SBS yesterday held its 2026 Upfronts presentation for media buyers and media alike. I’d hesitate to call it a lengthy presentation, if only because the opening of the event was ‘interrupted’ by a male streaker. While there so much information being delivered, there were some highlights in the presentation that stood out.
1. Reckless is the title that popped in the sizzle reel
The emphasis of the Upfronts was firmly on the World Cup. It took up so much oxygen in the room, that other titles didn’t quite have as much impact as they otherwise would have. But something that caught this media writers attention was a new four-episode series Reckless. Based on the BBC Scotland series Guilt, which has had a run on SBS On Demand, Reckless has indigenous leads Tasma Walton and Hunter Page-Lochard as siblings dealing with the consequences of hiding a hit and run accident. The trailer looked noisy and vibrant, with a disturbingly on-point Violent Femmes song blasting over the top.
The show went into production early this year in Fremantle. I was talking with the team from BBC in Australia early in the week and they seemed legitimately excited about it. Hopefully the show delivers the goods when it debuts, but so far it looks promising.
2. SBS gets serious about opt-out advertising
While it seems counter-intuitive at an upfronts event to pitch your network to media-buyers with a message about enabling opt-out of advertising functionality to SBS On Demand, that’s exactly what SBS were doing yesterday. To be clear, SBS isn’t letting users of SBS On Demand to opt-out of all ads – just ads in specific categories. On Demand viewers can now flag if they want to block the service from serving alcohol, wagering, and quick service restaurant ads.
During a beta trial, SBS reports that it saw a 45% drop in complaints about wagering ads.
Nobody wants to see their ad-dollars go to waste. During the upfronts, SBS Acting Managing Director Jane Palfreyman talked up the benefits: “It was a win for the consumer, but importantly it was also a win for the advertiser who was not paying to reach consumers who weren’t interested in that category of advertising.”
While this feels like a move that makes sense for a broadcaster like SBS, I wouldn’t expect to see similar moves made by the other commercial broadcasters.
Jane Palfreyman
3. The third S in SBS means ‘soccer’ – they’re pretty serious about the World Cup
Next year SBS will have exclusive coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, which kicks-off in June. They’re talking about an expected 550 hours of live and on-demand coverage, of the tournament which will be hosted across Canada, Mexico and the US. The coverage will include a record 104 matches under a new 48-team format.
Something pretty unique to SBS is its broadcast of events that have buy-in from local audiences both with and without local participation. Yes, the attention surrounding events like the World Cup, the Tour de France, and Eurovision would mushroom if Australians are performing well with the possibility of winning, but SBS can still command high viewership around these events regardless. Chatting with Keiran Beasley, National Sales Manager – Digital and TV, SBS Media, after the upfronts, Beasley talked about some of the modelling they have done around this and even if, say, the Socceroos don’t find huge success at the World Cup, SBS is still pretty confident in a bumper viewership.
4. John Safran is back
It is pretty safe to say that neither of John Safran’s two previous SBS documentary shows, John Safran: Music Jamboree (2002) and John Safran Vs God (2004) were ratings powerhouses, he continues to still be identified with a certain type of programming that often finds a home on SBS. It’s that sort of smart, progressive, and controversial subject matter that has always struggled to find a home on much of commercial TV, but is more easily able to find an audience in the modern YouTube era.
SBS has Safran back, this time hosting the documentary special Shut Your Big Fat Mouth, which explores issues of free speech in Australia. There was something very comforting about seeing Safran back as part of the SBS lineup. He has a voice that would have fit in remarkably well with the SBS VICELAND launch back in the day. His absence has been felt – especially at SBS which used to revel in this kind of programming.
5. The factual slate is buzzy
To nobody’s surprise, Alone will be back for another season. That show has done monster numbers for SBS with viewers tuning in for the local version of the format. For the fourth season, the show is leaving Australia/New Zealand and is headed to the Arctic Circle. I got a chill just typing that out.
A buzzy title will be The People vs Robodebt, a three-parter exploring the personal cost of the government’s Robodebt program.
SBS is clearly hampered by budgetary issues that holds it back on the scripted front, but the factual lineup this year (which you can read deeper into at Mediaweek) is again a strong reminder of how inventive SBS can be in creating memorable, compelling factual projects.