After the turmoil of the last six months, there’s some good news for netball.
The ANZ Premiership will be available on free-to-air TV, with TVNZ taking over the broadcasting of the competition.
Head of Sport at TVNZ, Melodie Robinson told Piney they got some really good results when they experimented with it last year, and they’ve seen year on year growth with their previous experiments.
“What that’s saying to us is if you put it on free to air, you make it accessible. You schedule it the right way, then Kiwis are gonna come and watch.”
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Back and This season marks a major shift in the
game in New Zealand, with the AMZ Premiership returning to
free to air television for the first time in a
long time. Every match is accessible to Kiwi audiences as
TV and Z takes over live coverage of the competition.
This is a move that could play a significant role
in growing the game and reconnecting fans with one of
(00:33):
our most popular sports head of Sport, Events and Partnerships
at TV and Z is Melody Robinson, who joins us now.
Melody from a TV and Z point of view, why
was this the right broadcast decision for you.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, we experimented with it last year. We got some
really good results, reaching over half a million kiwis on
TVNZ turn then another seventy six thousand on TVNZ Plus.
We've seen you on near The growth with our previous
experimentation was twenty nine percent on TVNZ Plus and then
twenty six percent growth on broadcast. So what that's saying
(01:09):
to us is if you put it on free to air,
you make it accessible, you schedule it the right way,
then kiwis are going to come and watch. It takes
a bit of time to grow audiences when we pick
up a sport again. So we're year three now we're
really excited about what we can do for the sport
this season.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
How important is sport and driving audiences to TV and Z?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Oh critical sport is still one of those big content
pillars that drives audience is in a way that a
lot of other content genres doesn't. So that's why I
here at TVNZ. We've got three main focuses. We've got
the news, we've got normal entertainment content, and then we've
got sports. So super important for TV and Z going
(01:51):
forward is.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The elevation of women's sport a specific TV and Z strategy.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, it's women's sport and support of women's sport is
a personal purpose for myself, I would say, and I
think that one of my intentions coming here was making
sure that women's sport had a voice. We business cased
it and we got it in front of our acquisition,
content programmers teams. We've done that a really good job
(02:19):
with a number of different sports. If you look at
the White Ferns and how we've scheduled that and how
well that has gone, with well over a million viewership
on their top game that we've broadcast on LILIAR. That's
unbelievable audience results for women's sport, and that's grown over
that six year period that we've had the White funds
(02:39):
with us.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Are you planning any changes or innovations. What can we
expect to see from TV and z's netball coverage this
A and Z Premiership season?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, New Zealand Netball's actually leading the production and the editorial.
They've got an incredible executive producer and Todd Miller who's
in charge of the product this year. He's looking at
a whole lot of different innovations. You're probably going to
see some really cool new graphics, a lot more integrations,
changing a lot of the mics and bringing in some
(03:09):
of the live player comments and stuff as well. So
it's going to be a progression and he'll probably be
quite agile and pivot depending on what the audience feeds
back in.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Terms of the product. Do you worry at all about
the number of top players who are playing Super netball
in Australia rather than in our A and Z Premiership.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Well, it's probably more of a question for New Zealand
Netball that one. But what I do know is that
sports that work, whether it's on streaming audience or social
media platforms, have got the top athletes and the stars playing.
You can create new stars, though, and I think that
should be the focus with putting stories around these new athletes,
creating these new stars and working from there. So we're
(03:52):
going to do our job on that side with our
social media team and also our news team. So I
think that we're going to rebuild some of these amazing
players so you'll see and focus on them instead of
some of the other players that have gone.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Overseas paying who under this arrangement, are you buying the
rights or are Netborn New Zealand paying you to broadcast
their sport?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Tricky Tricky never talk about the commercial arrangements with them,
that's for sure, because we've got a whole lot of
variation of deals that we have, so it's not fair
we can't contractually talk about it. But the fact that
we are scheduling them like we are primetime afternoon slot
said day Sunday on TVNZ two shows you that we
(04:34):
care about the sport.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Are we moving towards a model? Do you think melody
where reach through free to air matters more to a
sporting organization, a national one or a code than getting
money from broadcast rights fees.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It's a mix. Actually, it depends where the sport is
in their cycle. If you've been locked behind a paywall
for a number of years you're not activating your fan base,
then absolutely you'll want to vary up your broadcast dell
the next time and think about perhaps non exclusive rights
on a free to air platform, on linear or streaming.
