Seven West Media is seeing advertising revenue lift from the depth of the economic fallout from the pandemic.
CEO James Warburton says the market started improving from the start of the new financial year.
“Obviously it's very short and volatile and very difficult to guide on revenue at the moment,” he told analysts in a briefing following Seven West.
“We think the market is set to improve and probably to improve quite quickly.
“But again, a lot depends on border reopenings. And I think that's sort of the key area that we need to look at going forward.”
Seven West Media, in the annual results announcement, says the advertising market remains “volatile and unpredictable” in the September quarter.
However, the rate of decline has slowed. The advertising market was down 40.8% in the June quarter. But in July the free-to-air television market fell 15.8% compared to the same month last year.
For Seven West, revenue fell 33% in the June quarter. Over the year, group revenue fell 14% to $1.23 billion.
Warburton says clients in Melbourne, hit by another round of lockdowns, are proving more resilient this time round.
“There's probably less of a shock in terms of planning through to the end of the year,” he says.
For Warburton he wants to use a refreshed content line-up to capture stronger audience/revenue share.
“We continue to focus on transforming our business,” he says.
“Our objective is to establish a lean, efficient operating cost base to deliver further savings in the 2021 financial year and I am confident we will deliver our strategy and ambitions for the future.
“We have significant operating leverage with our lower cost base to provide greater upside on market recovery and drive significant value for our shareholders.”
Seven West has taken out $170 million of gross costs, including the renegotiation of the AFL broadcast agreement at a lower level.
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