Nine's chief sees growth ahead in publishing despite cost cuts
Nine Entertainment's CEO expects new bargaining laws and AI licensing deals to boost publishing revenue, even as the Australian media group cuts costs and jobs at some of its newsrooms.
The chief executive of Australian media company Nine Entertainment, Matt Stanton, has expressed confidence about the future of the publishing business, pointing to newly passed legislation designed to compel large technology platforms to pay for the use of news content.
Australia's parliament last week approved an updated media bargaining framework that allows levies to be imposed on global platforms such as Google and Meta if they fail to reach agreements with domestic publishers over the use of journalism. Stanton told analysts he expects contributions from these platforms to be broadly similar to those under the previous arrangement struck in 2021.
AI partnerships and cost reductions
Stanton also said the company has a solid pipeline of upcoming artificial intelligence deals, following a recent agreement granting Microsoft's Copilot access to Nine's content.
This optimistic tone comes despite the company's plan to cut more than $160m in costs over three years. Nine recently announced redundancies at the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age after both metropolitan titles were hurt by a prolonged weak advertising market. Its business-focused masthead, the Australian Financial Review, has avoided the cuts and continues to generate solid revenue.
Annual financial results
According to results released Wednesday for the year ending 30 June, Nine's publishing revenue remained largely flat, while its streaming and broadcast division saw a slight decline despite a record performance from its streaming service, Stan. The company's television network continues to be affected by weak advertising demand.
Stanton said Nine is prioritising “growth assets,” including its recently acquired digital outdoor advertising company QMS, while reducing reliance on “structurally challenged and smaller assets.” Overall, Nine reported a full-year net profit of $142m from continuing operations.
