1. Summer
Down Under
After more than three decades in media, Sandra
Wiles knows that few of her contemporaries pay
much attention to summer scheduling.
As The Media Store’s (TMS) head of sponsorship and
integration, Wiles is only too aware the non-ratings
period leads clients to believe their ads will struggle to
reach an audience they think will be at the beach.
Meanwhile, their media buyers and channel
planners are typically too busy limping to the
end-of-year finish line to really take stock of the
opportunities that abound. Not Wiles. She has
found great success by thinking outside the box
and looking to the traditionally quieter months of
summer — in particular, the Nine Network’s hosting
of cricket, Australia’s favourite and most watched
sport — to deliver the holy trinity of advertising for
clients: mass and prolonged reach and engagement,
clear cut-through and strong ROI.
Wiles says the national game pulls Australians
together in a way that is unparallelled in any other
sport. “Unlike the footy season, this is the one
time of year when Australians are all on the same
side. Cricket unites the nation, so brands that
can capitalise on that sentiment will engage
audiences,” she says.
And with the summer internationals set to
commence with the First Test against the Kiwis
at Brisbane’s Gabba on 5 November, the time for
buyers to secure spots is now.
Sam Brennan, Nine Entertainment Co.’s sport sales
director says with one month to go, buyers need to
nail down inventory to leverage the big opportunities
on offer across the Nine Network — which has the
broadcast rights to The Test Series, the International
T20 and the One Day Internationals, as well as the
digital rights to every form of the game.
“This summer, we’re on air for 38 days of cricket
from early November through to the end of January.
Because it’s such a diverse period of time, it’s not
to your detriment if you’re only advertising in
November and December or December and January,
you can flip brands in and out as required,” Wiles
says. “Also, the fact that a lot of matches start
on a Thursday or a Friday is a great platform for
retail businesses to advertise leading into the
weekends. It’s pretty versatile.”
As the person responsible for the media buying
on behalf of Toyota – an official partner of Cricket
Australia - Wiles gets her planning done with Nine
as early in the year as possible.
“It needs to be a deeper partnership where
we can engage the team at Nine in our client’s
objectives and work on a collaborative approach
that always has the fan at the centre,” she explains.
“The opportunities must always connect with fans
and to the client’s broader strategy. Some of these
are consistent each year, while some may vary
depending on the client’s immediate needs — a new
product launch, for example. This determines our
approach, it is not set and forget year-on-year.”
Ikon Communications’ client service director
Adrian Manca, whose agency represents another
Cricket Australia partner, Commonwealth Bank,
also says getting as far ahead of the game as you
can is critical. “This allows time to frame up the key
client challenge, engage all parties in the process to
interrogate the brief and decide how best it will be
addressed,” Manca says.
“Longer lead times do provide the safety of
ensuring the best combination of both quality and
cost efficiencies, but it also provides the opportunity
to amend or optimise campaigns to deliver best
possible results. Obviously the shorter the lead time,
you can sometimes run the risk of not being able to
execute as planned with potential cost implications.”
Speaking earlier this year, the sport’s top
administrator, Cricket Australia chief executive James
Sutherland, referred to the cricket season as “part of
the very fabric of Australian culture”.
“Our research over a decade consistently shows
that the Australian men’s cricket team is by far the
country’s most popular national sporting team,”
he says. “It’s typically cricket first, followed by
daylight. And of course, that’s backed up by record
crowds, television audiences and participation
rates which demonstrate the game’s health and
continued popularity.”
Played by more than 1.2 million enthusiasts week
in week out, cricket is also the fastest growing
sport nationally, with players spread across 24,000
teams in 4,000 individual clubs. Cricket.com.au is
the number one sports site over summer with more
than 100 million page impressions, and the Cricket
Australia Live app has been downloaded by
2.1 million viewers. More importantly, the game
itself attracts television audiences in their
millions—16.3 million over Nine’s last International
Summer of Cricket—making it the perfect vehicle
for a whole host of different brands.
