TVNZ lifts profits $10m in softening ad market

TVNZ expects hard times in the advertising market to continue. Photo / Sarah Ivey

TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick says a $10 million increase in profit is due to a 1 per cent increase in its share of the television advertising market.

The market was down, but TVNZ picked up a greater share of it.

Net profit after tax of $28.1 million for the year ending June 2015.

The profit increase reflects that TVNZ last year recorded a $6.4 million impairment on the value of its pay TV venture Igloo, and for other plant and equipment. TVNZ sold its shares in Igloo to its joint venture partner, Sky TV.

Kenrick said he was pleased with the growth during a period of softer demand for TV advertising.

Kenrick said hard times in the advertising market would continue this year and TVNZ would be focusing more on competition from offshore giants like You Tube rather than domestic players.

He said there had been encouraging growth in online advertising, and continued focus on tightercost management.

Kenrick said TVNZ strengthened its share of TV advertising revenue and showed a 19 per cent year-on-year growth in online revenues, albeit off a low base.

All mainstream media are adapting to boost their online arms, but Kenrick believes that television is at an advantage because of its experience in video.

Ninety seven million online video streams were delivered during the year with TVNZ.
Total revenue declined by 2.9 per cent year-on-year to $350 million, with total advertising revenue down 1.9 per cent.

Total expenditure declined 3.7 per cent to $313.7 million with costs cut for programming, labour, marketing, depreciation and transmission/technology/telecommunications.

"While TVNZ is performing well relative to domestic media competitors, the competition for viewer eyeballs and advertising dollars is increasingly being driven by global scale
players. The Board declared an operating dividend of $8.3 million from the FY2015 operating result.