Nine Entertainment’s April free-to-air television revenue is down 29.8% compared to the same month last year, the media company told a Macquarie Bank conference.
The suspension of the NRL season accounted for about nine percentage points. Nine had estimated savings of $130 million if the season remained closed but that number will be lower if a limited season goes ahead as planned.
In a trading update today, the media group says May television ad revenue is looking like being even lower than April.
Nine, like the rest of the media industry, is seeing rapid change in the advertising market from the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis. Nine in March withdrew its profit guidance because of uncertainty.
At the same time, the company is reporting strong audience growth across its platforms, including core News and Current Affairs -- Nine News (+30%), A Current Affair (+13%) and the Today Show (+26%) -- versus levels recorded in late February, early March, as well as across Nine’s digital mastheads.
And Nine is doing well with its share of revenue. In the March quarter, Nine‘s revenue share was 43.9%, up 3.1 percentage points, according to the Macquarie presentation.
Nine says linear television is now less than half the company's revenue.
The March quarter radio market was down 12.4% but costs were shaved by 6%.
Subscription revenue is playing a greater role. Overall, 70% of the company's revenue comes from advertising, down from 98% in 2017.
Nine says digital subscription revenue growth is 13% so far this financial year.
There's still pressure on print circulation and advertising revenues but metro media costs are down 7%.
Nine has made significant progress on cost savings, running at almost $290 million, as this slide from the Macquarie presentation shows:
STAN
Nine's streaming media platform reported 21% growth in viewing per subscriber in the three months to April.
Stan's annual run rate for May is around $250 million.
Consumption:
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