EXCLUSIVE:
Newly-installed ABC Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor desires the broadcaster to be related to all Australians and is open to codecs which might match its Charter and budgets, while attracting a broad viewers.
“I believe it’s actually acceptable for the ABC to have an viewers watching its exhibits. We know that with Vera, Utopia and Bay of Fires they arrive in hundreds of thousands of viewers and watch these exhibits. And I do assume that our foremost ABC schedule actually must be for all Australians and we have to get the stability proper,” he advised TV Tonight.
“Some exhibits are going to play to large audiences, large numbers and have a relevance for Australia. I need the ABC to be related. I need to guarantee that folks go ‘Yes, the ABC is de facto essential,’ as a result of it’s. But additionally we make an entire variety of exhibits the place we herald important worth again to the Australian folks. And that is perhaps in a few of our slate like Arts the place we’re not chasing an enormous quantity by any means. But we’re telling essential tales. If we are able to get that stability, proper, I believe we’ve achieved rather well.”
ABC has already loved sucess with native variations of UK codecs akin to Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, Back in Time for Dinner and War on Waste, and the previous Netflix exec is open to extra.
“Not that we’d do that, I ought to stress, however the BBC is working Gladiators in primetime now, which is an ITV (produced) present they’ve simply picked up,” he stated.
“I don’t assume there’s a cause why the ABC couldn’t run exhibits like Survivor. Obviously Alone was an incredible success for SBS. There’s no cause why ABC, finances allowing, couldn’t have had MasterChef or Gogglebox. I believe these exhibits actually speak to Australians they usually permit us to solid various and broad.
“I do assume we’re allowed to have one or two tentpoles that may herald a pleasant large viewers, most likely within the leisure house, that permits that viewers to seek out different issues. We need folks coming into ABC iview and onto our foremost channel. And we wish them to find Maggie Beer and uncover Tony (Armstrong) and Miriam (Margolyes). Maybe a method into that’s via a format that’s working very nicely internationally.
“But no, we’d not do MAFS!”
ABC beforehand screend its personal Gogglebox-like present Everyone’s A Critic, in 2018 the place artwork gallery patrons critiqued artwork works however the present struggled to seek out an viewers.
Last week ABC unveiled its 2024 slate with native dramas Return to Paradise, Ladies in Black, House of Gods, The Newsreader, Total Control, comedies Fisk, Austin, White Fever, the return of Shaun Micallef, factuals with Maggie Beer, Tony Armstrong and Miriam Margolyes and a doco collection on 9 years of Liberals in energy.
Having commenced in July Oliver-Taylor has inherited a lot of the brand new slate from his ABC predecessor, as have latest appointees, Rachel Okine as Head of Scripted, Rachel Millar as Head of Entertainment and Susie Jones as Head of Factual. It shall be a 2025 slate to really mark the brand new course.
But he additionally has hopes to understand a better uptake of iview and transition viewers to digital.
“We’ve bought to guarantee that our viewers is gently, however appropriately, transferred throughout to ABC iview. We know they’re all on demand. I do know that from Netflix. Everyone’s bought Netflix, which implies all our viewers has discovered and the limitations to entry,” he continued.
“So we need to do it for ABC ivew as nicely. There’s no excuse now about saying, ‘Maybe our viewers isn’t there.’ No, they’re there. They’re watching The Crown on Netflix. We know they will watch Vera on ABC iview. That’s one of many visions I need to get to -transferring our viewers from linear to on demand, like everyone seems to be doing.
“That’s not distinctive, however we’ve to be fairly deliberate. And then ensuring that we’ve bought tales that play large and have influence to Australia.”
Yet whereas ABC has a roaring success in Kids TV, led by celebrity Bluey, there are not any plans to broaden to a Young Adult viewers.
“I’m making an attempt to be sensible. I don’t assume that I actually need to compete with our buddies at Netflix for the Stranger Things viewers. I simply assume that’s foolish,” Oliver-Taylor insists.
“Can we realistically compete with the streamers who’ve very clearly pushed a YA agenda for good cause? Can we compete with Squid Game or Stranger Things? I don’t assume so. Not with our finances, proper? And will worldwide distribution corporations purchase YA content material to try to compete with these exhibits within the UK or within the US? Again, most likely not.”
However he does need viewers to assume in a different way concerning the public broadcaster.
“I need to be sure that folks say ‘The ABC is telling some essential tales,. And they’re making me snort.’
“Not ‘ABC doesn’t matter anymore.’ ABC actually issues and dare I say, it issues extra now than nearly ever earlier than.”
