Seven Network beats Nine to retain ad revenue crown

The Seven Network has retained its advertising revenue leadership in July.

Advertising revenue

The Seven Network has retained its advertising revenue leadership in July, despite rival Nine Entertainment holding all the aces.

Seven led commercial ad revenue for July, according to new SMI figures, despite Nine’s hefty programming line-up in July including the conclusion of the NRL State of Origin series, the Ashes cricket tests from Britain, the continuing ratings success of The Voice and the strong opening to its new reality franchise, The Hotplate.

Seven led the market with a 38.5 per cent revenue share in July, according to Standard Media Index’s aggregated figures, ahead of Nine’s 37.1 per cent and Ten’s 24.4 per cent.

In the face of Nine’s recent ratings resurgence, Seven West Media’s chief revenue officer, Kurt Burnette said, “It’s a great result for us.” “We’ve been pleasantly surprised by our performance given the one-off competitive activity in July,” he said. “It’s testament to the great team and content at Seven West. The TV growth is also good to see and highlights the resilience and effectiveness of television.”

Surprisingly, Nine dropped two revenue points versus the same month last year.

The metropolitan TV ad market grew 3.2 per cent in July despite the overall media sector falling 1.5 per cent. This latter figure will likely move to “flat” when later digital numbers are processed.

Network Ten continued its renewal, recording its fifth consecutive month with a higher share than the corresponding month in 2014. Its revenue share was 24.4 per cent, up from 21 per cent in July 2014 and 23.1 per cent in June this year.

At the same time the improved ad revenue is finally catching up with better TV ratings for Ten. “The strong revenue and revenue share growth Ten experienced in July reflects the continued success of MasterChef Australia, The Project, The Living Room and other key Ten shows,” said Ten Network chief executive officer, Paul Anderson. “It reflects the ratings and audience growth momentum Ten has built this year as well as the hard work and passion of our Sales team. In a highly competitive environment, Ten’s revenue has grown well ahead of the TV advertising market which has encouragingly also shown growth in July.”

Seven leads the 2015 calendar year to date with a 39.6 per cent advertising revenue share ahead of Nine’s 38.0 per cent and Ten’s 22.4 per cent.