Paramount Australia has revealed a stack of new and returning films and TV shows at its 2027 Upfronts in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“I’m excited about what we’ve built for next year: wall-to-wall, top-notch, primetime programming from January to December, and we haven’t ignored a sliver of the calendar,” Tamara Simoneau, VP Content, Network 10 told Mediaweek.
Her sales counterpart has already circled his dates.
“Personally, I can’t wait for the Women’s World Cup in June and July. I think it is an enormous moment for our country, and it’ll bring us together. I love that you can watch it all on 10 and Paramount+,” said Grant Madigan, VP Sales, Paramount Australia.
Between those two quotes sits the shape of Paramount’s 2027 upfront: a slate led by the FIFA Women’s World Cup, “Australian Ninja Warrior” and a Melanie Lynskey-led drama about Erin Patterson, packaged with an expanded advertising offer built to turn viewing into measurable business results.
Madigan is quick to frame it as evolution rather than reinvention.
“We’re evolving the product that exists and has existed. So Paramount Connect, by way of example, is our cross-platform buying platform; it’s live, and it has been live,” he said.
“We’ve had over 70 campaigns run on the platform already. So for us, we’re building on that. And of course, it’s around big events next year and big franchises.”
“We’ll have 15 games on free-to-air. Every game will be on Paramount+. For us, that gives us the opportunity to sell Paramount Connect with combined packages. We’ll sell it as a total picture. We’ll obviously talk to, you know, the FIFA partners and partners of the event itself. But it is honestly a product that, for us, we just cannot wait to get out in market.”
The tournament will also debut Game Day Highlighter, a new advertising product developed with Transmit and powered by its MomentAI technology. Launching across Paramount+ and 10 Streaming’s World Cup coverage, it is designed to attach advertisers to high-value sporting moments.
“The biggest moments in sport are where attention peaks, and that is where advertisers want to be,” Madigan said.
“Game Day Highlighter captures those moments and gives brands an effective way to align with them, backed by technology that is proven globally and now available in Australia.”
Football runs well beyond the World Cup. Every AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 match will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in January and February, while the broader offering includes Matildas and Socceroos friendlies, the A-League Men and Ninja A-League, the Hahn Australia Cup, AFC Champions League Elite and Champions League Two. Coppa Italia and Scottish Cup coverage add European club football.
Elsewhere, 10 carries the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and MotoGP’s Australian round, and Paramount+ will screen UFC Fight Nights, numbered-event preliminaries, and exclusive Zuffa Boxing.
For buyers, the bigger shift is on the subscription side of the business.
“We’re basically extending a lot of the ad innovation that we’ve had on 10 Streaming over to Paramount+. So you’ll be able to take on, you know, title-level sponsorships and integrations, but you’ll also be able to utilise and access some of our premium ad formats across premium pause, high-impact, and interactive formats,” Madigan said.
Streaming Fixed Units follow in early 2027.
“That will basically enable you to really pinpoint the placements on VOD content post-broadcast,” he said. “That one placement on that specific platform you’re watching it on, including Paramount+, that’s where your ad is gonna run.”
Underpinning it all is a new measurement partnership with Adelaide, Cint, and Infinitum, which aims to bring attention, brand lift, and business outcomes into a single campaign view. Adelaide supplies its attention-based media quality metric, Cint provides real-time brand lift insights, and Infinitum connects streaming ad exposure with household website activity.
The solution launches across Paramount+ and 10 Streaming, with Samba extending it to linear television in 2027 through ad exposure matching.
“We want every major campaign across linear, BVOD and SVOD measured to demonstrate the quality of our media and its impact on brands’ business outcomes,” Madigan said.
“Last-touch attribution has favoured social and performance channels for too long, and this puts premium video on the same playing field.”
An Adelaide audit gave 10 and Paramount+ an average CTV AU score of 71.98, which Paramount says is 22% above Adelaide’s benchmark. Live Big Brother content scored up to 80. These are predictive media quality scores, and they support new high-attention advertising packages.
The most tangible example of the content-to-commerce strategy arrives before the new programming year does.
“The Great Aussie Christmas Presented By Bunnings Warehouse,” hosted by Matty J and Laura Byrne, follows families as they get their homes ready for Christmas. Created with PHD and OM Content, the four-part special uses Paramount’s Pause To Shop technology, powered by KERV.ai’s Moment Match Engine, to surface Bunnings products during viewing. Paramount bills it as Australia’s first purpose-built shoppable series.
“It’s fully shoppable, brand-funded digital content. It launches next week on 10 Streaming. It will also run on 10 linear. Everything within the show is designed to be shoppable. So, with our premium ad products with [KERV], you will be able to buy what’s on screen and what they’re doing within the show itself,” Madigan said.
“We’re so proud of this win not only as a performance pitch, but also because we can’t wait to see it on air.”
Diane Ho, National Digital Sales Director, Paramount Australia, said the partnership demonstrates “the next evolution of streaming, where content doesn’t just inspire action, it enables it”.
The series launches on 10 Streaming on Sunday, November 1st with weekly segments, then airs in full on Channel 10 on Wednesday, November 25th at 8:30 pm. It lands on Paramount+ the following day.
Choosing what makes the cut is the job, Simoneau said.
“That’s always the fun part, isn’t it? You get pitched a thousand things, and figuring out which one will resonate most with the audience is part of the game. But we’re really happy with what we have chosen as new and fresh this year.”
