Seven West launches round of media job cuts

Seven West Media has kicked off a round of job cuts as it grapples with rising costs.

Seven West Media has kicked off a round of job cuts, as the free-to-air television broadcaster grapples with a lacklustre advertising market and rising costs.

It is understood staff were told today about the voluntary redundancy program, which will focus on the television business.

Seven has forecast earnings to plunge by 20 per cent this financial year due to the costs of broadcasting the Rio Olympic Games and the network’s new AFL rights deal.

While Seven is the leading free-to-air network in ratings and revenue, the ad market has been under pressure this year, as global digital giants Google and Facebook take more of the pie and audiences increasingly move online to streaming services such as Netflix.

Seven’s West Australian newspaper also launched a redundancy program in recent months, while media companies more broadly have been cutting staff.