Nine Entertainment says the metro free-to-air television market remains challenging.
September quarter revenue was down about 12%.
"While September showed some improvement on the rate of decline in July and August, Nine has seen no discernible improvement into the December quarter," CEO Mike Sneesby told the company's AGM.
SMI (Standard Media Index) numbers shows television ad spend in September, as measured by media agency booking, down 8.3% but digital up 20%.
9Now’s revenues and the BVOD market continued to grow in the low-mid teens on a percentage basis.
"Nine is continuing to focus on the costs and efficiency of the Group’s Total Television business," he says.
"We are now expecting total TV costs to be slightly down in FY24 on pcp, excluding the NRL step-up and the cost of additional cricket.
"Ongoing cost initiatives across Total Television are expected to enable us to more than absorb inflationary costs, as well as our material investment in technology, including cyber security."
Nine Radio’s September quarter advertising revenues fell by around 3%, supported by strong growth in digital revenues, and with an increasing contribution from live audio streaming.
"Nine remains confident that the diversification and balance of its earnings profile, across growth, subscription and advertising-based businesses will ensure ongoing, strong profit and margin performance, with more than half of Nine’s revenues now coming from outside traditional advertising," says Sneesby.
A slide from the AGM presentation:
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