As the superstars of world tennis prepare to step into the arena of dreams at Melbourne Park, Nine has unveiled the major partners and sponsors for the 2023 Australian Open.
With brands leveraging off Nine’s unrivalled combined assets spanning Total Television, Publishing, Digital and Audio, Australia’s greatest sporting epic staged every January gives brands the advantage to ace the new year with an unparalleled audience.
Nine recently confirmed it will hold the Australian Open rights for a momentous additional five years until 2029, and in 2023 there has been unprecedented demand for premium advertising packages from brands wanting to play in the year’s biggest marketing platform.
The popularity of tennis is surging. Last year’s Australian Open was the second most searched Google term of the year while the sport’s athletes also dominated the lists of most searched subjects. This year, brands will experience the unmatched marketing power of Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
From a special edition of Tennis, brought to you by Good Weekend magazine and two brand new 9Podcasts series titled AO The Happy Slam and AO The Happy Slam Daily – featuring an all star lineup including Pat Rafter, Dylan Alcott, Jim Courier and Ajla Tomljanovic – to content on wwos.com.au and seamless brand integration throughout the broadcast, partners have an entire ecosystem to reach Nine’s 20 million signed in users.
The AO coincides with a summer of 9Now product launches of new in-app experiences, including instant live TV as soon as you open the app, and the ‘start over’ function that ensures you never miss an ace, rally or tie-break.
Nine has unveiled their major partners and sponsors for the 2023 Summer of Tennis with Kia, Samsung, Uber Eats, APT, Chemist Warehouse, Peters and Stan returning. Qantas, Chubb Insurance, McDonalds, Optus, Bupa, and Berocca have also accessed the full suite of Nine’s Summer of Tennis premium assets as new partners and sponsors.
2023 has also seen Tennis Australia partners Bondi Sands, Ralph Lauren, Life-Space and Gordon’s Gin capitalise on Nine’s customised AO Extender packages.
“We have seen more of Australia’s leading brands engage with Nine and summer’s biggest marketing platform than ever before,” said Matt Granger, Nine’s Director of Sales – Sport. “Our partner brands have utilised the unrivalled tennis content ecosystem across all of Nines assets – Total Television, Publishing and Radio, leveraging the power of the Summer of Tennis to engage millions of Australians in one place. The Australian Open is the ultimate launchpad for brands delivering the ultimate advantage.”
Nine’s sophisticated approach to working with brands in the sporting arena draws on groundbreaking ways to tell a brand’s story in the most effective way possible. One of the most talked-about brand insertions in 2022 saw Nine utilise state-of-the-art in-house augmented reality technology to partner with KIA, with viewers seeing a new model car drive around the rooftop of KIA Arena.
Nine’s Head of Content Partnerships, Anne Gruber, said this year Nine has more partners and sponsors leaning into a 360 degree proposition than ever before.
“Our ecosystem connects brands with tennis enthusiasts throughout the day beyond the screen, into lifestyle content, in depth analysis on wwos.com.au, mastheads, podcasts and two way conversation on radio,” said Gruber. “We know the innovative nature of tennis lends itself to impactful advertising that works for audiences. Nine’s Summer of Tennis is recognised by brands as a completely immersive sports marketing platform that allows their story to be right there when those big moments happen.”
“In 2023 we are again excited to see the work of Powered and our premium partners come to life through branded content and bespoke commercial solutions, linking the country’s biggest brands with the tennis phenomenon sweeping Australia over January.”
