TVNZ have secured the exclusive broadcast and streaming rights to the next men's FIFA World Cup in 2030.
They've announced the news on the back of declaring the hybrid free-to-air and pay model used for this year's tournament a success.
This week's final reached 761 thousand New Zealanders, while the All Whites coverage was viewed by more than a million people.
TVNZ CEO Jodi O’Donnell told Mike Hosking they will always be an ad-funded business, but having the flexibility to unlock a pay pass allows them to compete for rights they weren’t able to in the past.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've got the wash up numbers for the World Cup
from TV and Z though this morning, who held the
broadcast rights, of course, more than twenty million streams. Final
drew seven hundred and sixty one thousand viewers on TV one.
All whites reach more than a million people. Apparently. Jody
o'donald is the TV and zaid CEO and is with us.
Very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You're not going to tell me, but help me out
as best you can. What was this about. Was this
a revenue generator for you or an exercise in technology
and branding and marketing to take you where you presumably
want to go eventually.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's a good question. It's actually an exercise in vice.
So you know, as a media business, we're always focused
on audiences first and foremost, so we knew that when
we had broadcast the Euro twenty twenty four tournament, we
saw a huge increase in audiences to our platform and
also TV did one, so it was really important that
(00:53):
we had that as a proof point. But at the
same time, we're transforming as a business, so it was
really important that we could have the technology to be
out to sustain a huge events such as the faith
of World Cup. So it was both of those things
that went into the business case in the thinking around this,
and we're incredibly placed, as you can assume with the results.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Did you make money? Yes, we did at forty five dollars.
I thought you priced it too load, not that it
matters what I think, but could you have gone, with
the benefit of f insight more than that and a
lot more?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Look, we set the price point so that we would
have commercial success, but also we wanted to make sure
it was accessible for all news delenders, so we could
have charged more. I expect that if we'd done that,
we would have had less people come in and watched
the event on the pay platform. But also you remember,
this is the first time that TVNZ has stepped into
(01:45):
a paid piece of content, and so it was really
important that we wanted as many New Zealanders as possible
to experience that, whilst we also balance the facts that
we wanted to be accessible and free for the rest
of New Zealanders that weren't in a position to be
able to pay for it payper So I actually think
we got the balance pretty spot on.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
How much did that cost?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You? Do?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
You know? The free to wear stuff. I mean the
Whites being free to wear must have must have hurt
you at the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, I don't think so, because they actually drive both platforms.
So you think about you know, a million New Zealanders
got to watch the All Whites on TVINGZ one. That's fantastic.
We had another half million that watched them through TVZ plus.
And then you can see that once you add in
those global teams as well. Actually having the balance for
free to wear on a big trusted platform like TV
(02:31):
one actually allows you to also promote the rest of
the games and the rest of the additional contents that
was available behind the paywall with the event pass.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Was the revenue generated pre ordained? In the sense and
the reason I asked that these stats that we pump
out these days around people who were there or weren't there.
I mean, I always go back to the old and circled,
olden days. How many people sat down to watch the
match versus how many streams got touched by a couple
of eyeballs here and there. In other words, how does
that dovetail into the revenue you can generate?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, I guess it's an indication from you know, Firstly,
we sell advertising revenue, and first and foremost that's what
Tving's AD is a business. You know, we're owned by
the crime, but we're a commercial business and we are
here to be a commercial business. So from that perspective,
it's really important that we could sell our advertising packages,
which we did and did sell out with it a
couple of days. But also the fact that we're able
to really leverage that and make sure that we could
(03:26):
bring people into the platform on a daily basis to
make sure that they watched it. And you know what
we're actually not counting in these numbers is all of
those schools, those teachers that turned on the TVs in
the classrooms, you know, all of the people that went
to the pubs and clubs and cafes and retirement villages
and gyms that watched it there. So it's really hard
to get a perfect number in terms of actual people
(03:48):
that watched. But what we do know is that we
can specifically say, you know, over two million people watched
on our platforms, but there's definitely more that would have
contributed to that.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
On top of it, once again, you're not going to
tell me, but did you bleed to get the rights
in the first place, we.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Might really a commercial but sensible decision around that. And
what's really important about about this event in particularly is
that we're demonstrating hopes to all New Zalanders that we
are changing as a business, because we also need to.