Where those shows land depends on what they are.
“They’re scheduled quite differently. And you’ll see all those big family-friendly franchises which are the core business for 10,” she said.
“Then there are our original dramas on Paramount+, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only place you’ll find them. You know, we have the beauty of having multiple platforms for all of our content. So over time, they sort of all get a play everywhere.”
Paramount+’s headline drama is “Mushroom Murders,” with Lynskey starring as Erin Patterson and executive producing. The six-part limited series covers the 97 days between the 2023 mushroom lunch and Patterson’s arrest.
Created by Anya Beyersdorf, Daina Reid, and Deb Balderstone, Soapbox Pictures will produce it, with Reid directing all six episodes. Filming will take place in Victoria with support through the Victorian Screen Incentive.
“This is an ambitious series that brings a gripping real-life story that captivated Australia and the world to the screen with the scale, quality and creative vision audiences expect from Paramount+,” said Beverley McGarvey, President Network 10 and Head of Streaming, Paramount Australia.
True crime continues with “Hedley Thomas Investigates,” a six-part series from Warner Bros. International Television Production, with each episode examining a separate Australian case.
“This series takes audiences inside a collection of extraordinary Australian cases, looking beyond the headlines to examine what really happened, why and who was affected, and what may remain unresolved,” Thomas said.
The World Cup also feeds into children’s programming through “Sam Kerr Kicking Goals,” a live-action series inspired by the Matildas star’s childhood. Based on the books Kerr co-wrote with Fiona Harris, it follows an 11-year-old Sam in Western Australia. Orange Entertainment Co. produced it, and Diya Eid created it; Tig Terera and Rebecca O’Brien will direct, with Kerr among the executive producers. A nationwide casting search is underway.
“The Inspired Unemployed Sketch Show” brings the comedy duo back as recurring characters and adds celebrity cameos, while “Last King of the Cross” returns for season three and “NCIS: Sydney” for season four. “Aussie Shore” season three is already streaming, and the Dominic Cooper and Claire van der Boom drama, “Who The Hell Is Hamish?” is scheduled for later this year.
Simoneau described the 10 offering as “big, bold, noisy shows”, and the franchise list backs her up.
“Australian Ninja Warrior” returns with Robert Irwin, Georgie Tunny, and Beau Ryan as hosts, plus a new course. “Australian Survivor: Rivals” premieres on Monday, January 11th, taking host David Genat to Malaysia with a cast including Robbie Farah, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Bernard Curry, Lincoln Lewis, Mitch Churi, and Alisa and Lysandra Fraser.
“MasterChef Australia” returns with Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Jean-Christophe Novelli, and Sofia Levin, while Gretel Killeen hosts another season of “The Traitors Australia.” “Big Brother” moves to Brisbane for a longer season with live nominations and evictions, 24/7 access, and Mel Tracina hosting.
New additions include “Aussie Auctions,” “Extraordinary Homes Australia” hosted by Wendy Moore, “Dogs At Work” narrated by Melanie Zanetti, and “The Animal Sanctuary” from Tasmania’s Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Denham Hitchcock fronts two documentary specials, “The Falconio Witness” and “The Hunt for Hamish.”
Comedy holds its ground with “Have You Been Paying Attention?,” “The Cheap Seats,” “Sam Pang Tonight,” and Shaun Micallef’s “Parents’ Evening.” “Taskmaster Australia” season six features Charlie Pickering, Frankie McNair, Shane Jacobson, Tom Walker, and Urzila Carlson alongside Tom Gleeson and Tom Cashman. “Gogglebox Australia” reaches its 25th season, Graham Norton appears across his chat show and “Wheel of Fortune Australia,” Grant Denyer returns to “Deal Or No Deal,” and Rebecca Gibney hosts “Millionaire Hot Seat.”
News stays in the daily schedule across lunchtime, local weekday 5 pm, national weekend, and late bulletins, with “10 News+” on Sundays at 6:30 pm.
Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning pair up in legal thriller “Discretion,” while Jeremy Strong and Andrea Riseborough star in “The Best Of Us,” inspired by the fight for compensation for first responders who became ill after September 11. Kenneth Branagh leads Scottish family saga “Laird,” Anne Hathaway stars in and executive produces “Fear Not,” and Richard Madden plays a doctor caught in a hospital siege in “Trauma.”
Alicia Silverstone returns as Cher Horowitz in a “Clueless” sequel series, Samuel L. Jackson leads the “Tulsa King” spin-off, “Frisco King,” and Hannah Berner hosts “Making Love,” from the creators of “Love Is Blind.” “Yellowjackets,” “Landman,” “MobLand,” “Dexter: Resurrection,” “The Gilded Age,” “South Park,” and several Taylor Sheridan titles return.
For Madigan, the scorecard is simple, even if getting there isn’t.
“If we’ve got advertisers that are coming to us and engaging with us, and we’re not just simply delivering inventory, but we’re delivering impressions, we’re delivering audience, but hopefully delivering, contributing to results. Results then bring success; success brings return on investment,” he said.
“That, for me, if we can then see that return on investment come through from those advertisers, and success from trialling these and working with some of these, that’s success.”
Paramount has filled every sliver of the calendar. In 2027, the measurement partners will prove whether anyone bought the drill.