Yesterday’s announcement of an agreement between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Stuff Group signals a new partnership between the two media organisations and the ability to create commercial opportunities, using each organisation’s data and digital strengths.
From July 6, Stuff will licence a 6pm news bulletin to WBD for use on Three and ThreeNow.
The show will screen for an hour Monday to Friday and 30 minutes on the weekends, with the same commercial format but with a new approach to content and audience engagement.
WBD’s Senior Director of Revenue, James Hole, says the WBD team has always known how important news is not just for a healthy democracy, but for reaching New Zealanders.
“The 6pm news audience is hugely valuable to advertisers,” says Hole. ”By partnering with Stuff, WBD will be bringing a wider range of commercial opportunities that are bigger, broader, and more agile than ever before.”
“The 6pm news is both culturally and commercially vital,” says Hole. “Stuff.co.nz is the country’s most-read news site and WBD has the primetime 6pm broadcast TV slot. Together we’ll offer innovative and engaging new content with familiar and fresh advertising opportunities plus the strongest integration potential in market.”
Stuff Brand Connections Managing Director Matt Headland says the agreement will see Stuff innovate how news is delivered for broadcast audiences.
“This agreement builds on Stuff’s data and digital strategy, creating an exponential increase in video content and using our agile and dynamic new stuff.co.nz platform to drive broader commercial opportunities through audience engagement and registration. It also transfers ownership of newshub.co.nz and its social assets to Stuff Group.
“We have strategically grown our data and digital commercial capability so we are in a position to really move forward on new commercial products. Today’s announcement comes just as we are really ramping up our first-party data through the replatforming of stuff.co.nz, growing our ability to segment and target audiences. This agreement also transfers ownership of newshub.co.nz and its social assets to Stuff Group.
“WBD will take the lead on the broadcast’s commercial opportunities but we are excited about the commercial opportunities this agreement could bring on both our platforms. It allows us to work with our partners on integrated campaigns alongside our strong digital mastheads, Neighbourly, events team, newspapers and magazines,” says Headland.
“We are at a pivotal time for local media and there has never been a better time for our commercial partners to support innovation like this.”
