It’s no longer a good move. It needed to happen before Paramount+ launched to have made any difference. Their only hope is to merge with or acquire an existing platform.
And many ongoing failures too. 7news.com.au is a dud. It might rate ok on Ipsos but only because of the copious amount of posts they make to their 20-odd Facebook pages. The content is Daily Mail-lite and they’ve largely failed to capitalise on their broadcast resources. The main YouTube channel is ok, but content has dropped off dramatically following layoffs. And the “original” channels/content they tried to kickstart were stinkers. They started podcasting, then that dropped off too. The FAST channels on 7+ are terrible, and on Chromecast you have to search to find any news, there’s no section.
How anyone in digital in that place still has their job is beyond me. It’s woeful.
I’m pretty sure they buy YouTube subscribers. At one point they were neck and neck with Friendly Jordies (each had about 500k subs)… then all of a sudden 7 News gained an extra 200k subs. Which was interesting and not at all dodgy.
The market is already too saturated in Oz to launch a new streamer.
Even in the US with 350m people - Peacock and P+ won’t survive.
Oz can’t support another one. Seven has left it too late.
What they need to be doing is looking at partnerships and re-tooling and positioning 7+
They need to work out ways to bring in subscription revenue to replace the double digit decine of ad revenue moving away from TV to google, meta etc. Owning a bunch of declining traditional legacy media assets has an expiration date is is not a long term strategy. K
Max is coming to Australia and entertaining partnerships. Seven offers something incredibly valuable to WBD - that is commercial air time and massive platfroms and reach to advertise to. Seven could partner with max somehow where by Max gets use of sevens commercial time to advertise max - and WBD shares content with 7+ and Seven - where by there can be a “Max on 7+” tile on 7+ - much like FX on Disney or Hulu on Disney
7+ could tilt to an ITVX model with a lot more original Australian commisions and a paid tier of premium programming with no ads. Right now as others have pointed out 7+ feels like a catch up service and dumping ground. Seven could turn 7+ into a more ITVX like platform with originals, bigger marketing budgets, it’s own brand idenity and have a paid tier where more premium and exclusive content
The way Peacock feels different to NBC - follow that model. If its turned into a more premium service with it’s own unique brand and idenity - a paid tier could be home to Home and Away first runs, spin off and more Aussie drama and US exclusives.
Kerry Stokes said to have blocked Southern Cross/ARN Media deal
Former Seven West Media management lobbied the board of the broadcaster to buy Southern Cross Media Group and ARN Media with its own shares but was blocked on embarking on the move by billionaire chairman Kerry Stokes, sources say, reports The Australian’sBridget Carter.
The understanding is that by acquiring ARN Media and/or Southern Cross, which was up for discussion within the headquarters of Seven West before both ARN Media and Southern Cross were in talks for a merger themselves, would dilute the size of Seven Group Holdings’s 40 per cent position in Seven West.
Seven Group is 57 per cent owned by Stokes, and he did not want to dilute his interest in the free-to-air broadcaster and streaming service provider that also owns the West Australian newspaper.
Used to love that space-age little jingle that went along with i7, still on all Blue Heelers masters including Seven’s old tapes on 7Plus (which has been one of the platform’s biggest cumulative if not biggest vod audiences/minutes)
I was making a point. If Seven’s digital strategy were any good they wouldn’t have to resort to buying subscribers to try and compete with some dickhead in his spare room in Sydney.
