2016 Rio Oympics: Seven to launch app with 900 hours of coverage

The Seven Network will launch a paid-for app with 900 hours television and digital coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Seven commercial director Kurt Burnette, left, and network director of sales Adam Elliott. Picture: Britta Campion

Three years after selling out of Foxtel and reaping half-a-billion dollars from its stake, Seven West Media is staging a return to the pay-TV sector.

The free-to-air television network is to launch a paid-for app at the Rio 2016 Olympics as part of the most comprehensive television and digital coverage of the quadrennial event yet.

While Seven will broadcast more free hours across multiple platforms than ever before, it will enable fans to watch every single event and stage live coverage for a one-off charge with no lock-in contract.

The move is significant as it would mark the first step in reducing Seven’s reliance on volatile advertising markets after the media company offloaded its shareholding in James Packer’s pay-TV vehicle Consolidated Media to News Corporation in 2013.

Seven has seized on next year’s Summer Olympics as a test bed for future sports broadcast deals as it prepares to negotiate a new contract with the AFL next year, potentially opening the door to grabbing more digital rights for live streaming of top-tier Australian sports.

The plan was unveiled in an Olympics presentation for advertisers seen by The Australian as Seven’s commercial team kicks off negotiations for premium-priced sponsorship packages a year before Rio.

Seven chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette said the company was still discussing pricing details for the app, and stressed that the telecast remained the main drawcard for viewers and advertisers, with Seven set to use all three channels including multi-channels 7mate and 7Two as well as the primary channel.

“The engine is still the main broadcast and the advertising model — mass audience delivery, audience aggregation, big emotional moments,” Mr Burnette said.

A dedicated 24/7 digital news channel, online catch-up service and free app with 36 live streams will mean Australians can watch all the main events any time, anywhere.

“The vast amount of people will still be watching on the big plasma,” Mr Burnette said.

“This is not about attaining huge amounts of scale, but we recognise that people will be constantly engaging with Seven and the Olympics in other areas.”

The fight to preserve the old-fashioned way of watching TV while exploiting the new is producing plot twists as complex as any daytime soap opera.

TV executives are anxious about the risk of starting online services that could eventually disrupt their more profitable core business.

But Mr Burnette has pointed to the success of Seven’s digital strategy at this year’s Australian Open. “We had some great learnings from that in terms of how people were willing to watch on mobile,” he said. “It pointed to the fact that convenience was a huge factor in how people consume media.”

Sources said Seven paid an estimated $170 million for a three-Games package that begins with Rio as the Olympics returns to the network after an eight-year hiatus in which the previous rights holder the Nine Network racked up a $25m loss on the London 2012 Games.

Until Nine snatched the rights from Seven in 2007, Seven had been the home of the Olympics since the Barcelona 1992 Summer Games. As well as Rio, the new Seven contract covers the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.

It is estimated Seven will air a whopping 900 hours of Olympics action across three television channels. This does not include online streams, which means Seven could broadcast up to 2500 hours of Olympics content.

The magnitude of Seven’s broadcast is in vivid contrast to Nine, which only had about 300 hours in 2012 excluding pay-TV operator Foxtel’s joint broadcast. For Rio, Seven is the sole broadcaster.

In an attempt to allay fears that some advertisers will back off during the three-week event because of concerns about being drowned out by an Olympics-themed marketing blitz, Seven is booking fewer commercials, reducing the amount by 20 per cent to create a less cluttered environment with more impact.

By making 7mate the home of male-oriented sports like golf and soccer, and 7Two the destination for female favoured events like equestrian and gymnastics, Seven is also hoping to cater to all tastes.

Asked if Seven could attain an all-time record share of the metropolitan free-to-air advertising market in August 2016, Mr Burnette said: “The opportunity is there to make this the biggest Olympic Games we’ve ever had in this country.”

Seven Network director of sales Adam Elliott noted that Rio offered a favourable timezone, saying the presentation had received a positive response from media buyers despite tepid conditions in the advertising market. “We have some very powerful scheduling,” Mr Elliott said. “All the blue-ribbon events are scheduled at favourable times to drive very strong numbers.”