SBS Voices

SBS Voices champions emerging writers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, particularly women, exploring issues relevant to their lives in contemporary Australia through an ongoing partnership with Sweatshop, a diverse writers’ collective in Bankstown, and an Asian-Australian Emerging Writers program.

In the past year, the website has increasingly focused on social video production, showcasing the talent of emerging CALD writers. With lockdowns due to COVID-19, the team switched focus to user-generated content. Videos were created while in isolation, exploring topics including the impact of the pandemic on mental health and relationships. Top-performing content included a video to support the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras about same-sex couples, which had a Facebook reach of 1.5 million and 906,000 views. Another video on the topic of men and housework reached 1.2 million, with 623,000 views.

SBS Voices continued to provide key editorial support for SBS’s flagship commissioned programs including Struggle Street, Filthy Rich & Homeless and Marry Me Marry My Family, extending the discussion on important social issues through social content, features and video.

In 2019-20, the website attracted more than six million unique browsers and 9.5 million page impressions. Social media video views increased 38 per cent to 5.4 million views, up from 3.9 million. Facebook page likes increased from 79,000 in June 2019 to 91,000 in May 2020, an increase of 15 per cent.¹

SBS Food Online

2019-20 was the SBS Food site’s best-performing year to date. The website hit 34 million page views (up 16 per cent year on year) and 15 million unique visitors (up 13 per cent year on year).²

The site refreshed its content offering alongside the relaunch of SBS Food (Ch. 33) by cross-promoting food commissions and acquired series, and building on the recipe catalogue which now features more than 10,000 recipes.

SBS Food online continued to support a range of network priorities, including Mastermind, Filthy Rich & Homeless, Eurovision, and Mardi Gras, and launched a dedicated SBS Food Recipes Facebook Group to engage new local audiences.

SBS worked with UNICEF to create bespoke video content and editorial for the #CookForSyria campaign with Adam Liaw, and developed, shot and produced a short-form video series That’s Not How You Say It to align with SBS’s National Languages Competition in August 2019. This social video series received more than 100,000 video views and featured as part of the National Languages Competition awards ceremony.

SBS Food partnered with the Refugee Council of Australia (RCA) in June 2020 to highlight culturally and linguistically diverse voices and refugee stories, under the theme of ‘share a meal, share a story’, with content including videos and recipes from RCA ambassadors.

The TV Guide

SBS’s TV Guide continued to deliver engaging editorial for passionate communities across movies, documentaries and drama, also producing dedicated program pages for SBS’s commissioned content. The original content garnered an average of 1.3 million page views, and, in turn, delivered strong referrals to SBS On Demand.

The Guide’s podcast team focused on deepening audience engagement with SBS content, offering an intimate way to communicate with viewers. The award-winning Eyes on Gilead podcast - a companion to The Handmaid’s Tale - charted globally and received five-star reviews on iTunes. During its 2019 season, it ranked as the #1 Handmaid's Tale podcast in the world, and fans of the podcast booked out a 500-capacity theatre in three days, for a season finale live podcast recording.