SBS outlines their 2025 plans and their 50th anniversary initiatives at Perth Upfronts lunch

SBS came to Perth last week for their 2025 Upfronts lunch that saw major announcements on their 2025 programming plans.

The Upfronts covered a full content release. This is framed around SBS’s 50th birthday, but the narrative is very much not just about the last 50 years but also the next 50. Alone Australia is back but SBS is also leaning into true crime, culture and identity, and batch of new series that will feature Rachel Griffiths, Jacki Weaver, Claudia Karvan, Melissa Leong, Steph Tisdell, Marc Fennell and Nazeem Hussain.

SBS On Demand will become the home of both SBS’s video and also their live audio offering. This signals the centrality of the platform as SBS celebrates its 50th birthday.

At the Upfronts SBS also challenged the industry over its outdated focus on the 25-54s demographic, and why they believe marketers need to shift this to a 40+ or 35-64s focus.

New research “The Premium Effect”, which speaks to the uniqueness of the SBS audience and the incremental reach that can be achieved from shifting spend to SBS. These numbers are the first time SBS has done the research for a VOZ world.

There was also major announcements on the FIFA World Cup 2026 – and about the ad packages and the launch of a FIFA FAST channel on SBS On Demand.

SBS are continuing to lead on sustainability – new initiatives through Scope3, their own applications for the SBTi validation and also the SBS Media Sustainability Challenge.

There was also ajor announcements on NITV and Beyond 3% – a new First Nations Consultancy and also a First Nations portal to aggregate their content.