Page 33 - Adnews Magazine May-June 2021

Opposite page: Dancing With the Stars. This page (clockwise from top):
Big Brother, Seven's Kurt Burnette, and Natalie Barr from Sunrise.
of the way everyone's come through in the past 12 months and bounced back. So we're in good shape.”
Hunwick says the growing resurgence in branding isn't slow- ing down.
“People have been moving towards investing in brand, and I don't think COVID-19 stops that,” he says. “And television does it best. There's very few places that you can still reach those massive audiences in one place.
“The audience has been strong, and broadly speaking, pretty resil- ient right the way through.
“Sport now is really strong. And AFL has been good. And I think there's going to be more of that to come through the back end of the year.
“What we're looking forward to is growth and recovery of the mar- ket, ongoing. And a remarkably healthy total television ad econ- omy, all things considered.
“And it's hot right now. What we're hearing from investment directors is they see it running through to the end of the year.”
And good content. “We've got some good stuff coming back,” he says. “LEGO Masters, Australian Ninja Warrior and The Block off the back of Married at First Sight. Add to that the return of Celebrity Apprentice, launch of Parent Jury, and picking up Beauty and the Geek from Seven, that provides us with a really powerful stretch of mate- rial right across the year.”
On high demand and finding a spot on the network, he says: “I can assure you that people can get adver- tising on Channel Nine. They just need to give us a call. We'll find a way.
“Demand will drive availabil- ity issues. We're recommending to clients at the moment they don't try to book two weeks — try 12 weeks out. And it's just a change in the cycle, but it's changed quite quickly.
“The bounce back's been really marked, and the change in behav- ior is something we're talking to agencies and clients about.”
On TV audiences, Hunwick describes an evolution rather than a structural decline.
“Brands are looking to drive sales and the brand, which TV obviously does well,” he says.
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