Nine Network

Background
The Nine Network (commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network, founded in 1956 as the National Television Network, becoming known as the Nine Network in the late 1960s. Nine adopted their famous "dots" logo in 1969. In 1975, Nine Network along with all other Australian TV channels switched to full time colour broadcasts. The Nine Network is one of three main free-to-air commercial networks in Australia, the others being Seven and Ten.

1st (known) Logo (May 1972-1975)


Visuals: On a black background, two white dots stuck to each other are seen. A dot slides across the screen and splits the two dots. Then, two more dots drop down and position themselves in a plus shape. Two colons slide up and down from the screen edges and collide with the ends, forming an incomplete square. One final dot slides in from the right side of the screen and pushes one of the dots to the middle, forming a 3x3 grid of dots. The middle dot zooms in to turn the screen white, going to a random live-action part, usually ending in someone performing a particular shuffle dance. After it finishes, the screen fades back to the dots, which then turn into a squishy-looking "9". The "9" then cuts out as the dots appear column by column, before the "9" appears to complete the famous logo.

Variants: There are several variants of the live action sequence (around forty were reportedly made). Here are just some of them: This is far from all the variants in existence. Reportedly, TCN-9 in Sydney had already produced forty variants at the time of the package's launch, let alone any additional idents made during the three years this package was used, such as those for special occasions like the Moomba variant
 * People walking across what looks like a clothing shop for women. One of the females standing on a huge step, starts dancing to the tune soon after and finishes the dance by looking to her right.
 * In a clothing shop, One of the people picks up a shirt and starts dancing the same way as the previous variant.
 * A woman walking in park as a man sits on a bench reading a newspaper and eating what appears to be his lunch. The woman then starts dancing in the same way as the previous variants before running off while the man takes notice of what she's doing and stands up in shock.
 * Two people fighting with what looks like a stick. The person on the left starts dancing the same way as the previous variants. The man on the right then points his stick and the man on the left reveals his face as happy.
 * A man mowing his grass before he starts dancing in the same way as the previous variants. He then looks to his right.
 * A man closing the gates at a manually operated level crossing. He then starts dancing in the same way as the previous variants and then looks to his right.
 * A starts with a person in a hairdressers room. She then starts dancing during progress and then goes back to allow her hair to be fixed again.
 * Someone preparing food before dancing in the same way as the previous variants. He then throws his ingredients on a table.
 * Someone playing golf. Just when he's about to shoot the ball, he starts dancing the same way as the previous variants. He then swings but misses the ball.
 * A man juggling with three balls as the camera zooms out. He then starts dancing while he's juggling but fails to keep juggling.
 * Australian singer John Farnham appears dressed as a king. He walks through a crowd and stops to do the dance. The announcer in this variant says: "Get the Channel 9 Moomba feeling". This variant was made in celebration of Farnham winning the award of "King of Moomba" at the Melbourne Moomba Festival (a large community festival held in the city of Melbourne, Victoria) in 1972. Presumably, this ident was exclusive to GTV-9 in Melbourne.
 * Humphrey B. Bear, Channel 9's iconic and long-standing children's' character/mascot does the shuffle in front of a real bear at a zoo.

Technique: A mix of live-action and 2D animation.

Audio: A funky trumpet tune. Before finishing the tune, a male announcer says "Get the Channel Nine feeling." The theme was written and recorded by the network's music director, Geoff Harvey

Audio Variant: There is also a variant where the trumpet tune is more of a fanfare. The announcer here explains the transmitter info.

Legacy: These idents proved quite popular as many Australians sought to replicate the dance used in the idents, known as the "Channel 9 shuffle". Newspapers even published step by step guides to performing the dance.