So it was important that we business cased it to
have commercial success. So that's first and foremost. And I
talk about the data that we had from actually the
(04:25):
Euros in twenty twenty four that gave us the confidence
to be able to put the right number forward that
secured those rights for us.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So what works for you do you think going forward?
Because as far as I can work out, for a
streaming business, you've got to have sport and that's the
one thing that coalesces the nation together. And then I
look at your bottom line for the next couple of years,
which is problematic. Where's the money to pay the big
bucks to get the stuff that will bring the people.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So the next two years are our planned investment period.
So yes, we will make our loss over the next
two years, but as I said, it's planned and it's
olf funded as we we invest and transform the business.
So you're right, sport does bring people into a platform
as does news. So those two big pieces of content
are huge drivers, and then it's the entertainment and the
(05:11):
drama that keeps them there. So we will make sensible
commercial decisions around the sports content that we bid for,
but we're also really clear around we want to make
sure that its content that reaches either as many New
Zealanders as possible or parts of New Zealand that we
might not already be accessing. So I'll take the UFC
(05:32):
as an example. It's not a huge audience driver for us,
but media businesses find it really hard to reach young males.
UFC is a piece of content that does that beautifully,
and so for us to be able to secure a
multi year rights around UFC means that we've got young
males coming into our platform that we haven't seen before.
(05:52):
And while they're there, then it's our job to make
sure that we hold them and encourage them to watch
other content as well.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Were you part of the NRL bidding process?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
We definitely look at all sports rights that come to markets,
and Sky compete really hardly and I'm pleased for them
and congratulations, So.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You were clearly Do you ever, in being a bidder
know how much you missed out by.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, we have a pretty good indication, you know, so
sports right holders spots. Sports rights holders will always you know,
give us an indication of where things need to be.
And as I said, we will always put our best
foot forward around what we think the business CASI, the
commercial reality is that we can monetize that content, and
then it's a decision that we make at the end
of the day.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Where are you at with you? Because I called Netflix
completely wrong. I thought Netflix and their their ad model
thing would never work and yet be exactly the opposites happened.
So where do you sit with an AD model for
your streaming business a paywall?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So best and foremost teams there will always be free.
We will always be an ad funded business. But for
us to have the flexibility to be able to unlock
pay pass means we can compete for rights that we
wouldn't have been able to win the past. So our
streaming platform, tving Z plus has always been an ad
light model, so you know, sixty seconds per ad break,
(07:12):
which is a lot less than linear TV. So we
think we've got that balance right on tv z plus
and we expect that we'll continue to, you know, to
keep an eye on that, but that value exchange it.
She works really well when you're in a free environment.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So there's no wall coming.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Paywall.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, no, no intention.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Is we'll do it. We'll do it on a case
by case basis when content becomes available.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Wow, that's interesting because I find them annoying. But that's
just me. I'm strange like that. Do you want to
comment on the six o'clock news the other night where
you missed Ryan Fox and gave yourself a good promotion
for your football.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's great that we actually had two fantastic stories to
be celebrated on you You just got you.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Just got the wrong way around and badly.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But that's really interesting. I expect what our news editorial
team would have done is as looked at the audiences
and as I've just experienced. We had over two million
people on our platform for thirty nine days watching the
world's biggest global sporting event, so I expect they would
have looked at that. I mean, Ryan Fox was mentioned
three times in the bulletin, in the first section, the
(08:19):
second section, and also in the sports section, so I
look at it actually an opportunity to celebrate too great
sporting a moment so.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You would defend what I watched for sixteen or seventeen
minutes as been good broadcast television, and you did the
right thing.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like I said, that's not the decision I make, but
I expect the editorial team would have made the decision
based on the audiences that that except that they'd seen
throughout the last thirty nine days.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Did you watch the bulletin as a viewer? Did you
happen to watch the bar as a viewer?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I did watch the bulletin.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yes, you didn't think anything to yourself that maybe you'd
gotten and got a few things wrong. In the newsroom,
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That we were able to actually celebrate everything that had
happened on that day, you know, and we did again
last night with Ryan Fox. I into you with them
last night and again this morning on Breakfast as well.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
All right, nice to talk to you. Appreciate it, Jody o'donald,
who's the chief executive for TV. For more from the
My Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
We've got the wash up numbers for the World Cup
from TV and Z though this morning, who held the
broadcast rights, of course, more than twenty million streams. Final
drew seven hundred and sixty one thousand viewers on TV one.
