TVNZ's total revenue falls 13.5 percent as ad revenue shrinks

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Photo: RNZ / Michelle Tiang

TVNZ has flagged further cost cutting as it posted a first half-year loss linked to reduced revenue and asset write offs.

The state owned broadcaster’s interim financial results show that its total revenue has fallen 13.5 percent from last year to $155.9 million.

Its net loss for the six months ended December was $16.8 million.

That compares with a profit of $4.8m the year before.

Its advertising revenue fell 14 percent to $147m, but it cut operating expenses and spending on programmes, resulting in a slight surplus in operating earnings.

However, a $12m dollar drop in asset values caused the headline loss.

Chief executive Jodi O’Donnell said TVNZ will have to cut costs further as well as speed up the change to digital.

O’Donnell said TVNZ expected 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.”

O’Donnell said the media industry needed to work together to offset the growing dominance of global giants, such as YouTube, Disney and Netflix.

The results come after a shock proposal by Newshub to close its newsroom on 30 June.

Warner Bros Discovery ANZ senior vice president head of networks Glen Kyne said the company had to keep looking at ways of reducing costs.

“We’ve now reached a stage where any further reduction in costs means proposing major changes. This is why we are proposing to shut down the newsroom. This would mean stopping all news production including the Newshub website from June 30,” he said in the statement.

The company made a $34.8 million loss in New Zealand for the 2022 financial year.