Advertisers and their media buying agencies often dismiss the summer season as a flat, off-peak
period with audiences providing little in the way of engagement and even less in recall. But to
do so is to overlook a huge opportunity.
In partnership with AdNews SUMMER PLANNING GUIDE
SPECIAL
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www.adnews.com.au | 02 October 2015

2. Michael Stephenson, Nine Entertainment Co.’s
national sales director, says Nine’s coverage reached
70% of all Australians across the 2014/15 summer
international season – 69.3% more audience than the
Australian Open Tennis and 44.2% more audience
than the Big Bash League. In addition, it attracted
an average of 1.1 million metro viewers to its Test
and One Day Internationals during the period.
Stephenson’s colleague Brennan, says part of the
appeal of cricket is its sheer diversity.
Brennan notes that Nine owns the rights to three
distinct formats, each of which attracts a slightly
different audience. Test match cricket tends to attract
the cricketing purists. One Day Internationals bring
in the hardcore fans plus a younger audience, while
the T20 Internationals appeal to families and new
converts. What this means is that clients boasting
multiple brands in their portfolios have the ability to
reach three distinct audiences across the summer
period. None of which is lost on big name corporates
like CommBank, Carlton & United Breweries, Toyota
and KFC, each of which boast multi-year deals as
official partners of Cricket Australia.
A big part of cricket’s appeal is the reduced
advertising content offered by the way the sport
is structured, with cricket running 35-40% less ad
content per hour than general programming — eight
minutes per hour versus 13 minutes.
There is also a great opportunity to cut through by
taking full advantage of the 85 or so less 30-second
ad breaks that run between wickets and overs each
day of a Test match. In recent seasons, CommBank
et al have also secured space across the network’s
less traditional inventory leveraging integrated
spots in formats unique to the sport such as Viewers
Verdict, Trivia, Spidercam, HotSpot, Classic Catches,
Hawkeye and the Touch Screen Analyser platforms.
Ikon’s Manca says live sport attracts clients
from all the major categories as the ratings have
traditionally been able to break through the clutter
that exists in the “heavily fragmented” Australian
media market. “The Summer of Cricket provides a
true nationally reaching platform that is ingrained in
all Australians across the summer period. It provides
brands with the opportunity to communicate
ongoing with mass reaching audiences,” he says.
SUMMER PLANNING GUIDE
Summer media habits
The coming of summer. What’s not to like? The days
get longer, the weather warms up, and catch-ups
with friends and family ramp up. There’s definitely
something special about summer Down Under.
It’s a time of freedom, and frivolity. Purchases
that probably wouldn’t be contemplated the rest
of the year are made on a whim with little or no
justification during the pre- and post-Christmas
periods. For switched-on advertisers, this liberal
approach to spending is ripe with opportunity.
One of the things we most associate with
summer Down Under is cricket. Think about it.
The Boxing Day Test is as much a part of this day
in Australia as leftover ham and Christmas cake.
For Australians, cricket is summer and summer
means spending.
Last August, APN Outdoor asked Australians
about their summer spending and holidaying habits.
The study found 70% of the audience is more
active in the warmer months, with a majority of
respondents saying they spent more time catching
up with friends and 66% saying they are happier
in summer than they are in winter. These results
echoed those from a 2014 survey by word of
mouth marketing agency, Social Soup. Its survey
found 94% of people see more family and friends
during the summer period.
The agency also found that people are much
more receptive to brand messaging in summer,
with 80% of conversations referencing brands
in one way or another. The top subjects of
conversation? Christmas shopping and sport came
up trumps, with many respondents pointing to the
interconnectedness between the two.
The upcoming international summer series,
boasting a calendar bursting with tests, One Day
Internationals and T20 matches, represents the one
time all year when the entire nation marches to the
same sporting beat. And that’s good news for brands.
Cricket is far and away the most viewed summer
sport, with Nine’s coverage last summer reaching
70% of Australians. That’s a staggering 16.3 million
people. But as impressive as that eyeball count is,
what is arguably more interesting for brand owners
is the positive consumer sentiment towards the
sport, and cricket’s place in popular culture. Here
we have a sport that Aussies love, recall fondly, and
associate with summer — a time when they admit
to spending a little more freely.