(05:10):
But to be honest, my bigger maybe World Rugby head
on here. It's all about fan engagements and sports holders
thinking about innovating through technology and reaching those fans. So
that's probably the most important thing than anything, and you
can do that when you're behind a paywall. You can
do that when you're on free to air, and that's
(05:30):
up to the sports rights holders to innovate.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And of course at TV and T you're entering the
pay per view space this year with the FIFA World Cup.
Looking forward to watching that. Will the success of that
in terms of the the uptake in a pay per
view sense inform your decisions about future use of that model.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, we actually base all of our acquisition strategy on
performance data, so that's audience and also revenue and a
whole lot of other things like brand hosting, those types
of things. So yep, it's going to form a massive
guide as to which thoughts that we're going to target
next and how big we go into the pay business model.
(06:11):
We are looking at other sports already though before we
get that data, because there's some good sports and markets.
So I think we're in the pay business model world,
but we're going to pick and choose and be careful
about where we put our investments there.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm not expecting you to tell me the cost of it,
but when will we know what? The tournament pass for
the FIFA World Cup will set us.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Back early May, early May, and as soon as it's announced,
you'll be able to buy it straight away, and it's
going to be right there, available on TV and Z plus,
very accessible.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Good here. Now, you've said TV and Z plus a
number of times Melody during our chat. How important is
TV and Z plus? Is digital now just as critical
to you as as traditional linear television?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah? Absolutely, Look, we want to sustain the audiences and
also that commercial revenue that we make through linear, but
we have to shift to digital and there's a number
of different reasons for that. That's where the audience is
for a start, that's the experience that they're expecting. So
our whole strategy is digital first, much like a lot
(07:14):
of the other big media companies around the world. And
it also gives us access way better access to data.
So we're really going to understand what keywis care about.
So yep, being digital, digital first, that is massive for
TV and ZAD And.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
A wide arranging question just to finish, where do you
see sports broadcasting in New Zealand heading over the next
five years?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Say, yeah, look, I think Sky is always going to
be a big part of sports and where we're heading
in this country. We need a big company like that
healthy you know, sometimes our competition, but though we collaborate
with them as well. At the end of the day,
TV and ZAID been in some sport, a lot of entertainment,
(07:55):
a lot of news. We need to work together with
Sky to make sure, you know, we beat some of
those big streaming tech companies.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And you're in You're in in it for the long
haul sport broadcasting sport on TV and z It's something
that I mean clearly you probably wouldn't have the role
if it wasn't going to be the case. So you're
a pretty determined for TV and Z to still be
an appointment place for sports viewing.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh absolutely, I love sport. While I'm here, I'll be
pushing that the whole way. You know, sport has a
big impact on people's lives, in particularly Kiwi's lives. So
what a cool space to be in here at TV
inst I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Good on you hey, great to chat as always, Melody,
thanks for taking the time, Thank you, Thank you, Melody.
Melody Robinson there. She's the head of Sports Events and
Partnerships at TV and Z. So am Z Premiership is
underway this afternoon. First games this afternoon. Just let me
bring up the schedule for you so I can speak
with authority rather than just try to remember. The Central
(08:54):
Pulse up against the Whitecutt or Bay of Plenty Magic
at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington Center pass at four.
