Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
TVNZ has posted a large full-year loss as advertising revenue fell and it wrote down the value of assets while signalling more cost cutting.
The state owned broadcaster reported a loss of $85 million against a $1.7m profit the year before, driven by a $62m write down in asset values, which were not specified, and a $39m drop in revenue.
The pre-tax loss before one-offs was $28.5m at the lower end of its forecasts in the middle of the year.
Chief executive Jodi O'Donnell said TVNZ had made progress on its transformation with gains in streaming audiences and digital revenue.
"Despite this, and our careful management of costs, our financial performance reflects a constrained economy, market disruption and a difficult advertising market."
"It has been an extremely challenging period for ad-funded broadcasters globally, including TVNZ, but we are confident in our turnaround plan and digital strategy."
She said TVNZ had sufficient cash to fund its digital strategy over the next three years, but would not pay a dividend.
"The company is in a position to address its multi-year tech debt, build a robust and scalable IP platform to support its digital progress, and return to profit."
O'Donnell said TVNZ was expanding its offering of news and entertainment programmes through streaming on TVNZ+, and sport was now a "cornerstone" of its content, and would be a point of difference to other providers.
She said the tough market was easing and expected the economy to stabilise although the rest of the year was expected to be "challenging", with TVNZ facing more cost cutting to save $30m.
"We need to stabilise losses quickly and continue with a multi-year programme to strengthen our streaming technology ... our focus is on maximising new ways to monetise our content so we're in a strong position to take advantage when the market stabilises."