Nine’s Big Dog Mike Sneesby kindly agreed to chew the fat with B&T about how Nine scored such healthy financial year results.
Nine reporting a 15 per cent revenue increase is precisely the result that would make any CEO pleased. Employees of Nine will also be pretty chuffed because Nine generously shared the love and gave staff recognition bonuses.
Nine’s results might be marking the end of a turbulent time. These last few years, companies have been trying to rebuild consumer relationships after the pandemic, which was the ultimate disrupter. Nine’s results point to the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is shining pretty brightly.
For Sneesby, the results speak to the fact that Nine had a plan, “What have we done at Nine has been about being clear on a strategy to deliver audience growth,” he explained.
So what was the strategy? Well, focusing on quality content that connects and grows audiences. Ultimately the more consumers engage, the more money and power for Nine.
It sounds simplistic in theory, but it is not very easy to pull off. But Nine did it, and its reach has improved notably across 9now, Stan, and Stan Sport.
Sneesby puts some of the success down to Nine’s ability to pull ideas off, “We can create big ideas across all of our platforms!”
Ultimately, these kinds of results also make Sneesby’s job easier. An increase in the audience is music to the advertisers’ ears.
Sneesby has a very pragmatic response, “When we speak to advertisers off the back of these results, it is all about the strength and quality of our content!” Although he also adds that he is pretty keen to speak about “the size of our audience!”
Sneesby is also very clear that these results are because of his team’s hard work. He told B&T, “At Nine, we focus on our people as the people are the ones delivering the results.”
So how does Sneesby plan on keeping Nine employees, the ones that are integral in making these big results happen? Well, Sneesby thinks we have already reached the peak of the talent crisis, but he also understands recognition bonuses aren’t enough to keep people in play.
He said: “You need to offer people a holistic experience, good work, good opportunity, good money and making people feel they have a common purpose.”
So is anything keeping Sneesby up at night? “I sleep very well. When I’ve got a team around me as I have, I sleep very well. I can deal with big things and turn out decent sleep. My job should focus on people, strategy and the major deals.”