The Mainland Tactics defending champions of course up against the
Southern Steel at Wolfbrook Arena in christ Church seven o'clock
this evening, and then tomorrow afternoon. It's in Auckland, Derby,
Northern Stars v. Northern Mystics four o'clock at Pullman Arena
(09:15):
in Auckland. Those are the first three matches in the
A and Z Netwal Premiership for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Back and This season marks a major shift in the
game in New Zealand, with the AMZ Premiership returning to
free to air television for the first time in a
long time. Every match is accessible to Kiwi audiences as
TV and Z takes over live coverage of the competition.
This is a move that could play a significant role
in growing the game and reconnecting fans with one of
(00:33):
our most popular sports head of Sport, Events and Partnerships
at TV and Z is Melody Robinson, who joins us now.
Melody from a TV and Z point of view, why
was this the right broadcast decision for you.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Well, we experimented with it last year. We got some
really good results, reaching over half a million kiwis on
TVNZ turn then another seventy six thousand on TVNZ Plus.
We've seen you on near The growth with our previous
experimentation was twenty nine percent on TVNZ Plus and then
twenty six percent growth on broadcast. So what that's saying
(01:09):
to us is if you put it on free to air,
you make it accessible, you schedule it the right way,
then kiwis are going to come and watch. It takes
a bit of time to grow audiences when we pick
up a sport again. So we're year three now we're
really excited about what we can do for the sport
this season.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
How important is sport and driving audiences to TV and Z?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Oh critical sport is still one of those big content
pillars that drives audience is in a way that a
lot of other content genres doesn't. So that's why I
here at TVNZ. We've got three main focuses. We've got
the news, we've got normal entertainment content, and then we've
got sports. So super important for TV and Z going
(01:51):
forward is.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The elevation of women's sport a specific TV and Z strategy.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Well, it's women's sport and support of women's sport is
a personal purpose for myself, I would say, and I
think that one of my intentions coming here was making
sure that women's sport had a voice. We business cased
it and we got it in front of our acquisition,
content programmers teams. We've done that a really good job
(02:19):
with a number of different sports. If you look at
the White Ferns and how we've scheduled that and how
well that has gone, with well over a million viewership
on their top game that we've broadcast on LILIAR. That's
unbelievable audience results for women's sport, and that's grown over
that six year period that we've had the White funds
(02:39):
with us.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Are you planning any changes or innovations. What can we
expect to see from TV and z's netball coverage this
A and Z Premiership season?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, New Zealand Netball's actually leading the production and the editorial.
They've got an incredible executive producer and Todd Miller who's
in charge of the product this year. He's looking at
a whole lot of different innovations. You're probably going to
see some really cool new graphics, a lot more integrations,
changing a lot of the mics and bringing in some
(03:09):
of the live player comments and stuff as well. So
it's going to be a progression and he'll probably be
quite agile and pivot depending on what the audience feeds
back in.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Terms of the product. Do you worry at all about
the number of top players who are playing Super netball
in Australia rather than in our A and Z Premiership.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Well, it's probably more of a question for New Zealand
Netball that one. But what I do know is that
sports that work, whether it's on streaming audience or social
media platforms, have got the top athletes and the stars playing.
You can create new stars, though, and I think that
should be the focus with putting stories around these new athletes,
creating these new stars and working from there. So we're
(03:52):
going to do our job on that side with our
social media team and also our news team. So I
think that we're going to rebuild some of these amazing
players so you'll see and focus on them instead of
some of the other players that have gone.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Overseas paying who under this arrangement, are you buying the
rights or are Netborn New Zealand paying you to broadcast
their sport?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Tricky Tricky never talk about the commercial arrangements with them,
that's for sure, because we've got a whole lot of
variation of deals that we have, so it's not fair
we can't contractually talk about it. But the fact that
we are scheduling them like we are primetime afternoon slot
said day Sunday on TVNZ two shows you that we
(04:34):
care about the sport.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Are we moving towards a model? Do you think melody
where reach through free to air matters more to a
sporting organization, a national one or a code than getting
money from broadcast rights fees.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
It's a mix. Actually, it depends where the sport is
in their cycle. If you've been locked behind a paywall
for a number of years you're not activating your fan base,
then absolutely you'll want to vary up your broadcast dell
the next time and think about perhaps non exclusive rights
on a free to air platform, on linear or streaming.
