Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ ramps up local content offering for 2023

A raft of new content has been revealed by Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ for New Zealand audiences destined to hit screens in 2023.

The content is set to build on the company’s reputation across global media, news, sports and entertainment to offer Kiwis the most diverse portfolio of content, brands and franchises across television, film and streaming.

Glen Kyne, Warner Bros. Discovery Senior Vice President and Head of Networks, ANZ and Japan, says although they are an organisation with global scale, assets and franchises, they also value local expertise and the need for local investment.

“At the heart of that remains a commitment to trusted news and current affairs and local content, for both our valued audiences in New Zealand, and new audiences who want to hear New Zealand stories told around the world.

“Investment and growth in ThreeNow, its audience and its content proposition has been our top priority this year, and will continue in 2023 as we further drive its expansion and build increasing scale. This means growing audiences further with the best mix of locally produced and internationally acquired content across multiple screens, maximising our entire portfolio.”

Fast Channels

In 2023 a selection of 24/7 FAST Channels will be introduced into the ThreeNow universe, each with exciting new content for ThreeNow and a portfolio of channels that will grow over time. FAST Channels or Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television are a whole new emerging class of video streaming. The channels will offer a curated, lean-back experience for viewers and another opportunity to unlock the depth and breadth of the Warner Bros. Discovery content catalogue in New Zealand.

Newshub

Hosted by award-winning journalist Patrick Gower, brand new regular series Paddy Gower Has Issues is the new home for factual content on Three and ThreeNow. It’ll offer a fresh take on current affairs, all brought to life with Paddy’s trademark edge and will appeal to digital and linear audiences. This show is for information-seeking audiences who crave real and relevant issues-driven content that captures the zeitgeist.

Building on its core news offerings including Newshub Live at 6PM, AM and The Project, 2023 will also be about driving digital growth ambition further on newshub.co.nz and its social channels, to help bring Newshub’s award-winning journalism to New Zealanders, however they choose to access it.

A new virtual set will support delivering news in an environment that will resonate with online audiences. With digital and social audiences being a key focus of expansion, Newshub will prioritise amplifying premium video content for online audiences as well as growing the relationship it has with Warner Bros. Discovery’s global news provider CNN.

More local hours

Across a huge range of content, 2023 on ThreeNow and Three will bring a compelling lineup of loved high performers and fresh new shows.

“Our local content is the key differentiator in an ever fragmenting market. It’s bold, has attitude, and it creates an emotional connection with the audience,” says Juliet Peterson, Warner Bros. Discovery Senior Director Content, ANZ. 

“Next year, there will be even more cut through New Zealand content across ThreeNow and Three.  After a massive increase in New Zealand content this year across ThreeNow and Three, we’re boosting that again with 30 per cent more local hours. Viewers can look forward to a bold lineup across the key genres of factual, reality, drama, comedy, movies and sport.”

New local titles include The Traitors NZ – an addictive, whodunnit reality series where contestants work with and against each other using lies, deception and betrayal to win this nail biting game of elimination. Hosted by Jaquie Brown, the colourful new series Blow Up will see Aotearoa’s best balloon artists compete by turning ordinary balloons into extraordinary works of art. And from the critically acclaimed global hit Couples Therapy, comes Couples Therapy New Zealand – a unique, “in the room” documentary series with couples revealing real-life struggles in sessions with a leading therapist to try and save their relationship. Vinnie Jones presents TRACKED, the ultimate game of hide and seek. Played in extreme environments across New Zealand’s South Island, it will test the teams’ physical capabilities and strategic mental skills as they race to evade being caught by the terrifying elite tracker force. 

There’s also new premium factual content including the riveting true crime documentary series Black Coast Vanishings where we explore the disappearance of six people at Piha Beach. On eden, British TV Presenter and pig farmer Jimmy Doherty is traveling Aotearoa – from south to north – exploring the extraordinary beauty New Zealand has to offer, and meeting locals on the way to try to uncover just what constitutes the true Kiwi spirit in Jimmy Doherty’s NZ Escape.

The drama slate features breakthrough drama Far North which tells the extraordinary true story of how an everyday couple foiled an international crime ring’s largest ever deal in the Pacific, starring New Zealand’s very own Robyn Malcom and Temuera Morrison. Full of quintessential Kiwi optimism, Friends Like Her is set in post earthquake Kaikoura. The series explores a friendship that goes sour when a surrogacy deal goes wrong. Madame Mom is a dramedy centered around the true story of a tough, all American, pregnant Mom who divorces her husband and starts an ethical brothel in Whangarei, New Zealand to provide for her family.

Three will bring more laughs in 2023, with support from NZ On Air. Double Parked, written by Chris Parker and Alice Snedden, features a young lesbian couple who both end up pregnant after a botched home insemination job. Homebound 3.0 tells the story of a struggling 30-something unpublished writer forced to move back home and deal with the disappointment of his Chinese parents.

Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee puts Kiwi comedians through their paces as they attempt to be crowned best speller in front of a live audience. There’s also the return of local favourites 7 Days, David Lomas Investigates, The Block NZ and Match Fit Season 3 which sees the introduction of a new code; Rugby League. 

New international titles include Gordon Ramsay’s Next Level Chef, experts assess deception and lies in Faking It, including featured crime case – the murder of Grace Millane, Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion, Singletown, Byron Bay’s Dream Listings, jewellery design series All That Glitters and floristry competition Full Bloom. Returning international titles include The Real Housewives franchises, Million Dollar Listing, Below Deck, Married At First Sight Australia, Married At First Sight USA, The Block Australia, Love It or List It Australia, Couples Therapy, The Graham Norton Show, The Newsreader, The Great Pottery Throwdown and Celebrity Gogglebox.

Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ acknowledges support from NZ On Air for David Lomas Investigates, 7 Days, Match Fit 3, Far North, Friends Like Her, Madam Momand Black Coast Vanishings and also acknowledges support from the New Zealand Film Commission for Tracked, Far North, Jimmy Doherty’s NZ Escape and Black Coast Vanishings.

The format rights for Couples Therapy New Zealand are distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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