What you need to know:

• Media buyers largely enjoyed a Paramount's cosier upfront experience, which was split into sessions for each holding company.
• An ad-tier for Paramount+, due to launch next year, got most buyers frothy.
• As did Paramount's multi-platform strategy that means advertisers will be able to reach audiences across all of its platforms through a single buying interface – connecting Linear TV, SVOD, BVOD and AVOD.
• A bulkier and more consistent content slate kicks off with Gladiators, Australian Survivor: Titans vs Rebels and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me out of Here largely landed, though some questioned whether a 90s reboot will work in 2024 – and the distinct lack of sport was universally regarded as content hole.
• Media buyers also said Paramount should have addressed declining linear audiences and how its content ecosystem will converge with others as part of Streaming Voz.

Media buyers lauded an improved showing by Paramount underpinned by a stronger and more consistent content slate, the promise of a unified cross-business trading platform – and the chance to target Paramount+ streamers with ads.

A short, sharp one-hour presentation, followed by a Sandra Sully-hosted audience Q&A wrapped up with a smaller number of buyers chatting to TV talent and Paramount’s top brass. It was a less frenetic, shouty and booze-fuelled environment than the usual, though a few questioned the wisdom of putting all the treats on the table before others had a chance to see the spread.

In Sydney, the owner of Network 10 held three sessions on Tuesday at its studio in a presentation featuring Executive Vice President, Chief Content Officer & Head of Paramount+ Beverly McGarvey, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating & Commercial Officer & Regional Lead Jarrod Villani, Chief Sales Officer Rod Prosser and Senior Vice President Content & Programming Daniel Monaghan. Sandra Sully asked questions on behalf of the audience at the end.

More sessions are due to take place on Wednesday, before the Paramount takes its roadshow to Melbourne later this week.

A major plus

The star of the show was confirmation that an ad-tier for the SVOD Paramount+ will launch in 2024.

“That's the big news,” Zenith Media Chief Investment Officer Elizabeth Baker told Mi3 on the sidelines of the event. “It also explained why they put so much focus on Paramount+ content, because I felt there was definitely a skew towards that part of their ecosystem rather than linear free to air TV. It will be interesting to see how they start to push and pull audiences between their various offerings, especially between Paramount+ and linear TV.”

The presentation left no doubts that Network 10 is being backed by a global media behemoth – one of its major advantages – and has the fastest-growing SVOD (Paramount+) and BVOD (10 Play) in the Australian market. Tech analysts Telsyte estimates Paramount+ has about 1.5 million subscribers (nearly three times more than a year ago), although one senior executive privately suggested the figure is well north of that today. Meanwhile the addition of 51 Pluto FAST channels on 10 Play has helped it grow average viewing figures by 143 per cent in the past two months. In the US, FAST channels are booming. Australia is now catching on to a local market predicted to be worth north of $300m by 2027 and described by analysts as "just a good way to make money" from recycled content.

Perhaps flexing its content muscle ahead of the ad tier launch, there was strong emphasis on Paramount+ content for 2024, which includes NCIS Sydney – the much talked about first non-American version – and a reboot of Top Gear Australia. Other local productions include the drama Fake, and Paper Dolls. 

For linear, 2024 kicks off with Gladiators, followed by Australian Survivor: Titans vs Rebels, and I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, a starting line-up that Carat’s Investment lead Frank Carlino described as Ten racing “out of the blocks” and learning the lessons from last year when Bachelors underperformed. He was also impressed by the plan to tie everything together and make life simpler for traders: “It feels like Paramount has a lot more momentum across their whole ecosystem and have made progress explaining their multi-platform content strategy.”

Playing Total TV hand

When Paramount+ begins selling advertising, it can lay claim to becoming the only Australian media company with advertising across linear TV, BVOD, FAST (AVOD) and an SVOD. Rival Nine could also do it if it ran ads on Stan but has so far held firm on keeping its SVOD ad free.  

Paramount’s sales chief Rod Prosser told Mi3 that it wants advertisers and buyers to have a single converged approach to trading across its whole ecosystem. Once it has the back end plumbing in order, it can then launch the Paramount+ ad-tier.

While buyers complained linear TV declines were left ignored at the upfront, Prosser said the business does not measure its success solely on linear TV audiences, or during the ratings season, and that advertisers are more interested in reaching eyeballs across the Paramount ecosystem and 52 weeks of the year.