2nd Logo (1 March 1975-1977)


This video is from a re-airing of the ident in 2016 to mark 60 years of TV in Australia Visuals: On a dark blue background, 2 events may happen (more are known to exist, though):
 * Variant #1: The dots appear to the left in orange, follow by the "9" in the same colour to the right. The camera moves towards the dots until the middle dot is all that's left. The dot then grows arms, legs, and a face, with it being confused at first. After looking at his new features, the character gets embarrassed and turns red. The character turns back to orange and then does a little dance (The "shuffle" dance from the previous idents) before giving a weary smile. The character then reverts back to the dot and the logo zooms out.
 * Variant #2: An orange dot slides down from the top right of the screen, then ricochets into place. Several more dots appear and start bouncing into their respective places, except for a dot that is on the opposite side of the screen. The final dot then collides with the lone dot and melds with it, quickly forming the "9" and the last dot, but not before fusing with the dots and splitting from it quickly. After the logo is formed, two white lines appear and tap against each over as an orange rectangle appears around the logo. The lines then transform into the text "LIVING COLOR" in a white font similar to the "9" logo. A white border then appears around the orange border and then zooms out.
 * Variant #3: A third variant apparently involves a larger green dot with a face juggling the nine dots. A cut down version of this is seen on Channel 9's 40th anniversary promo

Trivia: The American spelling of "color" is used in this ident, instead of the British spelling of "colour".

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: The same trumpet fanfare as before, but with added vocals in the background. The first variant had a fluctuating synth sound playing over the tune, while the 2nd variant had cartoonish sound effects added.

Availability: It was seen during their 40th (1996) and 60th (2016) anniversaries.

3rd Logo (1977-1978)
Visuals: Same as the "Let Us Be The One" ABC ID for the time, but with different clips and logo order, as well as the logo being replaced with the Nine Network logo, crossfading between the number and dots.

Technique: Same as the American ABC logo at the time.

Audio: Same as ABC (America)'s 1976 ID but with different singers and lyrics.

Availability: It can be found on YouTube though, as well as during the 60th anniversary.

4th Logo (1978-1979)
Visuals: On a black background, the Channel Nine logo (seen in a blue-black circle) zooms out to the left as the words "STILL THE ONE!" slide in. We then zoom into the logomark as we see live-action pictures (covered on the bottom-left by program information). As the slideshow finishes, the Nine (golden) dots then appear by glowing in a circle. It then fades to the Nine number as the circle border glows, then switches back to the dots.

Trivia: The Still the One slogan featured here lasted as late as early 2006, when Nine Network declined to Seven Network in ratings weeks.

Technique: The zooming and glowing.

Audio: Same as ABC (America)'s 1977 ID but with different singers and lyrics.

Availability: Same as before.

Legacy: The "still the one" slogan and three-note fanfare introduced in this ident would become key parts of Nine's branding for decades to come. The slogan was used for 27 years until it was retired in 2006, despite brief disappearances, the jingle survived even the dropping of "Still the One" and was in use as late as 2017, close to 40 years after it was initially introduced.

5th Logo (1979-1980)
Visuals: Same as the ABC 1978 "We're the One!" ID but with the Channel Nine logomark switching to the dots and back to number throughout the logo

Technique: Same as the ABC logo at the time.

Audio: A synth trumpet fanfare ending with three notes (likely to represent the Still the One slogan).

Audio Variant: A different, more electronic version of the music exists.

Availability: Same as before.

6th Logo (1980-1981)
Visuals: Same as the end of the ABC 1979 "Still the One!" ID but with the Channel Nine logomark.

Technique: Same as the ABC logo at the time.

Audio: Same as the last part of the ABC ID.

Availability: Same as before.

7th Logo (1981-1982)
Visuals: We zoom across white buildings on a yellow-orange grid map of Australia in a space background. We then zoom out to see the full map to then see the words "STILL THE ONE" in a yellow golden font. The text zooms in as the Channel Nine logomark appears.

Technique: Scanimated-like animation.

Audio: An orchestrated fanfare ending with three notes (likely to represent the Still the One slogan)

Availability: Same as before.

Legacy: This was the first in a long line of similarly styled idents which would last until 1994.

8th Logo (1982-1984)
Visuals: On a space background, lines form a similar grid map of Australia to the previous one in blue. We then pan across the buildings (again) on the blue grid map in first person view. The camera then pans upwards and the words "STILL THE ONE!" appear by glowing in blue. The Channel Nine number then appears in the same way.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A fast paced, upbeat fanfare.

Availability: Same as before.

9th logo (1983-1984)


Visuals: We zoom out from a neon city background, similar in style to the previous logo, to reveal a boulevard rendered in the same style in which we see Channel 9 personalities dancing and having fun. The personalities seen include Paul Hogan (later known for Crocodile Dundee), Humphrey B. Bear, cricket commentators Richie Benaud and Tony Greig, presenter and comedian Bert Newton and journalist Ray Martin, among others. As the fanfare crescendos, we pan up and see the 9 logo, in gold and sans dots as per the previous logo, rise up from behind the city background. The logo shines.

Technique: Live action and CGI.

Audio: A re-orchestrated version of the "Come on Along!" song from ABC's idents at the time.

10th logo (1984-1987)
Visuals: A similar concept to the 8th logo, only this time done with full 3D animation and with the "Still the One" slogan floating past in 3D at the beginning as opposed to showing up at the end. The final logo is shinier and in a lighter blue than the previous logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the 8th logo, albeit slightly enhanced.

Availability: Same as the previous logos. Though, parts of this were used in a special 80s-themed ident to promote The Amazing 80s in 2013.

11th logo (1987-1988)


Visuals: We start in a CGI city before panning out of the city and over a map of Australia, where the camera turns around and enters a second CGI city facing backwards as three bars come from one of the CGI structures in the distance. The camera follows the bars as they streak past a building face, leaving the dot-less 9 logo in orange on the side of the building.

Technique: All CGI.

Audio: A bubbly synth and woodwind tune culminating in the "Still the One" jingle.

Availability: See the previous logos.

12th Logo (1988-February 1992)
Visuals: We see an updated version of the previous ident's animation. The stripes then overlap the Channel Nine logomark, already formed in gold against a glass background reflecting the skyline of whatever city the particular station was broadcasting from.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A more orchestrated version of the previous ident's music.

Availability: Although, this ID was re-aired as part of the premiere of The Amazing 90's in 2015.

13th Logo (February 1992-October 1994)
1992-1993=

Visuals: On an evening sky background, a curved glass stripe wipes in over what appears to be purple clouds, along with glass rods of different sizes. The camera then pans over the glass stripe gets bombarded by several glass rods from behind. This causes a golden picture of Australia to pixelate onto it. As the camera zooms into it, we then go thorough a small hole in it, briefly going underground before emerging out with several glass rods (some flying out, others emerging from the ground), starting with brown and then ending with the normal look from them, all under an evening sky with circling clouds. The camera then pans over to one of the skyscraper-like rods, revealing the Nine logo in translucent orange (later in gold) and a reflection of the station's serving area appears behind it. The sky then either remains or turns to night as the logo shines. The end result also shows the glass rods sections looking like windows on a skyscraper.

Variants:
 * The background reflected in the building's windows will vary depending on which city/region the station serves.
 * Sometimes, the Nine logo is replaced with that of a different station's logo if possible (like WIN).
 * Sometime in early 1993, this ident received a revision. The animation proceeds as usual, however the final logo is now in metallic gold instead of translucent orange and new background images are used which were taken at night instead of sunset and are much sharper and cleaner than before.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A deep whoosh is first heard, and then sounds of synth wipes and beeps are heard, overlayed with an upbeat trumpet theme, ending with four notes.

Audio Variant: During the first month or so of this ID's use, the theme was arranged slightly differently.

Availability: Although, this ID was re-aired as part of the premiere of The Amazing 90's in 2015.

Legacy: This ident is heavily associated with one particular incident where a special called Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos was pulled off air mid-broadcast at the demand of the station's then-owner Kerry Packer who famously made an irate phone call to the station upon seeing the special on his TV while he was at home eating dinner, ordering them to "Get that s**t off the air!" in those precise words. The clip of this ident appearing immediately after the show was pulled with a "technical difficulties" announcement delivered over it leading into a rerun of Cheers was the one of the most infamous moments in Australian television history.

14th Logo (October 1994-1997)
1994-1996=

Visuals: On an abstract CGI background of purples, reds and oranges, a swoosh appears and "hits" the middle of the screen, causing circles to disperse from the centre. As this occurs, the channel 9 logo zooms out from the foreground and settles in the centre of screen, this time in a light gold colour.

Variant:
 * From 1996, the logo was updated slightly, the animation is unchanged, though the colours have been muted somewhat.
 * Also in 1996, a variant celebrating 40 years of Australian television was used.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A triumphant fanfare, culminating in a grand, sweeping version of the "Still the One" jingle.

Availability: Per the previous logos.

15th Logo (1997-1999)
Visuals: We zoom into a line of the words "channel nine" repeating with two bars above and below as well as red- and blue-coloured flames on the left and right sides, respectively. as we zoom into a small sphere and a larger sphere appearing between the bars and over the letter "e" in "channel". The spheres rotate and the smaller one is revealed to be surrounded by a Saturn-esque ring, as we continue to zoom in through more concentric spheres before a cubic version of 9's famous dots appears, rotating throughout. We zoom through the dots to reveal the 9 logo on a red and blue background with stylized sparks emerging either side of it and the words "channel nine" both above and below it.

Variants: There are station-specific variants with the city name listed below the logo, though oddly, the Brisbane variant has "Queensland" instead of the city name below it.
 * An alternative version exists, which uses orange and aqua blue colours for the flames and background instead.
 * One variant has the URL "ninemsn.com.au" below the logo in the place of the "channel nine" text.

Technique: CGI.

Audio:
 * 1997: A dramatic, building fanfare leading into a more powerful orchestration of the previous ident's music.
 * 1998: A more string-driven piece with an electric guitar sting building up to a faster version of the previous variant's ending.

Availability: Per the previous logos.

16th Logo (1999-31 December 2000)
Visuals: We zoom through a fire red background filled with gold spheres. We zoom into one of the dots, which opens to reveal "2000" with three CGI spheres as the zeroes. We zoom through one of the zeroes as nine more spheres fly past us to form the iconic dots as the nine logo is revealed in an updated version of the previous ident's background with numerous 2000's in a horizontal line repeating in the background. The "still the one" slogan appears below.

Technique: CGI.

Variants:
 * In some airings, either the tagline "new millennium television" or the ninemsn.com.au URL replace the slogan below the logo.
 * In Adelaide, the slogan reads "spirit of south australia".

Audio: A triumphant, adventurous fanfare, leading into the "Still the One" jingle.

Availability: Per the previous logos.

17th Logo (1 January 2001-31 August 2002)
Visuals: There are several idents.
 * "News": The nine dots appear in the middle of the screen before more dots appear spreading horizontally across the screen, then vertically in strands, eventually filling the screen with strands of dots animating in a Matrix-esque manner and forming a city landscape, before a swoosh appears, revealing the 9 logo on the bottom right of the screen with a yellow rectangle on the left and the "still the one" slogan on the right as well as a white rectangle. A world map appears above the logo along with pulsating circles in a polar field shape.


 * "Lifestyle:" We see a silhouette of a woman dancing with Chinese fans through a kaleidoscope effect. Eventually, two rectangles appear and split apart to reveal the 9 logo.


 * "Urban:" A gold-clad woman is shown through various kaleidoscope effects. The 9 dots then appear and move to the side as the rest of the logo and the slogan appears. As the centre of the background turns white at the end, the logo and the text turn black.


