TVNZ reports $16.7m loss in six months

Friday, 1 March 2024

Following news that Newshub is set to close, TVNZ’s latest financial update shows it is facing pressure, too.
In the six months to December, it lost $16.7m.
Its chief executive says the challenge is to grow digital revenues at a faster pace than TV revenues are declining.

Days after news that Warner Bros Discovery plans to close Newshub due to financial problems in the New Zealand arm of the business, TVNZ has reported a six-month loss of $16.7 million.

That included an impairment of $12.2m.

TVNZ said it reflected a declining local advertising market.

Advertising revenue fell from $171.3m in the six months to December 2022 to $146.8m in the six months to December 2023.

TVNZ said total revenue of $155.9m represented a 13.5% decrease from last year.

The NZ First leader said it was a “disaster” for New Zealand’s democracy.

“A challenging trading environment has seen a significant reduction in television advertising revenue, while digital revenue continues to increase year-on-year.“

Expenses were $10.7m lower, which TVNZ said was primarily due to a reduction in spending on content and savings in marketing.

“Digital generates nearly a quarter of TVNZ’s advertising revenue, and this percentage is increasing year-on-year. The challenge we’re facing into is growing these digital revenues at a faster pace than TV revenues are declining. TVNZ is building a future beyond broadcast television and today’s results show the need for us make this transition faster,” said chief executive Jodi O’Donnell.

She said TVNZ’s audience reach would help the business make this shift.

“We expect the challenging economic conditions we faced in the first half of the financial year to continue into the second half of the year. We will need to make further changes to our cost base to navigate through this uncertainty.

“While we hope to see some improvement in the advertising sector in late 2024, we anticipate market disruption from global streaming services and social media platforms to continue, and this means standing still is not an option. Ultimately, we need to get our organisation into the right shape and the right size to compete in a digital world,” she said.