NEC shares have plunged almost 22% (at time of posting) with the release of an update to the Stock Exchange.
Revenue from advertising is down due to poor performance of cricket over summer and the ratings for the opening weeks of the official ratings period. Nine blamed the weather and poor standard of the West Indies.
The network has lost advertising share to Seven and especially Ten.
ASX Q3 Trading Update
The advertising market in the March quarter remained subdued. Nine’s ratings during the period were softer than anticipated, which has impacted FTA revenue share. In particular, Nine’s Summer of Cricket was adversely impacted both by the weather and the standard of the competition, with c30% of scheduled play days lost.
For the quarter, Nine’s Television revenues were down c11%, against Q3 FY15. This was also impacted by the earlier timing of Easter this year and the absence of the Cricket World Cup event.
The Free-To-Air advertising market is now expected to record a low single digit decline for FY16, versus our previous guidance of `flat to down marginally’. Reflecting the disappointing ratings start to 2016, Nine’s share is now expected to be c37% for the year.
NEC can’t blame the West Indies cricket team for the decrease in its advertising revenue. It was organised as part of ICC Future Tours program years in advance in consultation with Cricket Australia and West Indies Cricket Board. NEC had no say on which teams would visit on which year.
Nine Entertainment has appointed CSR executive Greg Barnes as its new chief financial officer, following the departure of Simon Kelly at the end of February.
Mr Barnes, who joined CSR in 2009 and has been its finance chief since 2010, will start his new role at the free-to-air broadcaster on July 4.
Nine CEO Hugh Marks also hinted that Nine would roll out more locally produced video content offering.
“We will generate more than 500 hours of local entertainment and over 30 hours of Aussie drama into Nine and 9Now’s peak, live-streaming and catch-up schedule in the next 12 months," Marks said.
“This, alongside our investment in new digital brands such as 9Kitchen, will be one of our biggest investments to date when it comes to delivering local content and stories that matter most to Australian consumers.”
If there is one thing that 9 do well it’s in the digital space, credit where credit is due. I would still never watch anything they produce though (except for 9life) as its all nothing but rubbish.
I’m all for more Australian content but not at the expense of quality. Looking at what has been coming out of the network recently, The Briefcase, The Verdict, 20 to One, Reno Rumble, You’re Back in the Room, Australia’s Got Talent etc - we don’t want more of this. The message should be about better quality programs rather than just tallying up the number of hours broadcast.
Some of those brands on that screenshot are intriguing.
The “elsewhere” one in particular…
Can you imagine a multi or online channel carrying that brand?
Just think of the promos… “coming soon… It’s on Elsewhere”.
It would be VERY confusing!
Alex Parsons, Nine’s Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, today announced the appointment of Helen McCabe as the Head of Lifestyle at nine.com.au.
McCabe, one of Australia’s leading figures in content and media, was most recently editor-in-chief of the iconic Australian Women’s Weekly and before that worked in several senior editorial roles at News Limited.
Mr Parsons said: “Helen will bring a wealth of content and commercial experience coupled with real leadership energy to our nine.com.au lifestyle business. I am really excited to be working with Helen to continue to drive and develop our already significant sites including 9Honey, 9Coach and the recently launched 9Kitchen.
“These sites are already market leaders in their respective categories and continue to experience strong growth. Our future offering will be vastly different to anything in the Australian market today and I look forward to making that a reality with Helen.”
Helen McCabe said: “After 20 odd years in newspapers and magazines this is the dream role. Nine, under Hugh Marks and Alex Parsons, has an ambitious vision for its lifestyle sites. It means I get to continue my passion for creating exciting, relevant content and products for Australian women.”
Nine CEO Hugh Marks said: “Helen’s appointment is another strong statement on our focus on delivering great Australian content to our audiences across all platforms of our business.
“Helen has a strong creative vision, a valuable understanding of the content that drives audience engagement, and very longstanding commercial relationships. What better time for Helen and ourselves to take our brands to the next level.”
Nine.com.au is the recently relaunched ninemsn.com.au. The newly created role of Head of Lifestyle will provide the talented team who have built and are working tirelessly on these successful sites further opportunities to develop their business.
Helen McCabe’s appointment is effective immediately.
Nine has reportedly shortlisted two sites for the new Sydney television studios, with the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park said to be favourite over a spot at the old ABC studios site at Gore Hill.
That’s what I mean, like in Melbourne where they hire studios at Docklands now, they’d need something to do larger productions, and then smaller studios for news/ACA/Today.
rather than the standard of the cricket competition.