 * "Sport:" The nine dots briefly flash before cutting to various shots of people playing sports, ending with the 9 logo on a black background with a faint white light below.


 * "Entertainment:" We see various angles of a woman dancing with a shining shroud against a background of CGI light streaks. The logo animates in in the same manner as in "Urban".

Trivia: These idents, along with the accompanying on-air design package, were created by Munich-based design agency, Velvet mediendesign.

Variant: Sometimes the ninemsn URL will appear in place of the slogan.

Technique: CGI, with live action in some cases.

Audio: Each ident has its own musical score; all idents (except Sport) end with the iconic "still the one" jingle.
 * "News": A rousing string orchestration with various computer sounds related to the animation.
 * "Lifestyle:" A contemporary beat.
 * "Urban:" A jungle-type breakbeat.
 * Sport: A short techno piece.
 * Entertainment: A slow, ethereal piece.

Availability: See the previous logo. "News" was the main ident and is the easiest to find. The "Lifestyle" ID has cropped up on YouTube, though the others are a different story. WIN variants of "Urban", "Sport" and "Entertainment" have survived on YouTube in 4:3 recordings, however their original Nine-branded counterparts are much more difficult to find, let alone any copy at all in widescreen.

18th Logo (1 September 2002-2004)
Visuals: We fly around inside the 9 before flying out of the side towards one of the nine dots. We then zoom out rapidly to reveal the 9 logo on a white background with the ninemsn URL below.

Trivia: This package and the next were designed by Graham Cousens, at the time an in-house designer at Nine.

Variants:
 * The ident would be a different colour every day of the week: Dark Blue (Monday), Purple (Tuesday), (Wednesday), Light Blue (Thursday), Green (Friday),  (Saturday), and  (Sunday).
 * Several themed idents for select programmes were produced using this design.
 * Sometimes, there would be no URL below. In other instances, the "still the one" slogan appears instead.
 * When NWS-9 marked its 45th anniversary, the ident would end with the 9 logo to the right and the words "Still The One" in large 3D letters to the left. "Celebrating 45 years" would appear above in a fancy script font and "1st in South Australia" would appear below.

Technique: CGI animation using Alias Wavefront Maya.

Audio: A calm beat leading into a modern version of the "still the one" jingle.

19th Logo (2004-29 January 2006)
Visuals: An updated version of the previous IDs. We see the inside of the nine logo again, but this time, the words "STILL", "THE", and "ONE" appear one by one in white as we transition to different "walls" in the logo before flipping out to the nine logo appearing on a white background.

Variant: On NWS-9 in Adelaide, "ADELAIDE'S NUMBER 1" fades in below the logo as the animation finishes.

Technique: CGI animation using Alias Maya.

Audio: A redone version of the previous theme.

Availability: Per the previous logos.

Legacy: These would be the last IDs to use the "Still the One" slogan after 27 years. It would be used one final time in a 2006 promo for the rebrand in which the original "Still The One" song was performed by Nine personalities. They would also be the last to feature the original 9 logo after 44 years. The long standing jingle would also be retired, though it would return without the slogan with the 2009 "Welcome Home" package.

20th Logo (30 January 2006-14 January 2007)
Visuals: On a warehouse-like background, we see two panels at a diagonal angle facing inwards and the new 9 logo, a white 9 (an updated version of the original logo's 9) in a blue box, in the middle.

Variants: Technique: 2D computer animation by BDA Creative.
 * Initially, a cloud background was used instead of the "warehouse".
 * One variant, made to mark 50 years of Australian television has a clip of Nine's founding boss, Bruce Gyngell, saying "Good Evening and Welcome to Television" reflected on the panels. This clip was the first moment of Australian Television in 1956.

Audio: A contemporary beat.

