One Network, All Screens
Nine Upfronts 2026
Network Nine hosted its 2026 Upfronts at The Cutaway in Barangaroo, and it was a spectacular showcase of just how broad the Nine ecosystem has become across all channels, all screens and all platforms.
TV, streaming, Stan, publishing and now OOH, following the acquisition of the QMS network. Nine is continuing to build out an ecosystem that can follow audiences throughout their day, from the living room, to their phone, to the street and ultimately through to the point of purchase.
Nine Outdoor
From January 2027, QMS will officially become Nine Outdoor, embedding the OOH network within the wider Nine ecosystem.
The opportunity here is particularly interesting for advertisers. Nine can begin connecting its 9Tribes audience data with OOH environments, creating greater opportunities to identify, reach and understand audiences beyond the traditional Nine screens.
And it’s not just large-format roadside OOH. Through the QMS acquisition, Nine has also picked up a significant retail screen footprint across environments including IGA, Mitre 10 and many more.
This expands Nine’s OOH proposition beyond traditional large and small format, creating a potential journey from awareness, through consideration, and right through to point of purchase.
Bigger content, bigger audiences
Moving into 2027, Nine and 9Now continue to grow their content offering, with Stan and Stan Sport now fully open for advertising.
There are plenty of content highlights for advertisers to jump into, including:
McLeod’s Daughters returns to screens.
The Block returns for Season 23, this time heading to Sunbury.
A new Block spin-off, The Block: The House Next Door.
The Today Show gets a refreshed look, with Sylvia Jeffreys and Tom Steinfort joining as full-time hosts.
And then there’s Stan Sport, which continues to build a substantial live sports proposition:
Two major local World Cups in 2027, with the Netball World Cup and Rugby World Cup taking place within two weeks of each other.
The Ashes.
Premier League and international football secured through to 2034.
NBL, with two games a week on Nine and 9Now.
NRL, secured through to 2034, including State of Origin.
For advertisers, the continued expansion of Stan and Stan Sport means more premium, highly engaged content environments becoming available beyond traditional linear TV.
Nine Neo: making the ecosystem easier to buy
Nine Neo was another interesting introduction, providing an alternative dynamic trading platform designed to bring the entire Nine ecosystem together for agencies and clients.
The proposition is centred around making Nine easier to plan and buy, while providing greater visibility around campaign performance and ROI.
More importantly, it represents another step towards Nine becoming less of a collection of individual media assets and more of a connected ecosystem, with AI helping agencies navigate the network and identify opportunities across its different platforms.
Data becomes the connector
Nine has also partnered with CommBank iQ, powered by Quantium, Azira and Adgile, bringing additional data sources into the mix alongside 9Tribes.
The ambition is to create a more consolidated audience data set that can be used across planning and buying, connecting audience insights with the different environments Nine now has available.
For media agencies, this could become particularly valuable as Nine looks to connect audiences across TV, digital, publishing, streaming and OOH, rather than treating each channel as a standalone buy.
A few other new-to-market announcements
Shop Today was another interesting addition.
The proposition combines segments from The Today Show with the ability for viewers to purchase featured products directly through the Nine platform.
It creates another opportunity for brands to turn editorial content into a commerce moment, opening up potential affiliate revenue for Nine while giving advertisers another lower-funnel opportunity within the broader ecosystem.
And, of course, the road to the LA Olympics 2028 begins!
With Nine holding the Australian broadcast rights, the lead-in to LA28 will create plenty of opportunities for brands to get involved across the Nine ecosystem over the next couple of years.
And from there, the DJ kicked off and the Nine celebration began!