Nine reported its full year 2026 numbers and talked up its above market growth for QMS and lifted numbers within the rest of the business, despite a “soft” advertising market, CEO Matt Stanton said.
Nine’s revenue on a continuing basis was up 3 per cent to $2.189 billion. On a pro forma basis, it only climbed 1 per cent.
Its EBITDA on a continuing basis was up 17 per cent to $378.8 million. On a pro forma basis, it climbed six per cent.
It has been a big year for Nine, Stanton told analysts, which sold youth-focused Pedestrian to Vinyl Group, its stake in Future Women, its radio arm — now known as Tapt Media — and Domain.
It also changed its relationship with its Darwin and NBN, which are now treated as affiliate businesses rather than a core part of the company.
It completed the acquisition of QMS, retained the NRL rights and inked a deal with Microsoft Copilot to put Nine’s journalism to work.
Nine also restructured its Publishing arm, a move which has been widely reported on, cutting 35 roles from the business.
The lifts in Nine’s revenue and EBITDA were not spread equally. The Publishing arm reported broadly flat revenue and a $3.8 million drop in its EBITDA to $149.9 million.
This was despite Nine’s masthead business reported revenue growth of 3 per cent to $460m and EBITDA growth of 4 per cent to $153m. This result was underpinned by digital subscription revenue growth of 15 per cent, which was largely due to subscription ARPU (average revenue per user) growth across digital and bundle packages of 14 per cent.
Stanton described the Australian Financial Review as the “star performer” with high single-digit revenue and EBITDA growth. Drive also saw 27 per cent revenue growth. Nine.com.au gave a “disappointing contribution” and led to its relaunch.
The big change at a macro level for Nine was the passing of the News Bargaining Incentive — the government’s revised mechanism to compel the large social media platforms to pay Australian publishers for news content.
“The recent passing of the News Bargaining Incentive… is arguably the most consequential outcome for Nine and other media companies as it delivers long-term, sustainable investment in journalism,” Stanton told investors.
“It’s rightly a testament to the critical, democratic and cultural value of our journalism and the news brands that Nine nurtures and invests in. This means the tech platforms that benefit from our journalism will fairly pay for its value. It’s the same principle that underpins why continues pushing for AUI companies to come to the table and negotiate agreements for the use of our intellectual property.”
Martyn Roberts, Nine’s CFO, and Stanton added that the News Bargaining Incentive and deals with other AI companies, of which there is a “good pipeline,” could see its publishing division return to growth.
In Streaming & Broadcast — i.e. Stan as well as linear TV and 9Now — revenue dropped by 1 per cent to $1.595 billion. Its EBITDA climbed 1 per cent, however.
The Total TV ad market, Stanton said, dropped 9 per cent in the year. But it estimated that its own Total TV revenue, excluding both the Summer and Winter Olympics was down around 2 per cent.
Nine said its Total TV audiences climbed by 2.7 per cent over the past six months. 9Now saw its audience increase by 36 per cent and 43 per cent respectively across the six months.
Streaming revenue, through 9Now, declined by $15m for the year. Second half revenue grew by 5 per cent.
Stan saw its revenue climb 16 per cent to $569 million and its EBITDA climb 24 per cent to $80.6 million. This was driven in large part by the Premier League rights. It also said its strongest subscriber growth driver was the Married At First Sight spin-off — After the Dinner Party which, for the first time, extended Nine’s Total Television content to Stan.
Stanton added that Nine was working to unify the Stan and 9Now tech stacks and the use of the Nine User ID to direct further to Stan through its pathways to Stan initiative.
QMS saw its revenue climb $15 per cent and its EDBITDA 18 per cent.
In Australia, revenue growth at QMS of 10 per cent was above market growth of 6 per cent. This, Nine said, was driven by the roll-out of incremental large format assets, the continued digitisation of City Of Sydney street panels, as well as improvements in underlying yield.
In New Zealand, QMS also outperformed market growth of 11per cent recording revenue growth of 48 per cent. The ongoing roll-out of the Auckland Transport street furniture contract was the key driver to this growth.
