There has been a shake-up at Premium Content Alliance, with the organisation refocusing on how to make the best use of its resources after the departure of Foxtel from the group.
The group – which operates ThinkTV, ThinkNewsBrands, and Think Premium Digital – was founded in 2020 by Seven West Media, Network 10, Nine Entertainment Co, Foxtel Media, Foxtel Group, and News Corp Australia.
Speaking to Mediaweek, Premium Content Alliance and ThinkTV CEO, Kim Portrate, said that the future of the organisation would see it moving in different directions to achieve the same overall goals.
“We will be focusing on building confidence, knowledge, and understanding of the new trading currency based on the VOZ measurement system in 2024,” says Portrate. “We’ll be looking at supporting any kind of innovation or products and services that make it easier to trade TV around BVOD – the BVOD Project has been disclosed in the marketplace, and there’ll be more to come on that over the next six months.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, we’re just doing a different sort of work – the priorities for the next 12 to 18 months are different than the ones that we had in the last 12 to 18 months. It’s the same strategy, which is to prove the effectiveness of television and support the industry, it’s just that the tactics are different. Because we’ve got different tactics that we need to execute, we need a different resource plan and we need to deploy resources in slightly different areas.”
Portrate also confirmed that the move came with six redundancies, less than the reported 12 due to the fact that “redeployment of resource was made into ThinkTV or ThinkNewsBrands.”
In a statement, Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain, spoke about the broadcaster’s departure, saying that “Foxtel Media has strategically made the decision to exit ThinkTV given our single-minded focus on digital transformation into a data and streaming-led advertising business. Cost was not a consideration in this decision.”
But despite one of their founding stakeholders leaving, Portrate confirmed that the remaining members of the Premium Content Alliance are not going anywhere.
“There’s 100% commitment behind ThinkTV, there’s 100% commitment behind proving the effectiveness of television, and certainly the effectiveness of proper measurement in a digital environment. There is no doubt about 100% support from Paramount, Seven, and Nine.”
In a statement, Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson said “Changes to the Think TV structure are in no way linked to the broader economic conditions. The allocation of resources is revised every year to ensure the group can deliver against its objectives. Nine is more committed than ever to the marketing and promotion of Total Television. We have already proved Total TV delivers better results for brands than any other platform and now as an industry we can launch and market VOZ, the future of TV measurement.
“The focus of Think TV continues to be on marketing the powers and effectiveness of Total TV, correcting mistruths that may be perpetuated by other media channels, and in FY24 marketing the launch of VOZ, our world class cross platform measurement system as a currency.”
Rod Prosser, Paramount ANZ’s chief sales officer, said: “ThinkTV continues to play an important role in providing quality industry research and marketing the power of total TV.
“We’re partnering with the other commercial TV networks to all equally support ThinkTV and its focus on the successful market integration and adoption of VOZ and total TV as our key trading currency.
“We also look forward to ThinkTV’s role in advancing the BVOD project to align the industry across BVOD planning, trading and measurement.
“It’s an exciting and pivotal time for the industry and market where we’re enhancing the way we trade, supported by credible data and insights from Think TV that demonstrate our strong ROI and impact for advertisers and brands.”
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Top Image: Kim Portrate