MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Foxtel’s Kayo quick off the blocks

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 9-Jan-19

Foxtel’s subscriber churn rate rose to 15.6 per cent in the December quarter, compared with 12.9 per cent in the three months to September. News Corporation CEO Robert Thomson attributes the rise in customer churn to an increase in the cost of traditional Foxtel services, but he stresses that the Kayo sports streaming service is not cannibalising pay-TV customers. Thompson adds that Kayo has attracted 115,000 subscribers – including 100,000 paying customers – since its launch in November.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Streaming eases pull-back in bank ads

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 8-Feb-19

Data from KPMG shows that advertising revenue for broadcast video on-demand services such as Foxtel Now and 7Plus rose 43 per cent to $61 million in the six months to December, compared to the previous corresponding period. Advertising revenue for traditional capital city free-to-air television and subscription TV fell by four per cent to $1.7 billion, with a fall in advertising by banks blamed for much of the decline.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL NOW, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Magazine readership continues to increase

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-19

Roy Morgan has released the Australian Magazine Readership report for the 12 months to December 2018. A total of 15,189,000 Australians aged 14+ (74.2 per cent) now read magazines, whether in print or online either via the web or an app. This is up 1.2 per cent from a year ago. Readership of print magazines is just under 12.6 million Australians (61.5 per cent), up 0.2 per cent from a year ago. Nine of Australia’s top 15 magazines grew their print readership over the past year, with six of the leading titles growing their readership by at least five per cent. ‘Women’s Weekly’ is now Australia’s most widely-read paid magazine after growing readership by 5.1 per cent to 1,570,000 in 2018. However, the free ‘Coles Magazine’ remains the most widely-read print magazine, with an average readership of 4,806,000 per issue (up 15.8 per cent).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Over 15.7 million Australians read newspapers in print or online

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Feb-19

Roy Morgan has released the latest readership results for Australian newspapers, for the 12 months to December 2018. Over 15.7 million Australians aged 14+ (76.9%) now read or access newspapers in an average seven-day period via print or online, a fall of 1.3 per cent from a year ago. Although most leading newspapers had a decline in total cross-platform readership, the ‘Herald Sun’ grew its digital audience to over two million; ‘The Australian Financial Review’ also increased its digital audience over the last year, up by 1.2 per cent to 1,169,000. ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ is still Australia’s most widely-read masthead, with a cross-platform audience of 4,135,000, down 2.8 per cent from a year ago. Meanwhile, ‘Good Weekend’ remains Australia’s most widely-read newspaper inserted magazine, with print readership of 1,045,000 (down 12.8 per cent).

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Labor demands say on picking Aunty’s chair

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 3 : 6-Feb-19

Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland says Labor should be consulted about the appointment of a successor to Justin Milne as chairman of the ABC. She has criticised the federal government’s poor record with regard to ensuring the ABC’s independence, noting in particular its failure to respect the independent nomination panel process for appointments to the board. The ABC’s ‘Media Watch’ program has reported that Communications Minister Mitch Fifield was given a shortlist of three candidates in mid-January.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, GILBERT AND TOBIN LAWYERS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Private equity funds size up regional titles

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 24 : 4-Feb-19

Allegro Funds, Anchorage Capital and Platinum Equity are said to be the leading contenders to acquire Nine Entertainment Company’s portfolio of regional newspapers, which it inherited via the merger with Fairfax Media. Independent expert Grant Samuel had valued Fairfax’s Australian Community Media division at $100m to $120m in 2018, and the business generates EBITDA of around $52m a year. Nine is also believed to be looking to sell Fairfax’s New Zealand business, Stuff.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, ALLEGRO FUNDS PTY LTD, ANCHORAGE CAPITAL PARTNERS PTY LTD, PLATINUM EQUITY HOLDINGS, STUFF LIMITED, RURAL PRESS LIMITED, APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, TPG CAPITAL LP, GRANT SAMUEL AND ASSOCIATES PTY LTD, JEFFERIES AND COMPANY, HT&E LIMITED – ASX HT1, NZME LIMITED – ASX NZM, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN

Ratings pain as tennis fails to shine for Nine

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 3 : 29-Jan-19

The Nine Network’s coverage of the 2019 Australian Open men’s final attracted an average national audience of 2.085 million. It was the lowest combined audience since 2007, while Seven attracted an audience of 2.37 million for its last men’s final broadcast in 2018. The women’s final attracted a combined average of 1.57 million. Nine spent $55m on its coverage of the 2019 Australian Open, and boasted advertising revenue of $45m. In contrast, Nine had spent $105m a year on broadcasting cricket, with ad revenue of $70m.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED

UBS upbeat Foxtel is pressing right buttons on Kayo launch

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

Foxtel launched its Kayo Sports streaming video service in November, allowing consumers to access it without the need for a pay-TV subscription. UBS believes that Kayo Sports could enable Foxtel to increase its market penetration, which has remained at around 30 per cent for the last decade. The UBS analysts concede that Kayo is likely to cannibalise Foxtel’s subscriber base, but they say that this will be offset by increased revenue and gross margins as Foxtel’s overall market penetration rises.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Tennis young guns draw in TV audiences

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Original article by Patrick Durkin, Alex Gluyas
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 24-Jan-19

The 2019 Australian Open has been a rating success for the Nine Network. Local hopeful Ash Barty attracted an average national audience of 1.59 million in a losing match on 23 January, outrating the Big Bash League. Likewise, an average of 1.4 million viewers nationwide watched Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas defeat Roger Federer in a major upset. Chinese and Japanese tennis players have also attracted huge audiences in their home countries, while Tennis Australia has secured sponsorship deals with a number of Chinese brands.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, BIG BASH LEAGUE, TENNIS AUSTRALIA

Citi eyes value in beaten-down media sector

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 20 : 16-Jan-19

Citigroup has downgraded its 2018-19 earnings-per-share forecasts for listed media groups, including Nine Entertainment Company, Seven West Media and Southern Cross Media. The investment bank has also reduced its share price targets for these stocks, although its recommendations on Nine, Seven, Southern Cross and News Corporation have been upgraded.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, HT&E LIMITED – ASX HT1, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA