Channel Nine's Olympic ads a big bother

AD nauseum - it's that feeling Olympics fans get after the same advertisements for Big Brother and other upcoming shows interrupt Channel Nine's coverage.

Neil Keene
DailyTelegraphAugust 8, 201212:29am

Sonia Kruger films a commercial for the new series of Big Brother.Source:Herald Sun

AD nauseum _ it's that feeling Olympics fans get after the same advertisements for Big Brother and other upcoming shows interrupt Channel Nine's coverage, over and over and over.

And over.

But the network's saturation strategy, where the same ads are televised on high rotation throughout the Games, could backfire, according to industry experts.

Tim Burrowes, editor-in-chief of media and marketing website Mumbrella, described it yesterday as a "brute-force'' approach to promotions.

"To an extent, that approach does work because it absolutely raises awareness,'' he said.

"But it also means that people have very strong opinions going into it, one way or the other.''

"If this were a more traditional advertiser, they would probably have a far more sophisticated array of ads and different executions, but in this case it does seem like quite a limited amount and they're hitting the same group of people again and again and again with it, more than most advertisers would in such a short period of time.''

Mr Burrowes said comments on Twitter, the network's own Facebook page and other social media pages illustrated a "significant'' backlash from people who felt "bombarded'' by the ads' repetition.

TV commentator David Knox said the Seven network came under similar fire earlier this year for over-promoting shows like Revenge during the Australian Open, but they still rated well on launch.

"The enormity of the Games no longer fits a free-to-air model and they end up looking like a highlights package,'' he said.

"Nine also doesn't have a very good reputation for showing it listens and accepts criticism and it has to work better at communicating this. These are the things that get remembered and trust is integral with audiences, especially when they have so many choices elsewhere.''

"By comparison, word of mouth on Foxtel has been terrific, thanks to long-form events, multiple HD channels, a comprehensive schedule and a whiz-bang app that lets you watch events on the go.''

Nine is already feeling the heat for coverage deemed by some to be lacking in variety and focused too heavily on particular sports and Australian athletes.

More than 23,000 people had signed up to the "Channel 9 Olympics Coverage Sucks'' Facebook page by yesterday afternoon, and more than 1500 had signed an online petition calling for the International Olympics Committee to review the process for granting broadcast rights following "such a poor broadcast performance offered by the Nine Network''.

The anger has even spread abroad.

On Monday, the BBC picked up on the Australian public's discontent, running a story online about why Australians wanted less biased television coverage of the Games.

The Nine Network was not available for comment yesterday.

Originally published asOlympic ads a big bother

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