Ten woos smaller advertisers

Network Ten is targeting small to medium businesses with the launch of a self-serve advert buying platform.

MasterChef Australia will be refreshed for the 2020 season. Picture: Network Ten

Network Ten is targeting small to medium businesses with the launch of a self-serve advertising buying platform that rivals a similar initiative by Nine.

The new platform comes as part of the CBS Network’s broader efforts to provide a more sophisticated offering for advertisers, through new data partnerships, the relaunch of on-demand streaming service 10Play, and obligatory sign-in for users.

From next year, advertisers will be able to access BUY10 YOU, a platform that will allow brands to purchase advertising space across television and eventually 10Play.

Ten’s launch comes a year after Nine revealed it would launch a self-serve platform called 9Voyager, which was said to open Nine to the business of more than two million small and medium businesses.

Chief sales officer Rod Prosser said the platform would allow brands to have direct access to all of Ten’s inventory. “In the most simplest form, you’ll go into the website, you’ll put in your budget, your timings, your brief if you like and you will get an optimised schedule back and you’ll also have an option to use our facilities to produce an ad, if they don’t have an ad,” Mr Prosser said.

“It’s an untapped market for us, so it’s a real opportunity.”

BUY10 YOU is part of a wider reboot of BUY10, a platform used by media buyers almost two decades ago to view commercial and programming information. The platform, which launches today, will allow automation of ads across Channel 10, 10 Bold, 10 Peach before rolling out on Ten’s digital devices.

At the same time, Ten has signed data partnerships with Quantium, Eyeota and Greater Data, which will be effective from November and will seek to boost Ten’s ability to more accurately target consumers.

Ten will also relaunch its 10Play app on the You.i Engine One platform, giving the network the ability to plant advertisers’ messages in relevant spots by mid next year. As part of this, Network Ten will look to implement compulsory sign-in across all programs on 10Play.

Nine has compulsory sign-in for its on-demand service 9Now, while Channel 7 has an opt-in sign-in model for 7Plus users.

The announcements come as part of the network’s annual media upfronts, where they are set to reveal next year’s programming, including two seasons of Australian Survivor, The Bachelor franchise and a refreshed MasterChef Australia.

Ten’s chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey, said compulsory sign-in on 10Play will allow consumers a more personalised experience. “We are just working through technically how to push that through all of the different places where you can find 10Play,” she said.