Page 44 - Adnews Magazine November-December 2021

Investigation
Bottom Left: Kurt Burnette at Seven’s 2022 Upfront. Top Left: The Australian Government campaign, BMF. Bottom: Yarra Trams are back, Helsinki Agency.
positives. Travel (keep in mind we have had $38bn not spent overseas due to travel restrictions), international students, entertainment, inter- state travel, and an immigration catch-up are all good. Further lock- downs, supply chain issues, chip shortages (which some analysts say might continue in 2023), the virus still running its course resulting in potential further lockdowns, potential inflation, and any resulting impacts on consumer confidence, not so good. This is ignoring any impacts in the broader region as the Evergrande story unfolds and global bounce-backs in the economies of the US and UK sucking up limited product availability.
“So while there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, the tunnel might be longer than we think. As I always say, nothing surprises me anymore. We haven’t seen the end of COVID-19 yet. My only hope is we can avoid further significant lockdowns in 2022.”
Kurt Burnette, Seven’s chief revenue officer: “Quite clearly people are very keen to spend. There's a lot of excess spend that they're looking to invest into things not only going into Christmas but into next year as well.
“Our forward bookings are really strong, with big commitments into things such as the Winter Olympics, which is in February 2022. We've launched our kickstart proposition, which encompasses the Ashes and the Big Bash in January, and we go into February into the Winter Olympics, The Voice: Generations, Dancing With the Stars, SAS Australia, Sunrise news and Home and Away.
“We have a huge content launch we're proposing into next year where brands and certain categories can own those big content moments.
“Our expectation and what we're seeing is a very strong finish to the year and an even stronger start to 2022.”
Michael Stephenson, chief sales officer, Nine Entertainment: “The pace has been hectic, and I don’t think it’s slowing down, but weirdly,