In 2022, Vidsta’s founder and managing director, Dylan Webber, was on a trip to his hometown Rockhampton visiting family and on a whim decided to stop into the Beef Australia office to say congratulations to Simon Irwin on his appointment to CEO of Beef Australia. Dylan made mention of his concept to create a Today / Sunrise style live broadcast of the week. The point being to capture the true essence and scale of Beef. “I know in previous years Beef has hired videographers to create sizzle reels but they always end up being very similar and don’t do much for Beef while the event is live. The idea for Beef TV was to create a content strategy that flooded different channels while the event is still on to encourage awareness and interest from a much larger audience.”, Dylan said when asked about where the idea had come from. 

Growing up for his first 25 years in Rockhampton, before a shift to Brisbane, Dylan says the Beef events are a huge celebration of the Beef Industry and Rockhampton as the Beef Capital once every three years. “Having been to almost every Beef event since I was born, it’s always been a special event to me, and my idea for Beef TV started as a way that we could showcase just how large and impressive the event is, to a much larger global audience.” 

“Since first pitching the idea to Simon, over the course of the following 18 months, I’d call in with new ideas for Beef TV like advertising between segments, filming mini-documentaries with stakeholders and ways we could be live from anywhere around Rocky – fast forward to 2023 and I get a call saying, ‘Do you think you could quote this up for us’ – and a project like this you think, gee – where do you even start!” – “I wanted to do it properly and bring in the best in the biz to make it happen. That’s why we’ve got Channel Nine’s Supervising Producer, Zoe, coming from Sydney, and Broadcast Engineer Andrew flying in from Sunshine Coast. I wanted this program to be premium quality from the outset.” Dylan said. 

With over 17 camera crew, journalists, producers, technicians, video editors and broadcast engineers converging on Rockhampton for the week of Beef, there has been a huge amount of logistics and production planning in the lead up. “We’ve had regular video conferences with the marketing team at Beef who have been phenomenal. It’s been a real whirlwind and probably the biggest production I’ve planned in my career.”

“With a broadcast like this there is so much to think about, so many moving elements, and I’ve been so grateful to people like Andrew our Broadcast Engineer who has brought so much to the table, Andrea Crothers experience in going live has been incredibly helpful and the team at Beef Australia have been incredibly helpful and supportive across the board.”

“There will be a lot we learn over the week of broadcasting that will help us take the Beef TV program to new heights in 2027 and beyond. I’m excited to see the statistics actually, like, average watch time, viewership, demographics of viewers, locations – this will help us plan content strategically in future years.”

“I remember there came a point when Beef’s marketing team said to me, ‘no more new ideas!’ which was funny at the time, this whole journey has been the culmination of ideas being executed and I can’t wait for the world to watch it. (Beef TV)”

Beef TV airs live and free at beeftv.com.au from Monday May 6 at 9am, through to Friday May 10 at 5pm.

Hosted by well-known journalist Andrea Crothers and Australian agricultural show identity Lyndsey Douglas, Beef TV is an insightful, educational and exciting eight-hour program airing from the LAWD International Business Lounge.

Tune in to our seven-channel program where you’ll find a dedicated media channel bursting with industry insights, insider knowledge from Beef2024 partners and stakeholders, market trends straight from Trade Commissioners worldwide, heartwarming success stories, breaking Beef2024 news updates, and of course, plenty of moments to share a laugh or two.

But that’s not all! Experience the excitement of the Nutrien Ag Solutions Stud Cattle Championship like never before, with six channels dedicated to capturing every moment of the championship, thanks to our livestream partner, Stocklive.