Seven West Media reports continuing challenging advertising conditions but says it is "slightly" ahead of the market in the September quarter.
In a trading update at the media group's AGM, Seven says the September quarter is in line with the previous update given at full year results in August.
"Seven was slightly ahead of the market, which was down 8% during the period," says CEO James Warburton.
"Our audience performance is driving our revenue share growth. For the first quarter Seven had a 42.2% share of the total TV market, which was a record for a non-Olympics quarter.
"We continue to target a 40% plus revenue share for FY24.
"For the second quarter, advertising market conditions are similar to the first quarter, although our forward bookings for October-December indicate a slight moderation in the market decline."
Seven has identified $60 million in cost initiatives that will be executed over the remainder of the current financial year and into the next.
The company is targeting $25 million in the year to June 2024, which will reduce costs$1.23 billion-$1.24 billion.
Warburton says this means that cost growth from 2020 to 2024 (excluding Prime) has been held to 1.5% a year.
"Seven remains the undisputed national total television leader," he says.
"Every month, our television and digital business alone reaches 17.5 million Australians. Our 7plus platform now has 13.5 million verified users, and more than 10 million were active during FY23.
"No one can match our audience reach of 91% across television and premium long-form digital video and our other digital assets.
"Our new digital sports rights for both the AFL and Cricket are coming next year and will be the biggest change in sports rights streaming this country has ever seen.
"They will generate meaningful growth in our digital earnings. Cost discipline continues to be an absolute focus across our business."
A slide from the AGM presentation:
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