Spark Foundry Chief Investment Officer Lucie Jansen is sympathetic to the Total TV positioning.

“I think that's what everyone should be doing,” she said. "Linear TV across all networks has been declining for a long time, with the exception of Seven, which was obviously helped by the Women's World Cup,” she said. 

“[Paramount] don't really have an option but to look at it from a total ecosystem. It's just the industry really needs to catch up on how that's all captured in terms of de-duplicated reach.”

Wavemaker Sydney Head of Marketplace Peter Grose agreed, adding: "Paramount really can lay claim to offering a true total TV solution in market with offerings across linear free to air and subscription TV, BVOD, AVOD (with FAST channels) and SVOD. Whilst we still don’t have a wholistic measurement or converged trading solution across all these platforms there are several encouraging advances in this space, in particular Paramount’s commitment to VOZ streaming as well as new effectiveness solutions.

"Overall the sentiment of the upfront really did strike a perfect balance between that of a global content powerhouse, and the much revered local media business that continues to come to life in market through though the 10 brand, programming and personalities."

A linear elephant in the room

Zenith's Baker agreed that the media buying world is slowly shifting towards Total TV, but right now, “unfortunately, we still tend to evaluate on that live audience that is brought in on the linear channel”.

Carat's Carlino would have liked Paramount to address its linear TV decline as well as how its digital attribution and measurement tools converge with linear TV performance to paint a holistic picture, arguing “they didn't draw attention to decreased linear TV audiences or give any comfort or reassurances that they had a solution [to address it].”

It’s a point echoed by Initiative Chief Investment Officer Paige Wheaton, who said avoiding declining linear TV audiences was “the uncomfortable elephant in the room”. She said there was also “a notable absence of the word ‘Voz’ and the phrase ‘converged trading’”. 

“For a network who's inherently involved, I anticipated that there would be more conversation around Streaming Voz and how they would converge trading beyond their ecosystem," she said, "Understandably, they need to work through how their ecosystem can fit into the Voz world, especially as they move into an ad-funded streaming model, and that takes time.”

Is 2023 ready for Gladiators?

Hiring conservationist Robert Irwin to co-host I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, alongside Julia Morris, was viewed as a masterstroke. Steve Irwin’s son was teeming with energy and personality during the presentation, and could help “freshen up the format” after previous host Bondi Vet Dr Chris Brown defected to Seven. (Although one media agency exec privately questioned whether a wildlife conservationist was a great fit for a reality TV format that sparked an RSPCA protest about its treatment of animals in the UK last year.)

There were also hat tips to reviving back Deal or No Deal (and host Grant Denyer) to shore up content consistency around news, while several look forward to seeing how Shoppable TV works on Australian Survivor: Titans vs Rebels, some agency executives said they are keen to present the idea to clients.

The linear program that stirred the most debate is the “marvel-esque” 2023 reboot of the Gladiators.

“Paramount are rolling out some big, bold and risk-taking moves, which we hope will deliver more hits than misses in 2024,” per Daniel Cutrone, Managing Partner of Avenue C.

He backed the return of "nineties smash Gladiators" as "a family fun alternative to the tennis and cricket premiums in January. We’ve seen the strategic success with I’m A Celebrity in the past – we believe this will hold similar outcomes.”

Not everyone agreed.

Wheaton, who was largely glowing about Paramount’s content slate, questioned whether it would work today.

“I must admit I had nostalgia when they announced this and it brought back some really fond memories … but we now live in a very different world,” she said.

“It will be interesting to see how Paramount treats this. What's politically correct and how we interact and behave with each other has vastly changed over the last 30 years. The challenge would be to modernise the offering to something that resonates with viewers today.”

Jansen also questioned the “family-friendly” message of a show in which large fit men and women wrestle, tackle and prod ordinary people with their bare knuckles and giant q-tips. She said it could work if they find a happy medium between “promoting violence to kids” and a cartoon-like treatment that has some authenticity.

They could be proved wrong. Perhaps Gladiators can be Paramount’s antidote to its rival's vastly superior sporting slate in early 2024.

But after that, as the year kicks on media buyers universally said a lack of live audience-pulling major sport is still a blindspot for Paramount, even if it can ride the crest of the Matildas and Socceroos wave as their official broadcaster for the next Asia Cup. Buyers are generally upbeat about Paramount's advertising offering and improved content slate, but some questions remain.