Seven’s Bottom Line Roars Back, As Ad Spends Surge By Almost 26%

Seven West Media has posted a net end of-year profit of $318 million after the local advertising market’s dramatic turnaround following 2020’s downturn that saw spends up 25.8 per cent in the April to june quarter.
Announcing its numbers this morning, the braodcaster reported its underlying EBIT earnings [before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] of $253.9 million for the 2021 financial year, which was at the upper end of its guidance it announced in June. Overall revenues increased 3.5 per cent to $1.3 billion.
You can view the results at at a glance here.
Seven West Media has made significant progress in its transformation strategy, repairing the balance sheet, making the necessary changes for the business to capitalise on a market recovery, and positioning the business strongly for the future.
Company CEO James Warburton said: “Our result today reflects the material progress of the changes made over the past two years.
“Since 2019, we have increased EBIT and grown our digital business to over 25 per cent of earnings. We have a new entertainment schedule that is increasing ratings across all key demographics. We were the only network to grow commercial audience share across the key demographics in the financial year, which has set us up strongly to monetise this in FY22. At the same time, we have slashed our net debt position by 57 per cent since FY19, giving us a balance sheet to pursue future growth opportunities.”
The results from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 clearly demonstrated the reach and scale of the Seven West Media platform across TV, publishing and digital. During the 17 days of the Olympics, television and digital coverage reached 20.2 million Australians, with a record- breaking 4.74 billion minutes streamed on 7plus.
Warburton added: “The evolution of the digital and data side of our business has been a core element of our transformation strategy and the results are clear. 7plus revenue grew 78 per cent in the financial year, outstripping the BVOD advertising market growth of 55 per cent, and 7plus now has 9.2 million registered users. Seven’s digital earnings in FY21 were $60 million, up 131 per cent on the previous year.
“A landmark milestone achieved this year was our commercial agreement secured with Google and Facebook, which was first in market and reflects the quality and value of our news content.
“WAN has grown its audience across print readership and digital, increasing circulation and subscription revenue while also transforming the cost base,” he said.
“We have reignited the Seven West Ventures strategy, with several new investments underway, and the portfolio increasing in value by 11 per cent to $56 million,” Warburton said.
Latest News

Dynata’s Latest Economic Crossroads Report Shows Consumer Trends From Around The Globe
Across the world, rising costs are causing anxiety and financial struggles for consumers. The worldwide impact of inflation is affecting their outlook and behaviour. More than half of consumers globally are struggling financially because of inflation and the increasing price of fuel, housing and everyday goods. Russia’s war on Ukraine intensifies their concerns around supply-chain […]

InMoment Bring Major Updates To Their XI Platform For Greater Customer Experiences
Making people's lives easier one update at a time. Because nowadays it's all about accessibility, right?

US FCC Commissioner Wants Apple And Google To Take Down TikTok From Their Stores
Anyone who wants to ban TikTok clearly doesn't understand how cool Anna Paul is.

Fullbright Scholar Teams Up With CQUniversity For New Opportunities In Queensland
It's nice to know the Sunshine State might finally be using said sunshine for something productive.

“Talk About Soft!” Mark Levy Blasts The Project Over Interview With Climate Change Activist
The world is actually burning, but sure let's be mad at the protestors.

Best Of The Best Judge, Ben Pellow Nabs Group Sales Director Role At Forbes Australia
Here at B&T, we love to remind you about all the fancy friends we have. Mainly because they never cop to it in public.

Visit Victoria And Endemol Shine Australia Announce New Partnership
The new series will allow Sydneysiders to appreciate Melbourne from their couches, just the way we like it.

Sydney Set To Host South By Southwest Festival For 2023
This comes as part of a wider plan to steal Texan culture, with Sydney set to take on plentiful Cowboy boots and rodeos.

Nine’s Big Dog Mike Sneesby Announces EOFY2022 Bonuses For Permanent Staff
Bonuses were decided after staff declined MAFS merch as a thank you.

Tony Armstrong Reveals The ABC’s Reaction To His OnlyFans Account
Armstrong proving that even a Logie can't save you from boring meetings with your bosses.

Wednesday TV Wrap: MasterChef Owns Demos But Nine Dines Out On The Night
Thank you MasterChef for normalising cooking while crying.

FutureBrand Australia Grows, Makes Two Senior Appointments
Bringing the "future" to Australia's business industry.

Sedona Lands Cinnamon Darvall As Executive Producer
If Sedona can acquire some Milk, Eggs and Flour as well, they'd be on their way to a nice crepe recipe in the C suite.

