Seven boosts AI usage on streaming platform 7plus

The Kerry Stokes-led company has announced its new programs for 2024 and also revealed the increased use of AI to bolster 7plus which will include many new features in the new year.

Channel 7 host of Farmer Wants A Wife Samantha Armytage.

The Seven Network will focus heavily on its streaming platform, 7plus, in the year ahead as it significantly bolsters the integration of artificial intelligence on its platform to drive targeted advertising for its audiences.

Seven on Wednesday announced it will join forces with American software company Databricks to embed AI into its platform to personalise experiences for all users.

Seven West Media managing director and chief executive officer, James Warburton, said the “predictive” side of a user’s viewing habits and the personalised experience of what they view will be extremely beneficial for the media company to help bolster its advertising.

“Databricks will allow us to have a predictive modelling tool which shows us what viewers

are going to watch in the week ahead and where the minutes are and the types of shows and genres,” he said in an interview with The Australian.

“That will be really intriguing for advertisers for being able to predict what is coming as opposed to saying ‘this is what they viewed’.”

Seven West CEO James Warburton has announced the new shows the network is rolling out in 2024.

Seven West Media chief digital officer Gereurd Roberts said AI has been heavily used with the business for the past 18 months and this will only rise further.

“With Databricks, we are extending our groundbreaking implementation of AI beyond the user experience to include the advertiser experience,” he said.

“Through this work, we can tell you today what the next week of audience on

7plus will look like, all the way down to a show level. For our clients, that translates into buying with confidence.

The first phase of Seven’s partnership with Databricks has finished and now enables Seven to predict what the 7plus audience will be over the next seven days and it has a level of accuracy at more than 91 per cent.

Phase two is already underway and will also allow Seven to break down the predictive audiences into segments and demographics.

The third phase will enable AI to be used to identify acceptance of ad load by audience segments and allow the size of ad breaks to be decided as a result.

At Seven’s Upfronts event on Wednesday in Sydney, a raft of new programs were announced including special event series, King Con: The Life and Crimes of Hamish McLaren about one of the most successful con men of all time.

The network also revealed its key programs including My Kitchen Rules, Farmer Wants A Wife, Dancing with the Stars and SAS Australia would continue next year, plus numerous new programs will hit the screens including home renovation program, Dream Home, which will be hosted by Dr Chris Brown.

He will also lead a new animal adventure series, Once in a Lifetime, while a new reality show Stranded on Honeymoon Island will also air.

The network also announced another new reality series Made in Bondi, which will follow the lives of Sydney’s youngest elite set.

The series is a joint venture by the Seven Network and Channel 4 in the UK and is a new version of the British reality format – it is distributed globally by NBCUniversal Formats.

In 2024 Seven will also boost its live streaming content when it has digital rights to the AFL from September next year which includes the Brownlow and grand final and then the following month the cricket will also be available on 7plus.

“The addition of AFL and cricket to 7plus will be the biggest game changer in the history of Australian streaming,” Mr Warburton said.

“Together, they will represent four billion new minutes of viewing on 7plus a year.”

Seven will also introduce new features to its streaming platform next year including start over, live pause and rewind, skip credits and more personalisation features.

The Kerry Stokes-led company this month declared victory in the TV ratings stakes for 2023 after the results showed it was the most-watched network this year.

The result, which comes eight weeks out from the end of the ­official ratings season, means Seven is the most-watched network for 15 of the past 17 years.