Nine wins advertising revenue race for first time in 13 years Media Man Int

Nine wins advertising revenue race for first time in 13 years - 5th February 2018

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Nine Network is winning the TV revenue race for the first time in 13 years, with a focus on key advertising demographics. Photo: Frank Maiorana

by Jennifer Duke

Television advertising revenue for the free-to-air metropolitan market grew significantly in December, with Nine Entertainment taking out top spot for the first time in more than a decade.

For the past 13 years Seven West Media has been in the lead for advertising revenues.

Now, the top spot has been taken by Nine in the latest KPMG revenue figures with the most revenue share in the December half and 2017 calendar year.

It remains a tight race between the top two networks. Nine’s share of the market for 2017 increased to 38.3 per cent, while Seven and Ten Network had 37.9 per cent and 23.8 per cent respectively.

In the six months to December, Nine increased its lead to 40 per cent of the market.

The last time Nine had the most market share was 2005.

Deutsche Bank analyst Entcho Raykovski tipped Nine to win out against Seven in the tightest media race in more than a decade in a note to investors in January.

This saw Nine’s share price jump to an annual high after its release.

Despite winning revenue share, Nine ended up losing the ratings race to Seven for 2017 by a narrow margin.

Nine chief executive Hugh Marks said in a statement that its focus was on delivering the “demographics that matter most to advertisers”.

This was a position emphasised heavily when the audience ratings results were reported.

“It is a clear signal of the significant business impact that reaching the right audiences is having for advertisers,” he said.

These demographics include people from 16 to 39 and 25 to 54 and "grocery buyers with children" – lucrative markets for advertisers.

“As we move into 2018, I am excited by the strong performance of the new season of Married at First Sight across both television and digital and the year on year growth we have seen on both platforms.

"This sets Nine up for another strong year as we continue to evolve and transform our business.”

This comes as TV lobby group ThinkTV releases growing figures for the metropolitan free-to-air TV market in the December half, with the market up 1.4 per cent to $1.5 billion.

Overall total TV advertising revenue declined 0.7 per cent to $2.17 billion compared to the six months previous.

This figure includes metropolitan free to air, regional free-to-air and subscription TV.

In particular,the small but growing digital broadcast video on demand (BVOD) market was specified as an area of strength – when included with metropolitan free-to-air the revenue was up 1.9 per cent to $1.54 billion.

This includes catch up and streaming platforms such as Foxtel Now, 9Now, 7plus and Tenplay, which represented more than 25 per cent growth in advertising revenue overall.

The current market for TV revenue is “fiercely competitive” ThinkTV chief executive Kim Portrate said.

“TV is an experience available on any device at any time, offering catch-up shows, archived programming, BVOD originals and live-streaming, all showing professionally-produced content that is safe for brands.”

(The Sydney Morning Herald)