“It was a conscious decision to actually look after our people”

At its annual AGM yesterday Nine noted the advertising market has improved significantly since the end of September and its December quarter is now expected to show growth in Metro FTA advertising revenue of around 15%.

CEO Hugh Marks said despite a challenging year, the company had weathered the storm, with some areas of the business fairing better than others.

Chairman Peter Costello acknowledged “a couple of minor companies like Pedestrian TV inside the group got JobKeeper” but was keen to note otherwise the company did not.

“Nine did not get JobKeeper, point one. Point two, it did not lay people off in response to this downturn. And point three, we didn’t cut wages. Many of our competitors got JobKeeper, many of them cut wages, and a lot of them put a lot of people off,” he said.

“The fact that we were able to do that was a result of the fact the we’ve diversified the company, with many streams, including Subscription streams of revenue.

“I think that’s a pretty big achievement to have come through that whole thing without moving any of those three levers. It was a conscious decision, too. We could have cut wages. It was a conscious decision to actually look after our people during this downturn. I think that should be recognised. It wasn’t the government that looked after our people, because we didn’t get JobKeeper.”

He added, “It’s good for them, and we’re very pleased we do it for them. But I think it’s very good for morale.”

Nine was able to save jobs but directed some staff to reduce leave balances.

Nine yesterday confirmed it will also aim to reduce the cost base of its broadcast and publishing assets by around $230m.

“We now have a detailed blue-print to reach this target by 2024. Already, we have initiatives in place that will deliver around 80% of this cost target,” said Hugh Marks.

Some savings are expected to be made in the move from Willoughby to North Sydney, with increased automation. This week Nine confirmed around a dozen roles have been made redundant in the promo team.