Brisbane 2032 Olympics to air on Nine as part of multimillion-dollar deal

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Nine’s successful bid, revealed by this masthead in December, was significantly higher than Seven’s offer. Seven, which owns television and publishing assets, made its offer for the next round of rights in August 2021. Sources said the dollar figure offered was between $230 and $250 million. Seven told staff last year that it had pulled out of the race because the economics of a deal did not stack up.

Nine will pay $305 million in cash and $10 million in contra under the eight-year deal, which also includes the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and the 2030 Winter Olympics. It includes the rights to all content, allowing Nine to broadcast footage across its radio, television, publishing and streaming assets.

Olympic Games are usually a loss-making event for a television network, but it is used as a springboard to promote other key programs on a television network. In 2017, Seven wrote down the value of the games by $70 million (the original deal was reported to be worth $200 million). And, despite it breaking audience records in 2021, the Tokyo 2020 Games still led to a $50 million loss for the network. Production costs about $150 million.

Seven wrote down the value of Olympics broadcast rights a number of times since after spending almost $200 million in 2014 to secure the rights to the 2016 Rio Games, the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Tokyo Games.