In June last year, Pio Terei hit the screens as Freeview’s new mascot and, with the help of its agency True, he attempted to convince those Kiwi TV viewers clinging to their analogue signals to buy a box and get their content for free. And the man of many acting talents has channelled Eddie Murphy in a new ad shot by Greg Page of Flying Fish to showcase the kind of shows that are available on the platform.
The West Coast and Hawke’s Bay were the first regions to make the change last year and now the whole country has gone digital. True’s managing director Matt Dickinson says 82 percent of the remaining analogue homes in the South Island and on the East Coast chose Freeview in the digital switch over and many more chose Freeview for their second or third TVs. And this has led to an increase in Freeview being used in all homes to over 50 percent, up from around 33 percent when the campaign started.
