Nine Entertainment has issued a new trading update following CEO Matt Stanton’s presentation at the Macquarie Australia Conference, reporting a softer outlook on the back of market conditions despite reporting a strong March quarter.
The media group said its March quarter was “strong” on revenue due to successful content performance, driving growth in core digital and subscription assets and generating a solid advertising revenue and share outcome.
In its most recent H1 full-year 2026 outlook, Nine projected its total TV advertising revenue to be “broadly flat” against what it called a “strong” year-on-year comparator.
However, in the trading update issued yesterday, Nine told investors a “confluence of uncertainty” both local and global was proving challenging for advertising markets.
Nine said its audiences for the year to date had been “solid” and up 8 per cent in Total People and 10 per cent in 25-54s.
Nine added that its “cost initiatives” will continue and it now expects its Total Television costs in FY26 to be down in the mid-high single digits percentages on FY25.
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At Stan, Nine expects the positive momentum of the first half to continue, with further strong EBITDA growth projected in the second half.
At Nine Publishing, Q3 digital subscription revenue growth was 15 per cent, with this positive momentum continuing into Q4. In the short term, however, it said higher fuel prices resulting from the conflict in the Middle East will impact distribution costs.
Nine’s newest addition—QMS—saw its Q3 revenue grow by around 15 per cent and it expects double-digit revenue growth to continue into Q4.