Michael Stephenson, Nine Entertainment Co.’s
national sales director, speaks for millions of Australians
when he says, “cricket is summer and summer
is cricket”.
“The instantly recognisable voices of our
commentary team, the Wide World of Sports’ opening
sequence, and the best cricketers in the world
arriving on our shores, have always heralded the
beginning of summer. Cricket is the only major sport
on free-to-air TV where everyone supports one
team. It allows the entire country to unite.”
The Media Store’s head of sponsorship and
integration, Sandra Wiles, says international cricket,
due to the sheer volume of coverage and variety of
formats, caters to a wide range of advertisers, offering
something few other broadcast opportunities do.
“Live sport is really the last remaining genre that
hasn’t fallen victim to time-shifted viewing so you
know the audiences will be there at scale,” she says.
That said, it’s not like Nine’s Summer of Cricket
lacks a digital component. Its content is available
on the Cricket Australia app as well as on the
governing body’s website, so people needing
to catch up with the action at the beach will be
able to do so. Because increasing numbers of
fans livestream matches on their tablets and
smartphones, “an overall screen strategy, as distinct
TOP TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR SUMMER
Summer is a time when Australians think, behave
and feel very differently to the other nine months
of the year. The hot season is full of opportunities,
so AdNews canvassed a number of planners
to compile this list of top tips for how best to
make hay while the sun is shining.
PLAN EARLY
It seems obvious, but the worst thing you can do
is take a holiday in summer just because it falls
outside the normal ratings period. Summer offers
more opportunity to get cut-through with consumers
who are happy, relaxed, in holiday mode, indulging
in passions, have an appetite and lots of reasons
to spend. Moreover, to achieve truly deep and
meaningful integration with the proliferation of
events in summer – key sports, music festivals and
the like - requires months of advanced planning.
GO OUT AND TOUCH
People are out and about more in summer so go
where they go with executions that leverage the
fact they will be streaming content and engaging
with apps on their mobile devices, reaching out
on social, listening to radio and checking out more
out of home. Not to mention all the at-ground
activations at places like the cricket. Get as
many touchpoints into your schedule as possible.
GET AGILE WITH SPORT
Sport is a key staple of summer, with cricket
dominating. If you can’t afford, or have left too little
time to sponsor events think of other clever ways to
tap into this audience.
DON’T GATECRASH
People are generally relaxed and enjoying
themselves and will be very open to messaging
in the right context but will find the hard sell
too jarring. Be mindful of that mindset and plan
accordingly. Creative that is themed around the
environment resonates best.
SERVE IT UP
There is a bigger focus on food and drink in
summer. Think about engaging ways to tap into
this - events, dining experiences, digital sites
or apt apps.
02 October 2015 | www.adnews.com.au

3. In partnership with AdNews
The number of international
cricket formats.
The average metro broadcast
audience across the 2014/15 season.
The average number of monthly
video views from last cricket season.
The number of days cricket
will be shown on television
during the 2015/16 season.
The number of people who
viewed Nine's International
Summer of Cricket last year.
The number of Australian fans
who have downloaded the Cricket
Australia Live app.
Percentage of Australians who
engage with Nine's International
Summer of Cricket.
from a broadcast strategy, is critical”, Wiles says.
“The joint partnership Nine has with Cricket
Australia for the digital rights means Nine is in the
enviable position of being able to deliver cross-
platform strategies for brands.”
For NEC’s sports sales director Sam Brennan,
there are a number of reasons Australians will be
even more excited than usual about the upcoming
summer of cricket. History will be made with the very
first ‘pink ball’ Test played under lights in Adelaide.
This will bring the game to a post-6pm news, prime
time slot for the first time ever, a development
Brennan considers a juicy prospect for advertisers.
The fact we’re up against the resurgent Kiwis who
just never say die makes it even more compelling.
