclaimed HBO series BIG LITTLE LIES (eight Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards). On the television side, Made Up Stories premiered five series in 2022, including Netflix’s hit shows PIECES OF HER starring Toni Collette and ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL starring Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery; the anthology ROAR for Apple TV+ starring Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever, and Alison Brie; the genre-bending romantic comedy WOLF LIKE ME starring Isla Fisher and Josh Gad for Peacock and Stan that is currently in filming its second season; and the Spectrum Originals women’s basketball drama LONG SLOW EXHALE, starring Rose Rollins. They recently wrapped principal photography on the Amazon Prime Video series THE LOST FLOWERS OF ALICE HART, adapted by Sarah Lambert from Holly Ringland’s debut novel, and starring Sigourney Weaver set to release in 2023. They just executive produced their first unscripted series, UNDRESSED, releasing on Paramount+ in Australia in October. Made Up Stories also executive produced THE UNDOING, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, which was HBO’s most watched series of 2020, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS, based on best-selling author Liane Moriarty’s book, starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy, that

premiered to great acclaim in August 2021 and immediately became Hulu’s most watched original series, ever, as well as, the hit Amazon Prime Video series TELL ME YOUR SECRETS created by Harriet Warner and starring Lily Rabe.

Made Up Stories most recently produced the film adaptation of Netflix’s LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, based on the novel by Jessica Knoll, starring Mila Kunis, and directed by Mike Barker, that premiered on October 7, 2022, and was the #1 movie globally on Netflix. Previously they produced the film adaptation of the inspiring international bestseller, PENGUIN BLOOM, directed by Glendyn Ivin and starring Naomi Watts, Andrew Lincoln and Jacki Weaver, that was released by Netflix, and THE DRY, based on the Jane Harper novel, from director Robert Connolly and starring Eric Bana, released by IFC. Made Up Stories is currently in production on the film adaptation of Jane Harper’s FORCE OF NATURE, a follow-up to THE DRY, with Eric Bana reprising his role and Robert Connolly directing.


About FIFTH SEASON

FIFTH SEASON (formerly Endeavor Content) is a global leader in the creation, production, and distribution of feature films and premium television series. Known for producing and distributing award-winning content that engages audiences and moves culture, the studio’s film titles include the multi-Oscar-nominated THE LOST DAUGHTER from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Bay’s AMBULANCE, Destin Daniel Cretton’s JUST MERCY, the BOOK CLUB franchise, and recent Sundance Film Festival Audience Award winner CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH. The studio produces premium TV series, including the 14 Emmy-nominated Severance, See and Truth Be Told for Apple TV+, Wolf Like Me for Peacock, Life & Beth, Nine Perfect Strangers, and McCartney 3, 2, 1 for Hulu, Tokyo Vice for HBO Max, and Scenes From A Marriage for HBO. FIFTH SEASON also handles global distribution for dozens of hit series in addition to its own studio productions, including Killing Eve, The Morning Show, Normal People, and The Night Manager.Learn more at FIFTHSEASON.com, follow us @FIFTHSEASON.

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