Samsung takes on TV's big players with new network

Just when Nine and Seven thought they had enough competition from the likes of YouTube and Netflix, along comes Samsung.

Armed with an audience of eight million Australians, the Korean tech giant is launching its own television network, with a growing arsenal of advertising data, measurement and technology hardware to support it.

The world's largest TV manufacturer has launched Samsung Television Network (STN), a free, scheduled streaming channel bringing together live news, entertainment, movies and creator-led programming, including content from Mamamia and Luke Nguyen.

Unveiled at Samsung Ads' NewFront 2026 in Sydney on Thursday, STN is part of an expanding advertising operation that gives Samsung direct access to millions of Australian living rooms, with new programmatic buying capabilities, video advertising formats and research designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of its home screen inventory.

Samsung Ads managing director for Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, Alex Spurzem, made clear the company's advantage lies in controlling much more than the content appearing on television screens.

"We're the company that builds the screen itself. We own the hardware, the software, the home screen and the streaming service," Spurzem said. "And with every TV we sell, our picture only gets clearer."

Samsung says its advertising business can reach more than eight million Australians through an installed base of more than four million connected televisions, giving it access to audiences across streaming, traditional television and gaming.

The new STN channel, which went live on 7 October, brings programming from across Samsung's free, ad-supported TV Plus service into a single destination, combining the scheduled format of traditional broadcasting with the flexibility of streaming.

Sam Hall, head of business development for Samsung TV Plus Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, described it as a modern broadcast network designed to encourage habitual viewing.

"This is our new flagship channel, our modern broadcast network built for streaming, with the structure and the reliability of traditional broadcast designed for how people actually watch today," Hall said.

The network will feature live news, creator programming, themed entertainment blocks, movies, live events and specials.

Samsung is also expanding its Australian content partnerships, including a deal with Mamamia to launch the digital publisher's first dedicated 24/7 television channel in early 2027, featuring more than 100 hours of lifestyle, culture and entertainment content.

Chef Luke Nguyen will front a daily cooking show filmed in food markets across Australia, while Samsung is working towards 30 dedicated news channels, including more local, international, financial and multilingual services.

Samsung TV Plus now offers more than 200 channels in Australia and is the most-used streaming app on Samsung Smart TVs locally, according to the company's own data.

But Samsung's ambitions extend well beyond programming.

The company is opening its TV home screen advertising inventory to programmatic buying for the first time in Australia, with the capability arriving by the end of 2026 through Magnite's SpringServe technology.

That will allow advertisers and agencies to buy Samsung home screen placements through leading demand-side platforms, bringing the inventory into existing media buying workflows.

Samsung is also introducing video masthead and 3D video advertising formats, giving brands the ability to run motion-based creative on the television home screen before viewers choose what to watch.

The home screen is accessed an average of six times a day in Samsung households, according to figures presented at NewFront, providing advertisers with a placement that sits outside the individual streaming services competing for viewers' attention.

The company is also making a concerted effort to demonstrate the commercial value of those placements.

Research conducted with attention measurement company Amplified found Samsung TV home screen advertising delivered 75% attention, including 59% active attention. Samsung said active attention was 123% higher than scrollable social media advertising and 62% higher than large-format out-of-home.

Separate research with Kantar, covering 13 campaigns across six product categories and nearly 4,500 respondents, found home screen advertising delivered a 15% lift in brand consideration and a 12% lift in favourability among broad audiences.

Those results were 2.4 times and 1.7 times higher respectively than Kantar's digital advertising benchmarks.

Woolworths Group head of digital media, data partner and publisher services James Perry told the event that advertisers needed to look beyond audience size when assessing the effectiveness of connected TV.

"Reach absolutely matters, but reach on its own isn't enough because really what we're about is earning attention," Perry said.

"I think being seen isn't quite the same as being remembered."

Woolworths uses Samsung's home screen advertising for ongoing brand campaigns, including Everyday Rewards, as well as tactical retail promotions such as seasonal produce and BIG W's toy sale.

Samsung is also rolling out Optimal Reach, a measurement tool designed to identify audience duplication across linear television and streaming, and Smart Outcomes, which uses machine learning to optimise campaigns towards website visits, conversions and app acquisitions.

Optimal Reach is currently in beta in Australia and is expected to become more widely available in the fourth quarter, while Smart Outcomes is already available locally.

The expansion comes as streaming accounts for 73% of viewing time on Samsung Smart TVs in Australia, with total viewing hours increasing 6% year-on-year, according to Samsung Ads' proprietary data.

Spurzem said the growing complexity of television advertising had become a challenge for brands trying to understand where their investment was going.

"Fragmentation is real; it is structural, and it is accelerating," he said.

Samsung now controls the television hardware, the home screen, the streaming platform, a growing catalogue of content and the advertising technology connecting brands to viewers.

And every new television it sells adds another potential advertising screen to that network.