Nine’s net profit has soared 55% after tax, hitting $117m, which it is attributes to a strong slate of shows.
The business also posted a 9% jump in revenue to $720m and EBITDA, which represents earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and is a key measure for analysts and shareholders, increased 62% to $182m in its half yearly results for the six months ended 31 December 2017.
Results were partly boosted by favourable items after tax including the profit from the sale of Nine’s Willoughby site in Sydney.
“This was a strong half for Nine, across our entire business,” said CEO Hugh Marks, adding its focus on younger demographics had paid off and was driving ad revenue.
“Positive free-to-air TV ratings momentum combined with our focus on the 25 to 52-year old demographics is translating to improving revenue share.
“In digital, 9Now is experiencing strong revenue growth and our digital publishing business has strong growth in premium revenues in line with our future strategy.”
Nine said Australian Ninja Warrior was a “breakout performance” for the network and credited the “enduring dominance” of The Block for driving ratings growth.
Nine’s refocused digital publishing business delivered 7% growth in revenue, lifting to $84m, driven by its video on demand platform 9Now, Pedestrian TV and CarAdvice. The growth offset declining revenue in the traditional display category.
9Now boasted a registered user base of around 5m, with long form streams increasing by 80% in the six months.
Stan, which is a three-year-old joint venture between Nine and Fairfax, is set to break even this year and recorded active subscribers of 930,000 - up 33%. It posted a revenue growth of 83% and a cost increase of 29% which Nine says reflects the “leverage of this business”.
Looking ahead, Nine said there is positive monentum in the TV industry and expects more growth as new shows, like Australian Ninja Warrior, mature.
Nine noted that while its revenue share is expected to grow in the second half of this fiscal year, major events on a “competing network will limit this potential”, including the Winter Olympics in South Korea and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Seven Network.
Nine declared there is a 5.0% fully franked interim dividend.
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