Nine faces ad hit with ‘diminished’ Australian Open

The decision to delay the start of the tournament to February 8 is unprecedented, leaving ad executives in the dark about the fallout.

Novak Djokovic has raised questions about the hard quarantine of players. Picture: AFP

Advertisers are becoming increasingly nervous about the television audience hit that the three-week delay of the Australian Open will have on the Nine Network’s first-quarter program schedule.

The decision to delay the start of the tournament to February 8 is unprecedented, leaving ad executives in the dark about the fallout from Nine having to push back the premiere of Married At First Sight.

In recent years, Nine has used its summer tennis coverage to promote its TV shows over the Christmas holidays, thanks to a $300m, five-year broadcast deal between its parent company Nine Entertainment and Tennis Australia. But with no local tennis tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, Nine has been filling the void with documentaries, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire special episodes and repeats of Travel Guides.

The hard quarantine of more than 70 tennis players has also come under fire from some players, including world No 1 Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka, and raised questions about the quality of the matches this year.

In contrast, Seven, alongside pay-TV and streaming group Foxtel, scored big with its coverage of the Test cricket series between Australia and India, while Ten premiered its first entertainment show of the year, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, on January 3.

In a bid to keep the momentum going, Seven will launch its new minigolf show Holey Moley on February 1. Ten will launch its second entertainment show, The Amazing Race, on the same night.

Ben Willee, general manager and media director of ad agency Spinach, said there was concern among advertisers that the Australian Open audience might be “diminished because of its timing”.

“The industry is nervous about where the audience is going to go, and the impact the change is going to have on the event,” Mr Willee told The Australian.

“What’s going to happen is ­really up in the air, and advertisers have to hedge their bets as a result of that.”

Katie Rigg-Smith, chief executive of GroupM’s media agency Mindshare, said the first quarter traditionally set the momentum for the networks for the year and gave advertisers confidence about how the year might play out.

“Live sport has always been a critical part of that because it gives the network a chance to excite audiences about a new series and can be used as a launch pad for the new and returning series,” she said.

Mr Willee said Foxtel and Seven had a good start with the “extraordinary Test series”. “They’ve brought in some good numbers and given them the opportunity to promote their upcoming programs,” he said.

Nine sought concessions from Tennis Australia as a result of the Australian Open’s delay, securing a discount of more than 10 per cent on its $60m payment.