It seemed like only a matter of time, but Drive TV, a weekly TV brand extension of the Nine-owned Drive website, has spun-off its own FAST channel now streaming on 9Now.
There’s been back-room talk about getting a Drive FAST channel up and running for the past year, but there was a brick wall stopping the launch: they didn’t have enough video.
“The reason it’s probably taken longer to get there is that we needed to build up a good content library to be able to fulfil the requirements of the Fast Channel,” Drive TV Executive Producer Terry King told Mediaweek.
There are now 16 FAST channels currently streaming on 9Now, with a broad channel selection offering dedicated channels to Seinfeld, Married At First Sight, BBC programming, The Block, and 60 Minutes. The new Drive channel complements the channel lineup with its 24/7 motoring channel.
Success for King is all about audience engagement: “They’re not just sort of having a quick look and then moving on. They’re actually staying there and watching episodes. They’re really engaged with what we do.
“There’s about 140 hours of content there and that will increase every month as we add not only new shows that are going on broadcast first, but we’ve also got programmes that we’ll be putting on that are just FAST channel only,” he said.
The channel is currently running through its content on a loop, including content that has been produced by Drive TV through the past three and a half years. It will also include Drive Review content and dedicated specials on topics like EVs.
The content pipeline seems to just be getting fuller for the Drive team, which will obviously feed directly into the FAST channel
“We’re doing the current season 10 of Drive TV, which is a lifestyle road trip series where we take a car on a road trip in different locations in Australia. We’ve got all our documentaries, our special projects.
“It’s a bit of a blur, if I’m being honest. We started off with a concept and an idea, and now we’re coming up to season 10, and we’ve expanded that to documentaries, specialist shows like The Lap and Tasman Trails. We’ve got Drive Review, which is a launch show of all the latest launches of cars that are happening all the time. We’re constantly adjusting formats,” King said.
In the coming months, DRIVE will broaden its content with movie premieres over summer. It promises that the expansion will create more opportunities for marketers to integrate creatively, sponsor content, and implement native ad experiences to optimise campaign reach.
The team is also going through the Drive library and seeking out good quality content that can be repurposed for the FAST channel. “We’ve got episodes that the guys did, like series around going on the Simpson Desert in Land Cruisers. So we’ve re-edited that into a broadcast quality with the music and the transitions and everything,” he said.
From a delivery standpoint, being part of the Nine family of publishers means the Drive team can avoid the headaches a lot of publishers go through when stretching their abilities and launching a FAST channel – it has not needed to go through any third-party FAST channel channel delivery. Instead, King and the team just deliver its files straight to Nine.