Tests against the always entertaining West Indies
never fail to get the fans excited and with star
batsman Chris Gayle locked in, the series promises
to be one to remember.
Add to that, the One Day International and T20
series against the formidable Indians and there’s
plenty to look forward to. But, what many Australians
will be tuning in to see is the new Australian line-up.
“This summer heralds a new era in Australian
cricket; we’ve got a young team under
freshly anointed captain Steve Smith who is hoping
to atone for the team’s poor Ashes showing in
winter,” Brennan says.
“I’m really excited to see this transitional period in
Australian cricket,” he adds, but it’s fair to say Brennan
isn’t the only one who’s excited.
Reach out to women this summer
When young Tasmanian Lily Poulet-Harris first picked
up her bat and headed out to the crease in 1894 she
could not have known that her actions would forever
change how women around the world relate to the
game of cricket.
As the captain of the Oyster Cove women’s team
playing in the competition she launched – the first of its
kind in the colonies – the founding mother of women’s
cricket in Australia was setting the scene for what more
than a century later would become one of the fastest
growing sectors of the game: female participation.
According to the 2013-14 National Cricket Census
carried out by research firm Street Ryan on behalf of
Cricket Australia, women comprise 22% (or around
300,000) of total cricket participants in Australia. The
increasing appeal of the game is having a noticeable
impact on audience figures.
Last summer, 69% of all Australian women and
67.7% of women aged between 25 and 54 tuned in
to Nine’s Summer of Cricket broadcasts. And with
the numbers showing that women influence the
purchase of around 90% of most goods and services,
it is a segment marketers can ill afford to overlook,
particularly during the all important pre- and post-
Christmas periods when people typically spend
more freely.
The Media Store’s head of sponsorship and
integration, Sandra Wiles, whose agency represents
Cricket Australia partner Toyota, as well as others
including Petbarn, Sealy Posturepedic and Western
Sydney University, says statistics such as these
demonstrate that advertisers, media buyers and
planners need to think beyond the blokey Australian
sports fan stereotype and work on engaging female
fans. However, Wiles warns it isn’t just about the
suitability of a product demographically.
“It is about the content of the message that needs
to work in context. Live sport is a passionate space
and should be treated accordingly. It is also one
where humour works brilliantly,” she says.
Venus, a communications agency which specialises
in marketing to women, knows better than most that
women buy or influence the purchase of 80% of
healthcare, 93% of food, 89% of bank accounts,
93% of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, 80%
of new cars, 93% of holidays and 89% of home
computers, leaving few product categories where
men are the key decision-makers. Despite this,
much of the marketing directed at fans of the
game has a male skew.
Sam Brennan, Nine Entertainment Co.’s sport sales
director believes the upcoming
summer presents a real opportunity for brands
willing to target female consumers, or female-
targeted brands, to enter a space typically
dominated by male-orient advertisers.
Brennan says traditionally there’s a “hard and
fast way” of reaching the female demographic
through programming during certain parts of the
year. However, with women now having a much
more visible presence in and around the game, the
rules are changing. With Nine set to broadcast the
three women’s International T20 matches in January,
advertisers now have new vehicles from which to reach
their female markets.
“I think it goes back to the incremental audience
that cricket can deliver,” he says. “Cricket can reach a
large proportion of the female audience through TV
programming but there’s also a significant number
of females that you’re missing out on by doing that.
By the pure weight of numbers that cricket delivers,
you’re able to reach those very difficult-to-reach
females through cricket across summer.”
www.adnews.com.au | 02 October 2015
CRICKET – THE VITAL STATS SOURCE: OZTAM, CRICKET AUSTRALIA,
GEMBA, AND NINE ENTERTAINMENT CO.
70% OF MALES
50% OF FEMALES
80% OF UNDER 30S

4. Let’s start with a reality check. The fact of the
matter is that only diehard cricket purists sit through
every minute of every hour of the 38 days of play
the Nine Network has scheduled across its 2015/16
International Summer of Cricket.
