'Compelling and amazing': Media buyers give their verdict on Nine's Upfronts 2027

Jane Combes, Chief Media Partnerships Officer, OMD

“I think it was excellent tonight to see Nine really pull its full ecosystem together.

“I think the arrival of Nine Outdoor was excellent. From a business perspective, we’re all talking about full-funnel and how brands can really leverage performance and brand, and how we can bring that to the fore for clients. Seeing them bring a commerce solution into the business as well is really exciting.

“From a sport perspective, I think everything we saw tonight was super interesting. Measurement and one unique ID are things that we’ve really been pushing Nine to deliver back to us, and I would love to see what that actually looks like in detail.”

Jennifer Carroll, Head of Planning, Nunn Media

“They talked a lot about creating culture and driving the conversation, and entering the chat. I think that’s incredibly exciting. But one of the ways we use Nine, and an area where Nine has really excelled over the past few years, is through its research.

“So, they’re directing culture and creating culture, but they’re also amazing at reading culture and giving that back to us through insights and an understanding of audiences that we can actually use and take away immediately. I think they’re easily the best in market at understanding who their audience is, what they want, what’s driving them, their motivations, and what they want to watch.

“It’s going to be brilliant for us, because we do some great campaigns and partnerships with QMS. We have a history of doing great partnerships and campaigns with Nine, and now we can connect those together. I think seeing that come to life is really exciting.”

Nik Doble, Chief Investment Officer, Mindshare

“I thought tonight’s presentation was pretty compelling from a Nine perspective. Obviously, with the addition of the QMS properties in Nine Outdoor, it’s an ecosystem that is larger than ever before.

“For us as media professionals, that’s compelling. It potentially means fewer people to deal with to deliver the results we need for our clients. Importantly, as Yunji talked about, there’s a willingness to put more and more skin in the game to quantify media metrics into business outcomes for our clients. So, yeah, it’s a really compelling proposition.

“I wasn’t expecting the advancement around 9Now. Obviously, Nine has led the charge locally in terms of automating the trading and delivery of campaigns and has had great success with that. But to take it to the next level with AI enablement was, for me as the leader of a media-buying team, really compelling in terms of ease of transaction, as well as the guaranteed delivery they promise.”

Peter Toone, Managing Director, PMG

“I think Nine has a really interesting platform in terms of the variety of channels it has brought on board, the scale, the reach, the trusted environment, and the ability to build brands and drive growth.

“The integration, or the launch, of NineNeo is something the industry, and certainly we, have been screaming for: more data, cleaner data, ease of trade and faster optimisation to connect to clients’ business results. So, that was a really promising sign. There were a lot of murmurs from some of the old media buyers in the room about that coming on board, as well as the hint about the alignment with Seven and potentially some other partners. I’d like to know a little more about what that means for supporting local going forward.

“There’s a really long legacy within that business of delivering and building trust.

“A really good example of that is the only locally owned streaming service. There’s their legacy, their commitment and long-term investment in it, and even the commitment to sport and some of those sporting deals for, you know, the next seven or eight years.”

Dave Annesley, Head of Marketing & Communications, Youi

“I think what we saw today was amazing. There’s so much content and so many great opportunities there for our brand. I think the opportunities across all the different formats that Nine produces and publishes will give us the opportunity to build a better-connected ecosystem and deliver our brand promise for our customers and future buyers.

“It definitely surprised us. We love our relationship with our account team. They do an amazing job. But equally, you know, sometimes speed is pretty cool, and we need to work together, both through technology and with our people, to make that a great example. So, NineNeo, to me, is the best example of where we need to lean in, learn and see how that goes.”