Television New Zealand says its bottom line has been hit by falling advertising revenue and a weak currency, as global competition intensifies.
TVNZ building Photo: Supplied to RNZ
TVNZ's full year result was down 44 percent to $2.2 million in the year to June, which included a $2.9m cost associated with a drop in the value of the New Zealand dollar.
The underlying profit was little changed at $24.6m, while revenue fell 2.5 percent to $310.7m, reflecting falling advertising revenue, which was only partly offset by double digit growth in online ads.
The bottom line was somewhat boosted by a 2.7 percent drop in costs to $286.1m, reflecting year-on-year reduction in programming costs.
TVNZ chief executive Kevin Kenrick said the broadcaster's result reflected challenging market conditions.
"In the context of this environment, stable year-on-year earnings is a pleasing result," he said.
"The standout achievements for the year have been the stellar ratings performance of our local news and entertainment content, and the growth in TVNZ OnDemand. "
TVNZ OnDemand achieved 80 percent year on year growth in viewer numbers to a record 184m video streams, in addition to a 38 percent increase in weekly audience reach, as well as a 31 percent increase in revenue.
TVNZ would not pay a dividend the government shareholder, due to its increased investment in local content and digital capabilities.
"TVNZ's competition has shifted from local to global and our future success will be less reliant on being the best in market versus delivering content services that compare favourably with the global giants," Mr Kenrick said.
TVNZ declined to release a set of financial accounts to accompany their results announcement.