With the three-month period coinciding with
what is traditionally a time when most viewers are in
holiday mode, Nine Entertainment Co. (NEC) is once
more faced with delivering content that will
get audiences tuning in en masse. And it is a
challenge NEC has relished.
To further enhance its offering this year, NEC
has invested heavily in its Wide World of Sports
website, relaunching it to become the sport’s fans’
real-time go-to for all sporting news. Incorporating
an optimised experience for video and mobile, as
well as best-in-class live scores, the new site will
cater equally well to people on the go or those
glued to their screens.
“This summer, if you are consuming world-class
cricket, then it’s via one of our platforms, be it
broadcast, streaming, mobile, PC or tablet,” Michael
Stephenson, NEC’s national sales director, says.
As NEC owns the broadcast rights to The
Test Series, the International T20, the One Day
Internationals, and the digital rights to every form
of the game including the local Big Bash, Stephenson
is only too familiar with the opportunities cricket
affords brands. “As a result of us owning all of these
rights, brands have a real opportunity to build a
relevant narrative with their customers and bring a
story to life across both our broadcast and digital
platforms, from November through until February.”
But owning the rights will only get you so far
in the age of time-shifted viewing and second
screening. A well conceived cross platform
approach is crucial.
A recent report on shifts in viewing habits by
insights group, Nielsen, acknowledges digital has
an especially big impact on the way Australians
consume media during summer when viewers
are more likely to be out of their living rooms.
Nielsen says consumers have become accustomed
to controlling the wide array of content at their
fingertips. “Some people will want their content
live on their TV screen, delivered via a traditional
or broadband-enabled connection, some will want
to watch it at a different time while others will
increasingly look for it on the go and on demand on
their mobile devices. With smartphones topping
70% penetration and tablets inching toward the
50% mark, the growth in digital consumption can
only increase,” the report states.
Stephenson says currently 94% of cricket viewing
happens at home in front of the television, yet 41%
of people view cricket related content on a second
screen. The new Wide World of Sports site will have
a greater emphasis on video news and highlights for
fans to get bite-sized content as well as interactive
features such as heat maps, The Worm and wagon
wheels. “We know our audiences are accessing
our content online and we know that six out of 10
viewers are second screening,” he says.
“This type of consumer behaviour creates massive
opportunities for our partners to communicate with
even more engaged audiences.”
Stephenson says the broadcast audience peaks
leading into 6pm as the day’s play wraps up, providing
a great time for brands to get on board in the lead-in
to the high-rating news bulletins.
Interestingly, mobile engagement continues to
peak long after the day’s play has finished. with fans
remaining plugged in up until 10pm at night, he adds.
The head of sponsorship and integration at
The Media Store, Sandra Wiles, says the joint
partnership Nine has with the sport’s governing
body, Cricket Australia, for the digital rights means
the network is in the privileged position of being
able to deliver cross-platform strategies for brands.
“An overall screen strategy, as distinct from a
broadcast strategy, is critical,” Wiles says.
Despite the increased consumption online, Nine’s
sports sales director Sam Brennan says most of
the more than 16 million people who are expected
to watch cricket over the season will continue to
use television screens to view the season’s most
important moments.
“TV will continue to be the driving force of
consumption for many. Even with the introduction
of digital platforms, we’ve seen TV being relatively
unaffected,” Brennan says.
“I think what you’ll find is people are still there for
those marquee moments – the start of the Boxing
Day Test, the opening balls of the summer. Having the
content available on the Cricket Australia app and the
official cricket site, cricket.com.au, gives people the
ability to catch up more regularly through the course
of the day so you don’t need to be there watching the
broadcast for seven or eight hours.”
Great deliveries, everywhere
The relaunch of a prominent sports news website combined with increased content delivered
across a multitude of platforms means it has never been easier for brands to engage with
cricket’s massive audiences over the coming summer season.
In partnership with AdNewsSUMMER PLANNING GUIDE
02 October 2015 | www.adnews.com.au
SPECIAL
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