MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Sneesby had to go: top Nine investor

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Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 13 & 16 : 13-Sep-24

Nine Entertainment Company has advised that CEO Mike Sneesby will step down at the end of September, after more than three years in the role. Nine’s chief finance and strategy officer Matt Stanton will become acting CEO until the media company appoints a permanent replacement. Reece Birtles from institutional investor Martin Currie says Sneesby’s departure was not unexpected, given the challenges that Nine is facing; they include revenue growth, cultural issues and concerns about its Domain property listings business. Nine’s market capitalisation has fallen below $2bn, compared with more than $5bn when Sneesby became CEO in April 2021.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MARTIN CURRIE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED

Voluntary news media recycling scheme receives official accreditation

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Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 6 : 28-Aug-24

Australia’s news media industry has been operating a voluntary recycling scheme for printed newspapers for more than 30 years. The success of the scheme resulted in just 0.2 per cent of all printed news­papers going to landfill in 2023. It is administered by ThinkNewsBrands, whose CEO Vanessa Lyons has welcomed the federal government’s decision to official accredit the ‘product stewardship’ scheme. Media industry executives have emphasised the importance of sustainability for the sector.

CORPORATES
THINKNEWSBRANDS

Matildas, Socceroos to remain on Network 10 for next five years

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Original article by Vince Rugari, Calum Jaspan
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 28-Aug-24

Ten Network president Beverley McGarvey says soccer fans will still be able to enjoy many matches featuring the Socceroos and the Matildas on free-to-air TV under a new five-year broadcasting rights deal with Football Australia. The new rights deal includes the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, as well as the Socceroos’ qualifiers for the 2026 Men’s World Cup; some matches will be shown exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service. SBS holds the local broadcasting rights for the 2026 Men’s World Cup.

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TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, PARAMOUNT GLOBAL, PARAMOUNT+, FOOTBALL AUSTRALIA

Nine swings the axe with 85 staff let go

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

A spokesman for Nine Entertainment has indicated that 85 employees of its publishing division will leave the media company in coming months after successfully applying for voluntary redundancy packages. They primarily comprise journalists and production staff at Nine’s newspaper mastheads, and include Ben Potter, Aaron Patrick and Michael Pelly from the flagship Australian Financial Review. Nine had previously announced plans to cut 200 positions across its operations, including up to 90 at its publishing arm; CEO Mike Sneesby attributed the move to the difficult advertising market and Meta’s decision to withdraw from revenue-sharing deals with news publishers.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Foxtel, NRL, AFL face US privacy suit

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 21-Aug-24

Pay-TV group Foxtel has been accused of breaching the US Video Privacy Protection Act by using Meta’s tracking pixel to send targeted advertising to people outside of Australia who subscribe to its streaming video services. The AFL and the NRL have also been named as defendents in two separate class actions, which are being heard by the US District Court of California. The class actions centre on allegations that the Watch AFL and Watch NRL websites use the tracking pixels to send data to Facebook about the content the user is watching, even if they are not logged into the social media site.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES

Readership of magazines is up from a year ago with over 11.5 million Australians now reading print magazines

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to June 2024 shows that more than 11.5 million Australians aged 14+ (51.6%) now read print magazines, up 0.5 per cent on a year ago. This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (66.6%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app. Print readership increased for seven magazine categories compared to a year ago. The increases in readership were widespread, with seven magazine categories increasing their readership – including five of the top 10 categories with readership of at least 500,000. The most widely read magazine category continues to be Food & Entertainment Magazines, with a massive readership of 7,396,000 (up 0.3 per cent on a year ago, and reaching a third of the population). Better Homes & Gardens is still Australia’s most widely read paid magazine, with print readership of 1,793,000, ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1.2 million. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 64,708 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to June 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

News publishing deeply engrained in Australians’ lives with 21.7m readers and nine in ten engaged by up to four different titles every month

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 20-Aug-24

Total News Publishing readership figures from Roy Morgan show that news now reaches 21.7 million Australians aged 14+ each month, with strong readership across every profile group. The Roy Morgan data shows the depth and breadth of engagement Australians are having with news, with 67 million interactions per week. General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population, but there is high readership across other categories, including property, sport and travel. Some 64% of Australians read three or more content categories each month, while 91% read up to four titles every month. The data also shows that high net worth Australians are 28% more likely to read the news than the average Australian. It also shows that paying news readers are 24% more likely than the general population to be homeowners, more likely to experiment with new products and services, and 25% more likely to be big spenders.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

TV ad revenue tanks but broadcast video on demand offers hope

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 14-Aug-24

Data from ThinkTV shows that the combined advertising revenue of Australia’s commercial free-to-air broadcasters fell by 8.1 per cent in 2023-24, to $3.3bn. The figures cover metropolitan and regional free-to-air networks, plus their broadcast video-on-demand services; advertising-supported public broadcaster SBS is not included. The advertising revenue of metro and regional FTA networks fell by 12 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively. However, this was partially offset by a 12.7 per cent increase in BVOD ad revenue.

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THINK TV

Four Corners investigation alleges culture of fear, misogyny, bullying at Seven Network

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Former Seven Network regional reporter Olivia Babb has told the ABC’s ‘Four Corners’ program that Seven is "one of the most degrading, soul-crushing places you can work". Babb is one of a number of current and former Seven staff who took part in the program, which alleged that the television network has a culture of bullying, harassment and misogynistic treatment. Employment lawyer Josh Bornstein told the program that there had been a noticeable pattern of hostility towards women at the network. Babb said that she was paid so little that she and other colleagues were often "one or two paychecks from homelessness".

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Why this could be Murdoch’s last chance to sell Foxtel

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Foxtel had been estimated to be worth between $1.2bn and $2bn when an IPO was being considered in 2021. However, an IPO now appears to be highly unlikely, and selling Foxtel may be the best option for News Corp and Telstra. Foxtel’s traditional pay-TV business now boasts about 1.2 million subscribers, well below the peak of 2.9 million in 2015; retaining as many of these customers as possible could be crucial to getting a decent price for Foxtel, given that they pay an average of $90 per month. Foxtel’s own streaming services Kayo and Binge have much lower monthly revenue per customer, and their subscriber growth is also slowing amid growing competition in the streaming sector.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, KAYO SPORTS, BINGE