In December 2007, SBS began screening the hit UK series ‘Who do you think you are?’ on Sunday nights at 7.30pm. SBS bought series one and two of the inspiring genealogy program, which traces the family trees of UK celebrities.

To add a local flavour, SBS also commissioned six additional episodes featuring prominent Australians: Jack Thompson, Kate Cebrano, Ita Buttrose, Cathy Freeman, Jeffrey Robertson and Denise Commetti. The Australian episodes rolled out seamlessly with the UK series, and the first Australian episode featuring Jack Thompson aired on Sunday 13th January 2008.SBS also partnered with the genealogy website Ancestry.com.au for the series.

THE STRATEGY

After being approached by SBS, News Limited looked at ways of gaining further promotion for the series, through exclusive editorial and a reader offer for a 30 day ‘world exclusive’ free trial on ancestry.com.au. They wanted to generate awareness of the ‘Who do you think you are?’ series and in particular the Australian episodes. In addition, they wanted to drive people to ancestry.com.au and encourage them to register.

SBS supported the campaign with TV, radio, online and in-paper ads, with all ads co-branded. News Limited supported this SBS ad spend with editorial coverage including an exclusive interview with Jack Thompson and images for the TV Guide covers and cover stories. News Limited also provided readers with the 30 day free trial for all, to the World Heritage records on ancestry.com.au through a unique URL promoted in their marketing support ads.

News Limited recommended featuring ads in the News Limited Sunday TV guides, as the recent reader relationship Survey had proven that their Sundays readers are more relaxed with more ‘me time’ on Sundays. The TV Guides are published in 5 metros and were used to promote the show and reveal the unique URL for the ancestry offer.

THE RESULTS

Working together, News Limited and SBS developed a national campaign to build exposure for the launch.

The series was promoted extensively in News Limited’s Sunday TV Guides, across 5 capital cities and included in-paper marketing ads, editorial support and online coverage. It was extremely successful and broke the record for the highest rating Australian program on SBS.

The campaign was very successful with the first episode of the Australian series delivering a massive 863,000 viewers (22.4% of the market share). This was up 80% on the average for the British series and broke the record for the highest rating Australian program on SBS.