Case Study: Amplifying Foxtel’s Brand Platform to Unlock New Audiences 

Brand Overview and Campaign Goal

Foxtel aimed to amplify the reach and engagement of their new Amazon Prime Video integration beyond their existing NewsCorp audience. The core objective was to build awareness and excitement around the Prime Video app becoming available on Foxtel’s set-top box, significantly enhancing Foxtel’s existing content offering by combining their robust catalogue with Prime Video’s diverse range of exclusive programmes, popular films, and unique characters, all conveniently accessible in one place.

Audience Challenge

The primary challenge was engaging new consumer segments, particularly hard-to-reach male audiences under 45 who actively engage with pop-culture, sports, and home entertainment content. These audiences are valuable yet challenging, as research indicates that 30% of them subscribe to more than three streaming services, making them highly selective and harder to retain. Foxtel needed to shift perceptions and showcase the expanded value of their offering to these discerning viewers who often juggle multiple streaming subscriptions.

Why Branded Content Was Essential

Branded content was selected for its unique capability to authentically resonate with targeted audience interests through engaging storytelling and character-driven narratives. Unlike traditional advertising methods, which often fail to deeply engage discerning, subscription-savvy viewers, branded content provided a more meaningful and less intrusive way to illustrate the integration’s key benefit—diverse entertainment content now seamlessly aggregated—through relatable, entertaining, and curiosity-driven combinations of characters from Foxtel and Prime Video.

The Approach

Avid developed a significant audience discovery plan to engage audiences outside of the NewsCorp ecosystem, focusing heavily on hard-to-reach male audiences likely to respond positively to the campaign messaging. The campaign creatively leveraged the theme “Strange Bedfellows,” uniquely pairing characters from entirely different genres and worlds, such as juxtaposing dramatic or serious personas with comedic or fantastical ones. This distinctive contrast in characters and storylines was specifically designed to spark curiosity and generate deeper audience engagement, compelling viewers to reconsider the richness and variety of their potential streaming experiences.

Publisher & Content Strategy

The campaign leveraged 13 tailored content pieces across diverse premium publishers, including Basketball Forever, Where To Australia, SuperHero Hype, Culture Feed, For the Home, Coming Soon Music Feeds, and Boss Hunting. Each publisher was strategically chosen to match specific audience interests and affinities:

• Basketball Forever resonated deeply with sports enthusiasts, notably through content highlighting intriguing crossovers between sports icons and action-hero personas.
• Boss Hunting appealed strongly to drama and entertainment fans, demonstrated effectively with captivating articles blending dramatic storylines with unexpected comedic twists.
• Coming Soon featured content highlighting the golden age of Australian TV, appealing strongly to local entertainment enthusiasts.
• Culture Feed produced engaging narratives showcasing unexpected pairings in pop culture, generating high levels of audience interaction and conversation.
• For the Home developed lifestyle-oriented content, creatively integrating home entertainment themes with unique character combinations, resonating well with domestic viewers.
• Music Feeds curated content around festival-inspired themes, effectively capturing the interests of music and entertainment lovers.
• Super Hero Hype effectively targeted superhero and comic enthusiasts, showcasing engaging cross-universe character interactions that drove substantial engagement.
• Where to Australia created relatable social scenarios around the integrated entertainment offerings, significantly enhancing local audience engagement across various regions.

Content was highly customised for each publisher’s audience, ensuring authentic alignment and maximum engagement through unique and relatable storytelling.

Results and Impact

Over 35,000 social engagements generated across the campaign.

• Video plays delivered at 224% over target.
• Article views exceeded expectations by 89%, highlighting significant audience engagement.
• Social video content achieved an exceptional view-to-impression rate, peaking as high as 62%.

Strategic insights demonstrated that retargeting previously engaged audiences, specifically through tailored follow-up content that aligned closely with their initial interests and viewing behaviours, increased view-to-impression rates by 20%. This confirmed the effectiveness of personalised content strategies by reinforcing audience connection and maintaining engagement through highly relevant messaging.

Conclusion 

The strategic partnership and expertly executed branded content campaign not only successfully overcame Foxtel’s audience challenge but also substantially reinforced the value proposition of their integration with Amazon Prime Video. By effectively demonstrating the diverse and convenient entertainment offering, Foxtel achieved remarkable engagement, reach, and consumer interest, setting a strong foundation for continued growth through tailored content strategies.