All whites reach more than a million people. Apparently. Jody
o'donald is the TV and zaid CEO and is with us.
Very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good morning Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
You're not going to tell me, but help me out
as best you can. What was this about. Was this
a revenue generator for you or an exercise in technology
and branding and marketing to take you where you presumably
want to go eventually.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's a good question. It's actually an exercise in vice.
So you know, as a media business, we're always focused
on audiences first and foremost, so we knew that when
we had broadcast the Euro twenty twenty four tournament, we
saw a huge increase in audiences to our platform and
also TV did one, so it was really important that
(00:53):
we had that as a proof point. But at the
same time, we're transforming as a business, so it was
really important that we could have the technology to be
out to sustain a huge events such as the faith
of World Cup. So it was both of those things
that went into the business case in the thinking around this,
and we're incredibly placed, as you can assume with the results.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Did you make money? Yes, we did at forty five dollars.
I thought you priced it too load, not that it
matters what I think, but could you have gone, with
the benefit of f insight more than that and a
lot more?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Look, we set the price point so that we would
have commercial success, but also we wanted to make sure
it was accessible for all news delenders, so we could
have charged more. I expect that if we'd done that,
we would have had less people come in and watched
the event on the pay platform. But also you remember,
this is the first time that TVNZ has stepped into
(01:45):
a paid piece of content, and so it was really
important that we wanted as many New Zealanders as possible
to experience that, whilst we also balance the facts that
we wanted to be accessible and free for the rest
of New Zealanders that weren't in a position to be
able to pay for it payper So I actually think
we got the balance pretty spot on.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
How much did that cost?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
You? Do?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
You know? The free to wear stuff. I mean the
Whites being free to wear must have must have hurt
you at the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Well, I don't think so, because they actually drive both platforms.
So you think about you know, a million New Zealanders
got to watch the All Whites on TVINGZ one. That's fantastic.
We had another half million that watched them through TVZ plus.
And then you can see that once you add in
those global teams as well. Actually having the balance for
free to wear on a big trusted platform like TV
(02:31):
one actually allows you to also promote the rest of
the games and the rest of the additional contents that
was available behind the paywall with the event pass.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Was the revenue generated pre ordained? In the sense and
the reason I asked that these stats that we pump
out these days around people who were there or weren't there.
I mean, I always go back to the old and circled,
olden days. How many people sat down to watch the
match versus how many streams got touched by a couple
of eyeballs here and there. In other words, how does
that dovetail into the revenue you can generate?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Well, I guess it's an indication from you know, Firstly,
we sell advertising revenue, and first and foremost that's what
Tving's AD is a business. You know, we're owned by
the crime, but we're a commercial business and we are
here to be a commercial business. So from that perspective,
it's really important that we could sell our advertising packages,
which we did and did sell out with it a
couple of days. But also the fact that we're able
to really leverage that and make sure that we could
(03:26):
bring people into the platform on a daily basis to
make sure that they watched it. And you know what
we're actually not counting in these numbers is all of
those schools, those teachers that turned on the TVs in
the classrooms, you know, all of the people that went
to the pubs and clubs and cafes and retirement villages
and gyms that watched it there. So it's really hard
to get a perfect number in terms of actual people
(03:48):
that watched. But what we do know is that we
can specifically say, you know, over two million people watched
on our platforms, but there's definitely more that would have
contributed to that.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
On top of it, once again, you're not going to
tell me, but did you bleed to get the rights
in the first place, we.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Might really a commercial but sensible decision around that. And
what's really important about about this event in particularly is
that we're demonstrating hopes to all New Zalanders that we
are changing as a business, because we also need to.
So it was important that we business cased it to
have commercial success. So that's first and foremost. And I
talk about the data that we had from actually the
(04:25):
Euros in twenty twenty four that gave us the confidence
to be able to put the right number forward that
secured those rights for us.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So what works for you do you think going forward?