Jaywing And Frank Digital Nab Rai Campbell For Commercial Director Role
Campbell will be called to drive the Jaywing to success. That's not a phrase out of a sci-fi series by the way.

Are Media Launch Body Positivity Initiative ‘BODFest’ With OGX Haircare
Cause there's nothing that will make you feel better about yourself than seeing Em Rata on stage.

Quantcast Launches New Advertising Solutions For Marketers
With the rate at which Quantcast is attempting to solve problems, Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea may need to get in touch

Nielsen To Publish Global Annual Environmental, Social And Governance Report
Nielsen is releasing its global annual environmental, social and governance (ESG) report to share information in six key ESG topic areas including diversity, equity and inclusion, human capital, governance, data privacy and security, environment, and communities. The report is designed to demonstrate how Nielsen does what it does with responsibly and with integrity—and how that […]

ARIA And PPCA Welcome Newest Paper From ACMA
Having the word Phonographic in your company name is a sure-fire way to jerk the B&T editor awake first thing.

AO Metaverse And Run It Wild Set New Standards For The Industry At Cannes Lions
Pretty soon tennis games will be played between virtual avatars. Because that doesn't sound creepy at all.

“Always Look For Ways To Challenge Yourself And Grow”: 10 Of The Best With Mindshare’s Chris Solomon
Chris Solomon opens up to B&T, but declines to tell us what washing detergent he uses to keep his t-shirts glistening.

What Businesses Are Looking For When They Hire An Agency
Tips include: wearing a black t-shirt and oversized glasses won't make you standout. A beret on the other hand..

Telstra Names IAG’s Brent Smart As Its Chief Marketing Officer
Brent Smart has landed a very cool new gig, we are talking ripped jeans and complicated coffee order cool.

Introducing Postmatch, A New Sports-Focused Creative Agency
Who better to promote sport than the people who live, breathe and speak about it on a daily basis!

Pinterest Appoints Former Google Executive Bill Ready As CEO
Bet you're not "Ready" for all the changes coming to Pinterest (pun completely intended!)

Facebook And Instagram Remove All Posts Attempting To Sell Abortion Pills
The world of social media is having its own reaction to the many "interesting" things going on lately.

Lighthouse Foundation Partners With Aussie Artists To Bring Awareness To Youth Homelessness
With the art available for just $2, it makes the series affordable even for those bankrupted by the fall of crypto.

Welcome To Microsoft Advertising Where The Key To Results Is Collaboration With Care
Communication is key, people! That's how Microsoft Advertising produces the work that it does.

Gerety Awards Celebrate Shortlist Announcement With BBQ
Awards nights and big outdoor parties go together like greasy burgers and far too much beer.

Lendi Group Expands Media Relationship Appointing Initiative As Media Agency Across Brand Portfolio
One of Australia’s fastest growing fintech, The Lendi Group has appointed media agency Initiative with its media strategy, planning and buying services across its powerhouse property brands and networks Lendi and Aussie. Initiative was previously appointed by Aussie in February 2020, before the brand merged with Lendi becoming Lendi Group.

Azerion Integrates With Inskin Media For Australian Launch
Azerion enters the JAPAC region. Everyone's confused over whether that's a FIFA World Cup thing or not.

Veridooh Launches Independent Verification For Programmatic DOOH Advertising
Simpsons fans across the world can sit down, this particular DOOH article isn't about you lot.

“Speaking From The Heart!” Scott Cam Doubles Down On The Block Influencer Saga
After calling Elle Ferguson and her husband Joel Patfull "a bit unAustralian" Cam offers a heartfelt... clarification.

oOh!media Expands Brisbane Locations, Secures Queensland Rail Portfolio Assets
The digitisation of Brisbane is great for everyone, except those trying to sleep across the road from a billboard.

Kantar Study Shows Native Video Ads Boost Brand Awareness By 26% As Part Of Larger Media Mixes
Taboola, a global leader in powering recommendations for the open web, helping people discover things they may like, today announced the results of an independent Multichannel Brand Impact study from Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. eMarketer forecasts show digital ad spending in the U.S. will reach $270B in the U.S. by […]

Next&Co Win SEO Strategy Rights For New Aim
Because if you want to "aim" for success, you need to have the right people beside you.

Triple M Celebrates 90 Years On The Wagga Wagga Airwaves
To this day, no-one in radio will answer our questions on what happened to Triple L and Triple Q.