How Nine outsmarted Seven for the tennis

NINE’S snatching of the tennis was a masterstroke for it, and a nightmare for Seven, writes Colin Vickery. And that’s because it’s about much more than the tennis.

MASSIVE.

That was my response to news that Channel 9 has snatched the broadcast rights to premium tennis events including the Australian Open from Seven.

The five-year-deal, worth $300 million, will see Nine televise the local Grand Slam as well as the Hopman Cup and the Brisbane, Sydney and Hobart Internationals from 2020.

Media analyst Steve Allen described the ramifications of the deal as “seismic” and he isn’t wrong. In one fell swoop Nine has changed its fortunes, and that of its rival, for years to come.

I’ve always thought that the Summer of Tennis is the most important sports event series on Australian television — better than having the AFL, Test cricket, Big Bash cricket, the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games.

Why? Because every year Seven has been able to get a jump on its competitors by promoting its major new shows during those December and January tournaments.

The tennis is one of the reasons that My Kitchen Rules has been such a ratings triumph across nine seasons.

Every viewer knows that Seven plasters its tennis telecasts with wall-to-wall on-air promotions for its cooking show and the strategy works.

Add in high-rotation promotions for start-of-ratings hit miniseries including INXS: Never Tear Us Apart and Molly and Seven is always off with a bang. That leaves Nine and Ten continually playing catch-up.

Even if Seven has a poor finish to the year — as it did in 2017 — it has been able to rest easy because the tennis has helped it get off to such a strong start.

Seven viewers will miss scenes like Serena Williams winning the women’s final in 2017. (Pic: Quinn Rooney/Getty)

And Roger Federer taking home the men’s trophy earlier this year. (Pic: Scott Barbour/Getty)

All of that ends in 2020, after more than four decades.

Nine had already been making headway with an expanded Married at First Sight finally giving My Kitchen Rules some stiff competition.

But add the tennis into the mix and all of a sudden it will be Nine, and not Seven, that will roar out of the gate.

“The Australian Open has always been an event that Nine has looked at with envy due to the great lead-in it provides to regularly scheduled programming,” Nine CEO Hugh Marks told me last week.

Marks is hoping that securing the tennis will also help change the way viewers perceive Nine. It is a plank in a subtle rebranding exercise.

For decades, the network has been perceived as too blokey — too many men in powerful positions, too many male-skewing shows, too many old codgers on commentary teams. Marks is out to change that perception and tennis can help.

“It is no secret that tennis as a sport has a beautiful balance of female and male participation and viewership,” Marks said to me.

“That is one of the attractions for us. Nine has become much more female in our programming so events like the tennis become that much more appealing.”

I reckon Nine scooping the tennis was also a big “up yours” to a cocky Cricket Australia which had curtly rejected a joint bid from Nine and Ten for the next lot of cricket broadcast rights.

Jim Courier takes an ill-advised dip in the Yarra River to celebrate his 1992 Australian Open win. (Pic: News Corp archives)

The governing body, headed by James Sutherland, had been looking to swing a new deal worth upwards of an eye-watering $200 million per year or $1 billion over five years.

That was before Aussie cricket was left reeling from the ball-tampering incident involving Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

Marks had always said that Nine wouldn’t pursue cricket at any cost and he has stayed true to his word.

“I can’t help thinking that Cricket Australia overplayed its hand (expecting upwards of $1 billion) — it had unrealistic expectations and it looks like Nine has walked,” Allen told me.

So where does this leave Seven? Feeling pretty angry and depressed I would think. They have one more year of glory and that is it. Allen has described losing the tennis as a “big strategic mistake” on Seven’s part and I have to agree.

I can’t help thinking that it is a blunder that will have ramifications all the way to the top — Seven West CEO Tim Worner.

There is already speculation that Seven and subscription-TV broadcaster Fox Sports will team up to strike a cricket deal.

The Big Bash is the jewel in that crown as far as I’m concerned. It has been a consistent ratings winner for Ten, also provides a strong promotional platform, is scandal-free and attracts big family viewing.

Maybe there is one more chapter left to go in this saga. Maybe Seven can restore some pride by getting a sizeable chunk of the summer cricket action.

Because right now Nine’s tennis deal looks like a straight sets win.

Colin Vickery is a Herald Sun TV writer.