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Narratv takes the stage with stories that inspire
- Freia.Kirkaldy
- Sep 12
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 18
Behind the scenes with Alexandra Hazlehurst, Head of Brand Solutions, as she unveils Foxtel Group’s new branded storytelling division at our 2026 Upfront
Alexandra Hazlehurst knows the power of a good story. From newsrooms in New Zealand to morning breakfast television in the UK and red-carpet coverage in Canada, her career has been built by her drive to understand what makes audiences connect with storytelling.
Now, as Foxtel Group’s Head of Brand Solutions, Alexandra stepped into the spotlight at the 2026 Foxtel Media Upfront to unveil Narratv, our new branded storytelling division, purpose-built to create compelling content that connects with audiences.
Delivering seamless integrations like our partnership with Smeg for The Great Australian Bake Off and co-created series such as Luxury Escapes, Narratv is dedicated to helping our partners tell their brand’s story with the same creativity and craftmanship as our Originals.
“Audiences will always want to be engaged, entertained and emotionally invested – and that’s what Foxtel Group does so well across sport and entertainment,” Alexandra explains. “Narratv is a premium extension of what we do best."
A career built by storytelling
Born in New Zealand, Alexandra began her career as a journalist, learning to tell a two-minute story with pace and clarity. A move to London saw her working in production during a turbulent times – Brexit, the rise of ISIS – sharpening her ability to craft compelling content under pressure.
“Working at ITV’s This Morning taught me to think critically about content in a crowded market,” Alexandra says. “My editor would say: would you watch it? Only pitch me an idea if it’s something you would watch.
“That question has been ingrained in me ever since.”
And then came what she calls the “Super Bowl” of British morning television.
“When the first photos of Harry and Meghan emerged, my boss asked me to find the best showbiz correspondent in Toronto in three hours. That call eventually led me to an offer to move to Canada to produce daytime talk television.
“It was there that I became obsessed with brand integration. I went on a shoot funded by Michael Hill Jeweller, where they’d paid for an engagement reveal that was compelling content in its own right – and that’s when I realised the real power of marrying brand and story.”
That insight took her to Entertainment Tonight in Toronto, where she became Head of Integration, leading a team of producers to create brand-led entertainment content through a show biz lens, from red carpet coverage to luxury travel.
Returning down under in 2021, she joined Foxtel Group as our Group Brand Solutions Manager – Local Productions, driving commercial strategy for our unscripted productions and beginning to test the branded storytelling approach that would evolve into Narratv.
“With Narratv we have a unique offering in the Australian market,” Alexandra explains. “We manage the journey from concept to delivery. We don’t just place content; we develop and produce it with the same rigour as our Originals. That’s how we ensure it belongs on the Foxtel Group stage.
“The questions I always ask are: how deep can we go in the story, how entertaining can it be, and how widely can we amplify it?”
Promoted to Head of Brand Solutions in 2024, Alexandra is proud of the growing portfolio of premium content we’ve developed which proves just how powerful branded storytelling can be, and excited to scale that approach through Narratv.
“To now have a dedicated division for branded storytelling shows how Foxtel Group listens to momentum, building where we see growth and creating a business offering around it.”
How Narratv delivers impact for audiences and brands
Narratv offers brands two distinct pathways to partner with Foxtel Group to tell their brand’s values, mission, and message in ways that audiences want to watch: through deep integrations into existing formats, or by co-creating new formats from the ground up.
“Our partnership with Smeg for The Great Australian Bake Off is in its third year, and it’s one of our most successful,” Alexandra explains.
“If you turn on an episode of The Great Australian Bake Off, you’ll see the entire set built by Smeg – from ovens and kettles to mixers on the bench.
"It’s a fully integrated, contextually aligned partnership, amplified not only in-show but across e-commerce, social media and in-store at Harvey Norman.
“The brand partnership extends far beyond the screen – and that’s the multi-layered approach Narratv is built to deliver.
“And because The Great Australian Bake Off airs in more than 15 countries, Smeg’s brand awareness isn’t just growing in Australia – it’s reaching audiences in Canada, New Zealand, Italy, the UK and beyond.”
“On the other side, we have Luxury Escapes which is now in its third season, with new episodes airing each Thursday on Foxtel and BINGE. Rather than integrating the brand into an existing format, we partnered with Luxury Escapes to co-create a new long-form travel series fronted by some of Australia’s most premium talent,” she explains.
The series showcases some of the best holiday hotspots across Australia and the world, with luxurious hotels and incredible places to eat, drink, and explore.
It’s the perfect match for the Luxury Escapes brand, which was founded in Melbourne in 2013 and has grown into one of the world’s fastest-growing travel companies with a mission to offer the world’s most amazing travel experiences at great prices.
“The first two seasons of Luxury Escapes have had over 1.2 million hours viewed to date with continued season-on-season audience growth,” Alexandra says. “The amplification across Foxtel Group is enormous – not just on screen but threaded through publicity, marketing and promo airtime.
We even give back to Foxtel Rewards customers by offering the chance to win a holiday to each destination every week.
“It’s storytelling that drives results. We’ve seen impact not just from an audience perspective, but from a brand perspective as well.”
At our 2026 Upfront, Alexandra was joined on stage to launch Narratv alongside one of the show’s hosts, Cameron Daddo, and Eugene Loane, Luxury Escape’s Head of Social Engagement.
It was a moment that underscored how far Narratv has come.
Showcasing Narratv at the 2026 Upfront
“Upfronts are one of the biggest opportunities for any entertainment company to showcase their business, rights and strategy, and for advertisers to tap into opportunities that fit,” Alexandra says. “Being part of it makes you proud – hearing what every team is doing, how they’re innovating, commissioning, building for a global stage. You realise how talented we are as a group and how diverse our offering is.
“Because we’re a subscription service, anything we put to air must be worthy of prime time. We treat branded entertainment the same way we treat our Originals-commissioned, promoted and publicised at the highest standard.
“Narratv isn’t for brands who want to be on air next week. It’s for partners ready to invest in a three-to-nine-month journey to co-develop a format that works for both our audiences and their brand. We build bespoke content and returning formats that audiences love and that deliver for brands year after year.
“We are speaking to brands across pretty much every category who want to bring their story to life – from short-form content to 10-episode series.
"Because we manage every stage of the content journey, we’ve got brands at different points along the roadmap, and we’re really excited to explore new spaces like home, finance and sport.
"There’s huge potential to create engaging, emotive storytelling across BINGE, Kayo Sports, and Foxtel.”
Alexandra credits her career growth to an obsession with storytelling, a determination to learn every aspect of the business, and a willingness to ask for opportunities.
“I’m obsessed with content and entertainment,” she says. “What Foxtel Group does is the biggest team sport out there – bringing together platforms, departments and content offerings. I want to know how the pieces fit together, and I like to learn from people across the business.
“The reason I’ve transitioned laterally in my career is simply by asking to be in rooms where I can learn – legal, marketing, strategy, PR, sales, commissioning,” Alexandra explains.
“I’ve never stopped learning, and I stay curious about every part of the business. You never know when something you picked up years ago will come back around and add value.”
Narratv’s debut on the Upfront stage marks more than just the launch of a division – it signals how Foxtel Group is evolving branded entertainment for a new era.
For Alexandra, it’s also a personal milestone: the culmination of a career spent following stories across continents and turning that experience into a vision for what branded content can be.
“Your career is not linear,” she says. “Sometimes you go up, sometimes sideways, sometimes you slide back down, but every move takes you somewhere."
“Every step is part of your story, and those steps often come back years later in unexpected ways.”
Read more about Narratv, our new brand-funded storytelling division.
