There’s always considerable weight put behind a Foxtel upfronts due to its influence on the local industry, especially when it comes to sports. With new owners DAZN having taken over mid-year, interest in the event this year was larger than usual with many interested in what the future of the business would look like going forward.
With DAZN on everyones minds, it was a little unexpected that we didn’t hear from anyone at DAZN on the night, nor was Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany present as he was in London attending a meeting with the new owners. Regardless, he filmed a video for the event and the spotlight was firmly handed over to the Foxtel Media senior leaders.
The next morning, some thoughts linger about last night’s event.
It’s an incredible venue
The White Bay Power Station is a heritage listed former coal-fired power station that has since been turned into an arts space. While not especially easy to get to by public transport and the bathrooms were a little less than ideal, there was a considerable wow factor to the venue.
Both outside the venue…
… and inside where the music was blaring and the drinks were flowing. Owing to Foxtel leaning in to sports and gaming, the venue felt like a mix between a rave and a very cool Timezone arcade. The top floor was filled with skill tester game machines (I missed out on a Kayo shirt, but did win a fold-away shopping bag) and sport-focused skill games like indoor cricket nets and arcade basketball hoops.
The presentation was a bit long
Clocking in at around 90 minutes, one can’t imagine that there was a bottom in that room that wasn’t feeling a bit sore from sitting in those plastic seats for so long.
There were three clear agendas being met with the event:
• Foxtel, perhaps more than ever, is THE destination for sports in Australia by way of Fox Sports, but particularly Kayo.
• Entertainment hasn’t been forgotten.
• Foxtel is doing a lot in terms of technological innovation and creative client-focused outcomes supported by platforms.
A little less might have been more with those first two concerns as both sports and entertainment felt more than covered by the event. When host Tom Walker from The Great Australian Bake Off joked about the show reaching half time and serving cut oranges out to the crowd, the joke felt like it was met with concern that he was serious. He was.
There was a lively drum show that was cool, but, again, my bottom was very sore by that stage.
The best section of the night was the pitch at media buyers
Ultimately, most media buyers in the room aren’t hugely interested in the overall vision for the business, they want to know what Foxtel will do in the year ahead to deliver a strong return of investment on clients money. AKA “Show me the metrics”.
Foxtel did a great job on this with a direct sell from the Foxtel media team delivered with considerable clarity and with conviction.
Alex Hazlehurst, Head of Brand Solutions at Foxtel Media, sold the audience on the branded content opportunities of Foxtel with travel show Luxury Escapes held up as an example of what is possible. Joined on stage by Luxury Escapes head of social engagement Eugene Loane (and series host Cameron Daddo), the sell from Hazlehurst was strong.
Loane talked about the impact of amplification on Foxtel’s platforms: “From broadcast to Binge, encore runs 10 times a week to collaborative social pushes across our accounts, their accounts, and talent channels. together we build a full-funnel ecosystem around every episode.”
Hazlehurst then, ironically enough, amplified the sentiment: “It really is all covered. Paid social, precision retargeting, on-screen
call-to-actions to limited-time, exclusive deals, we don’t just create content, we engineer outcomes.”
The sell was direct and, in another setting, might have been a bit on the nose, but for this room it was a strong pitch.
Soon after, Toby Dewar, Director of Customer Engagement of Foxtel Media, took to the stage to talk about the Video Futures Collective. I’m not sure this was an audience that needed to be sold on the value of streaming video, but Dewar was there to bring the point home regardless, telling the crowd that “ROI for digital video was +76% above the average of all other media
channels; SVOD alone drove a further +19% uplift in sales outcomes. Simply Put: streaming drives sales.”
Nev Hasan
The direct sell just kept on coming. Chief Sales Officer Nev Hasan then joined Perth Sales Director Karen Papalia on stage where they delivered case studies to further land the point. Hasan spoke about Kaboodle Kitchen, a client who ditched demo targeting to focus instead on ‘character targeting,’ telling the audience “They found audiences who actually care about renovating. The result? 201% uplift in brand recognition, 28% lift in awareness, 59% jump in consideration. That’s what happens when you target people, not boxes.”
It was a hugely overt sales pitch, but it absolutely works for the room.