Southern Cross revenue down, but in profit.

Regional TV broadcaster Southern Cross Media Group has announced its latest financial results.

The company posted an 18% drop in revenue to $540.15 million for the year to June but still managed to report a profit of $35.8m.

The split of revenue across the year was audio $371m and television $170m. Revenue for both was down 18.2% while PodcastOne revenues grew from $2.3m to $4.6m YOY, growth of 96%.

Southern Cross Austereo CEO Grant Blackley said: “Television remains an important part of our business, delivering EBITDA of $23.9M in FY2020. Under the streamlined operating structure of our Television unit, SCA leverages its core expertise in local and national sales where we maintained a market-leading power ratio – measuring conversion of ratings to revenue – of 1.09 in the four east coast aggregated markets.

“Strategic decisions taken in recent years will enable the business to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with a lean and efficient operating model focused on recovering the earnings lost in the year just ended. We will continue to build the strength of our radio network by investing in key timeslots and markets. At the same time, we will grow our digital audio ecosystem with premium content, platforms and products attractive to our listeners and advertisers.”

Meanwhile Peter Bush has stepped down as Chairman and will retire as a director on 30 October, to be replaced by Rob Murray, currently a Non Executive Director.

Source: Mediaweek