TVNZ has reported hefty financial losses for the year ending June 30, 2024, with a net loss after tax of $85 million and a $62.1 million non-cash impairment.
Revenue plunged to $38.8 million and implemented cost-cutting measures, reducing expenditures by $9.9 million to mitigate the impact. The company has also utilised $7.4 million from its cash reserves to maintain operations and meet financial obligations throughout the period.
Despite the numbers, the broadcaster said its online streaming platform, TVNZ+, achieved 25% year-on-year growth in viewership, 464 million streams for the period, and +16% year-on-year increases in weekly audience reach. Digital advertising revenue also increased by 8.2%.
“TVNZ was the highest-reaching content provider across TV and TVNZ+, ahead of YouTube and Netflix, and 1News was surveyed as the most popular and trusted source of news,” TVNZ chief executive Jodi O’Donnell said.
“Despite this and our careful management of costs, our financial performance reflects a constrained economy, market disruption, and a difficult advertising market,” she said. “It has been an extremely challenging period for ad-funded broadcasters globally, including TVNZ, but we are confident in our turnaround plan and digital strategy.”
O’Donnell noted that TVNZ has adequate funds to finance its digital strategy for the next three years, create a “solid and scalable” technology platform, and return to profitability.
“The company is in a position to address its multi-year tech debt, build a robust and scalable IP platform to support its digital progress, and return to profit,” she said.
According to TVNZ, it was aiming to deliver $30 million in savings for the 2025 financial year as it worked towards its Digital+ 2030 strategy.
“We continue to be disciplined on our cost outlook and are working with our people to find solutions to a $30 million challenge in FY25. We need to stabilise losses quickly and continue with a multi-year programme to strengthen our streaming technology. We have a clear commercial mandate and will deliver on this and innovate at pace to be a more sustainable media business.
“We’ve proven our ability to deliver must-watch content for viewers and unrivalled scale for advertisers. Now our focus is on maximising new ways to monetise our content, so we’re in a strong position to take advantage when the market stabilises,” O’Donnell stated.
TVNZ is also expected to expand its offering of news and entertainment programmes through TVNZ+. Sports content has also grown, with close to 15.4 million streams in the first 12 months after being launched in June 2023.