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TV now 54% of Nine’s revenue

New-look Nine releases half-yearly results, its first since the merger wth Fairfax assets.

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Broadcasting now represents 54% of Nine’s revenue. A year ago the figure was 86%.

But the number is attributed more to the merger of Nine and Fairfax assets, than a monumental drop in television performance.

Nine CEO Hugh Marks today released half yearly figures which include a statutory profit down 1 per cent to $172 million in the six months to December.

On a pro-forma basis, net profit was up 5 per cent to $126 million in the six months to December 31, EBITDA lifted 6 per cent to $252 million, while revenue slipped 3 per cent to $1.2 billion. Pro-forma presents the financial results as if Nine and Fairfax had been combined in the comparable period in the previous year.

Television revenue was down 11% to $563.5m.

In a note to staff Hugh Marks said that in a challenging advertising market revenue has remained stable and the company has lifted profitability.

“The merger has fundamentally changed our revenue profile. A year ago, in our half-yearly results, 86% of Nine’s revenue came from broadcasting. Today that figure is 54%. Why is that important? Not because broadcast won’t continue to be the great business it is today, but because we’ve invested in a broader business that as a whole will grow. Using the breadth and reach of broadcast to help grow our other businesses. Investing for the future in the content mix that will retain our fundamental connection with audiences. Enhancing the digital profile of our business for the future,” he wrote.

Amongst the television highlights he noted:

  • In our television business we have achieved a 39.3% share of revenue for the half, a fantastic result for both the content and sales teams, especially absent the cricket.
  • 9Now has achieved 50% revenue growth and continues to be a dominant force in the Australian broadcast video on demand (BVOD) space with a 47.5% market share.
  • Driven by new Australian content and strong summer programming, Stan has reached an important milestone of about 1.5 million active subscribers and we expect it to be profitable from Q4 of FY19.

Stan, now fully owned by Nine, is now at 1.5m subscribers.

Other recent highlights Marks noted were “the fantastic coverage by Wide World of Sports of the 2019 Australian Open; the stellar ratings for Married at First Sight, which has captured the national water cooler conversation” and digital subscriber uptakes by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

But Nine is also looking to sell off assets including Australian Community Media, Stuff NZ and Events.

“Change is a constant in the media business, but as you can see from both our audience and financial results, the merger is already paying dividends and the fundamentals of our business are not only strong but creative, innovative and world class,” he said.

Source: afr.com.au

6 Responses

  1. There is very little television that is made in Australia that is sold overseas and that mainly consists of co-productions anyway (although there have been some format sales like MKR). The cost of buying overseas content has always been a tiny fraction of what it costs to make something here. These days all the networks are most interested in news (which is massively expensive) and reality, neither of which have any sales potential on the “world market”.

    1. Thx, Appreciate that. I thought overseas would reciprocate buying our, The chase, neighbours, home and away, little big shots, the voice ,the Irwins, etc. When places like New York have over 180 channels you would think we could get air time and dollars.

      1. Yes Irwins, Neighbours, Home & Away from your list sell internationally. I can’t confirm the others you mention, I suspect they air somewhere. Don’t forget streaming services all over the world have far more broadcast programming than originals, and we are seeing shows that failed locally get traction overseas (ie. Zumbo’s Just Desserts). Most dramas can’t go into production without international broadcasters on board due to the sheer expense.

      2. Home and Away and Neighbours are made for the UK market and wouldn’t remain on air without it. The US watches very little overseas TV, they tend to remake successful foreign shows. Miss Fisher, Doctor Blake and Doctor Doctor also sell overseas. Overseas TV distribution was worth $16m a year. Australian TV used to have lot of UK and US shows because they were cheap and an easy way to make billions. With a small population local TV was expensive, which is why there is a local drama points system that encourages premium dramas as part of the licence conditions.

  2. It is hard to compare any revenue between networks because they are all so different.
    What I would be interested in ,is given a revenue of $709M. What amount of that, comes from our sale of local programs to overseas , compared to the obvious huge cost, of buying overseas content for our screens. In other words, are we doing enough locally, for the world market ?

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