A new TVNZ+ platform began rolling out over the weekend, built to unlock even more great viewing ahead for audiences.
TVNZ has a strong track record of digital innovation. TVNZ’s website turned 30 this year – first launching in 1996 with an online shop selling VHS tapes, merchandise and a tv guide. In 2007, TVNZ OnDemand debuted. Originally a service for viewers to catch up on shows they’d missed on broadcast TV, TVNZ OnDemand featured just 300 videos at launch. 19 years later, TVNZ+ is now a comprehensive streaming destination for entertainment, sports and news, reaching 1.5 million Kiwis every week. Moving to a new platform lays the foundations for TVNZ+ to take it up a notch again, with pay products and personalisation around the corner.
TVNZ’s Chief Digital Officer, Rob Hutchinson says: “At TVNZ our ambition is clear: to be New Zealand’s number one streaming platform for entertainment, sport and trusted news. TVNZ+ already stands shoulder-to-shoulder with global streamers in our market, but to reach more Kiwis than anyone else in a digital world we knew we needed to make a step change.
We’ve designed a new TVNZ+ for how New Zealanders watch today and for how they will in the future. By setting up a flexible, future-ready foundation we’ll be able to move faster, introduce new formats and features, and keep delivering the best possible experience for our viewers and advertisers.”
Delivering for Audiences and Advertisers
Viewers will see initial upgrades like a re-designed featured content carousel and Top 10 belt for TVNZ+’s most popular content, a simpler more secure login, and the introduction of audio description capability expanding the platform’s accessibility.
The new platform opens the door for further opportunities and experiences for viewers, with audio and visual quality content upgrades, auto-playing video previews and the ability to purchase event passes for the very first time in advance of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ still to come.
As we continue to evolve audience experiences, additional opportunities include vertical video viewing capabilities, which allows for short-form entertainment, news and sport clips to be watched in a mobile-first design (9:16). The new platform will also support further audience driven personalisation in the future, creating unique homepages for each viewer, with tailored imagery and push notifications based on individual content patterns. There is also potential to introduce interactive participation features, such as polls and reactions on TVNZ+, allowing audiences to engage with and respond to big moments in real time.
Advertisers will also have the opportunity to unlock new data capabilities, allowing them to tap into more interest and behaviour insights than ever before, to build more customisable campaigns. The new platform will also expand sponsorship opportunities for clients, including customisable CTV login imagery, branded featured belts of content and sponsored title art.
Market-leading Partners
This technology investment is part of TVNZ’s wider digital-first focus, with TVNZ working alongside three global leaders to develop and deliver the new TVNZ+ platform.
Quickplay, a recognised leader in cloud-based OTT platforms powering large-scale streaming services, provides the platform capabilities. Their technology orchestrates the full content workflow, delivering AI-driven insights that feed decisions across all channels, enabling broadcasters to operate with creator-level speed while maintaining broadcast-grade scale and control; and
Amazon Web Services (AWS), which underpins many of the world’s largest digital and streaming platforms, delivers highly resilient, secure and scalable AI and cloud infrastructure that is leveraged by the media and entertainment industry for rapid innovation; and
Evergent, a market-leading subscriber, identity and monetisation platform used by major global media and entertainment companies, supports customer identity, subscriptions and monetisation capabilities.
What Viewers Need to Know
When viewers log in to the new TVNZ+ for the first time on a device, a one-time password (OTP) will be sent to the email associated with the account. We’ve reached out to TVNZ+ users to ensure they check and where needed update their email in the Account Settings in advance.
There’s a lot of sophisticated work happening behind the scenes as we migrate content and move to new cloud technology, but for most viewers the transition will be smooth, using a simple one‑time passcode (OTP). As the new platform beds in, some viewers may need a little extra support – and we’ll help them every step of the way.