Because as far as I can work out, for a
streaming business, you've got to have sport and that's the
one thing that coalesces the nation together. And then I
look at your bottom line for the next couple of years,
which is problematic. Where's the money to pay the big
bucks to get the stuff that will bring the people.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
So the next two years are our planned investment period.
So yes, we will make our loss over the next
two years, but as I said, it's planned and it's
olf funded as we we invest and transform the business.
So you're right, sport does bring people into a platform
as does news. So those two big pieces of content
are huge drivers, and then it's the entertainment and the
(05:11):
drama that keeps them there. So we will make sensible
commercial decisions around the sports content that we bid for,
but we're also really clear around we want to make
sure that its content that reaches either as many New
Zealanders as possible or parts of New Zealand that we
might not already be accessing. So I'll take the UFC
(05:32):
as an example. It's not a huge audience driver for us,
but media businesses find it really hard to reach young males.
UFC is a piece of content that does that beautifully,
and so for us to be able to secure a
multi year rights around UFC means that we've got young
males coming into our platform that we haven't seen before.
(05:52):
And while they're there, then it's our job to make
sure that we hold them and encourage them to watch
other content as well.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Were you part of the NRL bidding process?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
We definitely look at all sports rights that come to markets,
and Sky compete really hardly and I'm pleased for them
and congratulations, So.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
You were clearly Do you ever, in being a bidder
know how much you missed out by.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, we have a pretty good indication, you know, so
sports right holders spots. Sports rights holders will always you know,
give us an indication of where things need to be.
And as I said, we will always put our best
foot forward around what we think the business CASI, the
commercial reality is that we can monetize that content, and
then it's a decision that we make at the end
of the day.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Where are you at with you? Because I called Netflix
completely wrong. I thought Netflix and their their ad model
thing would never work and yet be exactly the opposites happened.
So where do you sit with an AD model for
your streaming business a paywall?
Speaker 2 (06:51):
So best and foremost teams there will always be free.
We will always be an ad funded business. But for
us to have the flexibility to be able to unlock
pay pass means we can compete for rights that we
wouldn't have been able to win the past. So our
streaming platform, tving Z plus has always been an ad
light model, so you know, sixty seconds per ad break,
(07:12):
which is a lot less than linear TV. So we
think we've got that balance right on tv z plus
and we expect that we'll continue to, you know, to
keep an eye on that, but that value exchange it.
She works really well when you're in a free environment.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So there's no wall coming.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Paywall.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, no, no intention.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Is we'll do it. We'll do it on a case
by case basis when content becomes available.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Wow, that's interesting because I find them annoying. But that's
just me. I'm strange like that. Do you want to
comment on the six o'clock news the other night where
you missed Ryan Fox and gave yourself a good promotion
for your football.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
That's great that we actually had two fantastic stories to
be celebrated on you You just got you.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Just got the wrong way around and badly.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But that's really interesting. I expect what our news editorial
team would have done is as looked at the audiences
and as I've just experienced. We had over two million
people on our platform for thirty nine days watching the
world's biggest global sporting event, so I expect they would
have looked at that. I mean, Ryan Fox was mentioned
three times in the bulletin, in the first section, the
(08:19):
second section, and also in the sports section, so I
look at it actually an opportunity to celebrate too great
sporting a moment so.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You would defend what I watched for sixteen or seventeen
minutes as been good broadcast television, and you did the
right thing.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like I said, that's not the decision I make, but
I expect the editorial team would have made the decision
based on the audiences that that except that they'd seen
throughout the last thirty nine days.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Did you watch the bulletin as a viewer? Did you
happen to watch the bar as a viewer?
Speaker 2 (08:46):
I did watch the bulletin.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yes, you didn't think anything to yourself that maybe you'd
gotten and got a few things wrong. In the newsroom,
I think.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That we were able to actually celebrate everything that had
happened on that day, you know, and we did again
last night with Ryan Fox. I into you with them
last night and again this morning on Breakfast as well.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
All right, nice to talk to you. Appreciate it, Jody o'donald,
who's the chief executive for TV. For more from the
My Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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