SBS kicks off upfronts with World Cup year, drama slate and streaming innovations

SBS kicked off the 2026 upfronts season yesterday afternoon with a bold pitch to agencies and marketers, declaring next year will be its biggest audience year yet as the broadcaster leans on the FIFA World Cup, premium Australian drama and a suite of streaming innovations.

At the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, acting managing director Jane Palfreyman positioned SBS as a challenger brand not only to the other free-to-air networks, but also to global streaming rivals.

“2026 is shaping up to be a huge year for SBS. In fact, I’ll go one step further. It will be our biggest audience year ever,” Palfreyman said.

“Television is no longer a contest between Seven, Nine, Ten and the ABC. The real competition now is the global streamers. To meet that challenge, we launched our boldest brand campaign ever, We Go There. It reminded Australians that SBS is fearless, free and full of world-class content they simply won’t find anywhere else.”

SEE MORE: NITV celebrates record brand investment in First Nations media

Palfreyman pointed to the network’s election debate for Gen Z audiences, which brought influencers into the format and drew more than two million viewers across social. “It brought a fresh perspective to the national election conversation. That’s SBS - daring, different and deeply connected to our audiences. And you’ll see more of this in the creative space in the year ahead, across news, sport, food and entertainment.”

World Cup centrepiece 

The centrepiece of the pitch was the FIFA World Cup, which SBS will broadcast exclusively across SBS, SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand in June and July next year. With 104 matches, almost double the number of 2022, Palfreyman said it would deliver record-breaking audiences.

“SBS has always been the home of football in Australia and the 2026 World Cup will break new ground. We’re known as the spiritual home of football in Australia."

Already, bluechip brands from Hyundai, Macca’s, Rexona, Hisense, bet365, Commonwealth Bank and Youi have signed up as major partners.

"They understand the power of the world game to unite communities and drive real outcomes,” Palfreyman added.

SBS said it will deliver more than 550 hours of World Cup coverage, including every match live in HD, replays, highlights and exclusive pitch-side crosses. On SBS On Demand, a new FIFA World Cup hub will give fans access to live games, catch-up and behind-the-scenes coverage, supported by a FIFA+ FAST channel.

Streaming focus

At the heart of the upfronts presentation was SBS On Demand, which Palfreyman called “the one thing I want you to take away from today.” The platform, she said, is the highest-rating Australian streaming app in the video category. In 2026, SBS will add restart, pause and rewind functionality across all content, launching in time for the World Cup.

SBS also confirmed its world-first opt-out advertising feature will move from beta to a full platform capability, allowing audiences to exclude categories such as alcohol, wagering and quick service restaurants.

“In 2024 SBS became the first broadcaster in the world to trial opt outs. Two years on, the results speak for themselves. It’s a win for audiences, and importantly, for advertisers who no longer waste spend on disinterested viewers,” Palfreyman said.

The broader programming slate mixes global formats with Australian originals. Alone Australia will return for a fourth season, this time set in the Arctic Circle. New SBS dramas include The Chaplain, inspired by Melbourne Airport’s chaplaincy, and Reckless, a First Nations co-commission starring Tasma Walton and Hunter Page-Lochard.

Documentaries include The People vs Robodebt and John Safran’s Shut Your Big Fat Mouth, while Ruby Rose, Jelena Dokic and Matt Preston will feature in a new season of The Hospital: In the Deep End. SBS also renewed its food strategy with new series from Rick Stein, Shane Delia, Lara Lee and Adam Liaw.

Advertiser proposition

For advertisers, SBS showcased new Samba.tv and Insighten research highlighting the effectiveness of its uncluttered environment. The broadcaster caps ad load at five minutes per hour compared with up to 16 minutes on other networks, delivering between 32 and 47 per cent stronger recall.

SBS also announced the launch of SBS Data Lab, a unified data proposition combining first-party signed-in data with partnerships including Experian, SMRTR and DataCo Technologies. The platform will enable closed-loop reporting, commerce insights and audience segmentation at scale.

“SBS Data Lab brings together years of data-led innovation under one roof – making it easier to reach SBS’s broad and diverse audiences across our digital ecosystem with personalised campaigns,” Lee Callagher, SBS acting director of media sales, said.

Palfreyman used the event to launch SBS’s inaugural sustainability report, alongside Brief Green, a toolkit for brands to design media plans that reduce advertising emissions. “Media supply chains are a huge contributor of emissions, and we all have a responsibility here. This report sets a path for others - brands, agencies and even our competitors - to follow,” she said.

Industry response

Media buyers welcomed SBS’s upfronts pitch, noting the balance between sport, entertainment and purpose-driven initiatives.

“It’ll be a big year for SBS with the World Cup front and centre of the content slate, supported by heavy hitters like Alone season four, Eurovision and the Tour de France," Blake Power, general manager of Hearts & Science, said. 

“SBS focused on their distinct offering among free-to-air broadcasters and acknowledged that the global streaming platforms are a true battleground for Aussie’s attention.

Power said two areas that stood out were SBS’s continued focus on purpose-led advertising with Brief Green, and the significant opportunity with NITV, which bucks the audience decline trend in free-to-air.

"Samba.tv and Insighten’s research showed a link between low ad clutter on SBS and a 47% higher ad recall compared to other broadcasters. This also rings true with research we’ve seen at Hearts & Science - reinforcing the value of prioritising attention over quantity of exposure. Overall, a strong start to upfront season from SBS.”

Upfronts season now shifts into gear, with YouTube, Foxtel, Val Morgan, Carsales, Amazon, Disney and the major networks all set to unveil their 2026 pitches in the weeks ahead.