Legacy: This rebrand was received very poorly due to its abandonment of the 9 dots and the apparent cheapness of its associated on-air graphics, which were said to resemble a PowerPoint presentation.

21st Logo (15 January 2007-14 January 2008)


Visuals: We see a number of Channel 9 personalities pan past the frame, some of them interacting with the 9 logo, taking it away, putting it back or moving it. As this happens, the 9 logo occasionally rotates in a cubic fashion.

Later Variant: Beginning in May 2007, the nine dots appears on opposite sides of the box, alternating with the 9 numeral.

Technique: CGI and live action. A generic version of this ident only uses CGI.

Audio: An intense score ending with a four-note jingle, which varies according to each variant.

22nd Logo (15 January 2008-31 January 2009)
Visuals: On a sky background, we see a translucent rendering of the new slogan, "we heart (the heart being an actual heart symbol) TV" as a series of CGI discs, representing the nine dots, fly around it. The slogan rotates and turns into the 9 from the previous logo as the dots settle into place next to it to form an updated version of the classic 9 logo.

Variants: A long version of the ident exists, in which various shots of the flying dots are seen before cutting to the slogan.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The new network song, a modified cover of "Smile" by The Supernaturals.

Legacy: This ident marks the full return of the famous 9 dots, 2 years after their apparent retirement, and a year after they were used as a secondary element of the "rotating cube".

23rd Logo (1 February-26 September 2009)
Visuals: We see a green dot zoom out and explode into many dots. This leads to a cascade of other dot "explosions". The explosions rotate, changing colour with each turn from greens and yellows to pinks and purples to blues and whites. Finally, we see nine of the dots rotate in to fill about half the frame. The word "Choose" appears in one of the dots, next to which the Nine logo appears.

Variants:
 * There are two short variants, one with only the pink section leading into the end of the ident and one with only the green portion leading into the end of the ident.
 * For Adelaide and Perth, the nine dots are removed, due to affiliation disagreements of WIN ownership in mid-2007.
 * Sometimes, some of Channel 9 personalities appear in every ident, for example Charlie Sheen from Two and a Half Men and Shelley Craft from Australia's Funniest Home Videos and Domestic Blitz.

Technique: A mix 2D and CGI. Live-action for the celebrity idents.

Audio: An upbeat tune with male singers vocalising throughout then singing what sounds like "smile" (similar to The Supernaturals' song from the previous ident) at the end.

Legacy: Given the short lifespan and apparent cheapness of these idents, it's possible they were a placeholder for the next ident.

24th Logo (27 September 2009-14 April 2012)
Visuals: We see a blue structure from various angles, as streaks of light pass through the logo. We pan through one of the walls to reveal that the structure is actually the Nine logo. We then see the logo from various close-up angles before cutting to the front as the logo zooms into place and the new slogan, "Welcome Home", writes itself in in a cursive font.

Technique: CGI animation using Autodesk Maya.

Audio: A grand, rising orchestration leading into the classic "Still the One" jingle.

Legacy: This ident marks the return of the classic Nine jingle, as well as pays homage to the 3D styling of the 2002 idents.

25th Logo (15 April 2012-23 December 2017)


Visuals: We see various shots of a "swoosh" passing the frame in various colours, sometimes weaving around spheres in the same colour as the swoosh and the background. The colours are as follows: blue,, green, purple, , green. Eventually we cut to a shot of the swoosh moving up the left side of the frame as the Nine logo appears on the right with "Welcome Home" below it. As this happens, the colour changes three more times from purple to to blue.

Technique: CGI animation using Autodesk Maya.

Audio: An upbeat tune with vocals, leading into the "Still the One" jingle.

Availability: While elements of this branding are still in use, albeit in a slightly updated form, the ident itself is no longer used.

Legacy: This is Nine's final regular ident to date. As of 2017, only holiday-themed idents are used as well as some made for special occasions and significant events (such as the COVID-19 pandemic).