(05:10):
But to be honest, my bigger maybe World Rugby head
on here. It's all about fan engagements and sports holders
thinking about innovating through technology and reaching those fans. So
that's probably the most important thing than anything, and you
can do that when you're behind a paywall. You can
do that when you're on free to air, and that's
(05:30):
up to the sports rights holders to innovate.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And of course at TV and T you're entering the
pay per view space this year with the FIFA World Cup.
Looking forward to watching that. Will the success of that
in terms of the the uptake in a pay per
view sense inform your decisions about future use of that model.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, we actually base all of our acquisition strategy on
performance data, so that's audience and also revenue and a
whole lot of other things like brand hosting, those types
of things. So yep, it's going to form a massive
guide as to which thoughts that we're going to target
next and how big we go into the pay business model.
(06:11):
We are looking at other sports already though before we
get that data, because there's some good sports and markets.
So I think we're in the pay business model world,
but we're going to pick and choose and be careful
about where we put our investments there.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm not expecting you to tell me the cost of it,
but when will we know what? The tournament pass for
the FIFA World Cup will set us.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Back early May, early May, and as soon as it's announced,
you'll be able to buy it straight away, and it's
going to be right there, available on TV and Z plus,
very accessible.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Good here. Now, you've said TV and Z plus a
number of times Melody during our chat. How important is
TV and Z plus? Is digital now just as critical
to you as as traditional linear television?
Speaker 3 (06:53):
Yeah? Absolutely, Look, we want to sustain the audiences and
also that commercial revenue that we make through linear, but
we have to shift to digital and there's a number
of different reasons for that. That's where the audience is
for a start, that's the experience that they're expecting. So
our whole strategy is digital first, much like a lot
(07:14):
of the other big media companies around the world. And
it also gives us access way better access to data.
So we're really going to understand what keywis care about.
So yep, being digital, digital first, that is massive for
TV and ZAD And.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
A wide arranging question just to finish, where do you
see sports broadcasting in New Zealand heading over the next
five years?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Say, yeah, look, I think Sky is always going to
be a big part of sports and where we're heading
in this country. We need a big company like that
healthy you know, sometimes our competition, but though we collaborate
with them as well. At the end of the day,
TV and ZAID been in some sport, a lot of entertainment,
(07:55):
a lot of news. We need to work together with
Sky to make sure, you know, we beat some of
those big streaming tech companies.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And you're in You're in in it for the long
haul sport broadcasting sport on TV and z It's something
that I mean clearly you probably wouldn't have the role
if it wasn't going to be the case. So you're
a pretty determined for TV and Z to still be
an appointment place for sports viewing.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Oh absolutely, I love sport. While I'm here, I'll be
pushing that the whole way. You know, sport has a
big impact on people's lives, in particularly Kiwi's lives. So
what a cool space to be in here at TV
inst I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Good on you hey, great to chat as always, Melody,
thanks for taking the time, Thank you, Thank you, Melody.
Melody Robinson there. She's the head of Sports Events and
Partnerships at TV and Z. So am Z Premiership is
underway this afternoon. First games this afternoon. Just let me
bring up the schedule for you so I can speak
with authority rather than just try to remember. The Central
(08:54):
Pulse up against the Whitecutt or Bay of Plenty Magic
at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington Center pass at four.
The Mainland Tactics defending champions of course up against the
Southern Steel at Wolfbrook Arena in christ Church seven o'clock
this evening, and then tomorrow afternoon. It's in Auckland, Derby,
Northern Stars v. Northern Mystics four o'clock at Pullman Arena
(09:15):
in Auckland. Those are the first three matches in the
A and Z Netwal Premiership for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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