Television New Zealand has turned a profit and will resume paying a dividend to the government on the back of a big increase in advertising revenue and cost cuts.
TVNZ's Auckland offices. Photo: Supplied to RNZ
Chief executive Kevin Kenrick said the strong result reflected significant audiences for live event television, continued rapid growth of TVNZ OnDemand and improved market conditions.
"The last financial year has been quite remarkable for TVNZ," Kenrick said.
"The scale of audiences combined with strong demand for video advertising has enabled the business to recover from the prior year's financial challenges much faster than forecast," he said, noting there had been a 44 percent increase in digital revenue.
"This positive momentum puts TVNZ in a position to accelerate its digital transformation and reimagine its future in the rapidly changing media market."
Content costs were down primarily due to Covid-19 impacts, which resulted from international content production delays.
The broadcaster said it had sufficient capital and would pay a dividend - $15 million to the government for the first time in a few years, and would consider paying an interim dividend in the current year.
It would also pay permanent staff, not covered by its bonus scheme, a one-time pre-tax payment of $2000.
Key numbers for the year ended June vs year ago
- Net profit $59.2m vs $25.8m
- Revenue $340.0m vs $310.8m
- Expenses $253.3m vs $320.6m
- Dividend $15m vs NIL