In our newspapers today, mostly in the Business Sections, word has filtered to our distant shores that former Ten Network boss Peter Viner will succeed Canadian businessman Izzy Asper as the chief executive of CanWest, the parent company of our own Ten Network.
Under Mr. Viner, the Ten Network has been a very successful investment for CanWest. Just to show you what good management and a solid business plan does for a company, the Ten Network provided $94 million of CanWest’s $C237 million earnings. Not bad for the perennial distant bridesmaid of Australian commercial networks.
“You can be profitable without being number one and without having the biggest audience share,” Mr. Viner said.
By controlling costs and having a first-rate advertising sales force, he learned a broadcaster could be very profitable. And the bottom line proves his point quite emphatically.
Ten has been consistently behind the Nine and Seven networks in the very visible ratings wars but its earnings are better than Seven and only marginally behind Nine, the market leader and heavyweight in Australian television.
So what have they done to make this all happen? If I didn’t know better I’d say they sat down with the U.S Fox network officials and watched how that fledgling network (in U.S. terms) has captured the all-important children’s and teen-age markets. That is exactly what Ten has done here in Australia.
Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, The Simpsons, Moesha, Party Of Five, Hercules, Xena and The X-Files are all aimed at this very lucrative market. Add the hip shows of Seinfeld, The Nanny, and Mad About You and you have your target market, hence you have the advertisers who are willing to pay to reach that market.
But Ten wasn’t only after the younger market. Every weekday from 9am to 11:30am, the reigning King of Television, Bert Newton holds court on the network. Good Morning Australia is completely booked out by advertisers who want to reach Bert’s audience; a collection of housewives and older citizens who watch and will pick up the phone and order products directly from the ever-visible 1-800 numbers accompanying all ads.
Any wonder why they extended Bert by an extra half-hour early in the year?
The same demographical grouping also loves Oprah Winfrey during the day and the big night-time specials at night. Their News At Five beats both Seven and Nine game shows and their move into the field of motorcycle racing has also proved to be a niche winner. Niche being the operative word and the one that delivers the specific markets to advertisers.
True, the Ten Network has its collection of misfits, too. Big Sky and Medivac are not exactly in the class of another Ten offering, NYPD Blue but with many countries putting up money for these two turkeys, they were able to forge ahead and authorise additional series to be shot. Why not? The series flunked in their homeland, but are reaping big dollars in the hungry overseas markets.
Another lesson learned and the ringing of CanWest cash registers play the happy tune of success.
