Seven West’s five-year fightback plan for print

Seven West Media will develop a five-year plan for its WA newspapers in the wake of a review by former Farifax boss Greg Hywood.

Seven West Media senior editor Anthony De Ceglie. Picture: Colin Murty

Seven West Media will develop a five-year plan for its newspapers in Western Australia in the wake of a review of the company’s print operations by former Fairfax Media boss Greg Hywood.

Executives at the Kerry Stokes-controlled media company were presented with Mr Hywood’s recommendations earlier this month, ahead of the release of Seven’s annual results on ­Tuesday.

The six-week review assessed the performance and commercial viability of every one of the company’s print titles across the state, including prominent mastheads The West Australian and The Sunday Times, and 31 regional and community newspapers, according to Anthony De Ceglie, editor-in-chief of Seven’s WA newspapers.

De Ceglie, who has overseen the introduction of a digital subscriptions platform over the past year, said Mr Hywood’s recommendations will “help inform a new five-year plan being put together by the West Australian Newspapers executive team”.

“The review was consistent with our philosophy to turbocharge our paywall offering while holding the line on our newspaper products,” De Ceglie told Media.

“I think there’s no doubt that while digital is growing, for now it’s vitally important for companies like West Australian Newspapers to produce cash-positive print products for as long as possible.”

He said digital subscriptions have been strong since the online paywall was introduced in June 2019, and the group hasn’t had to close any of its newspapers during the coronavirus crisis.

“We’re really proud of how well the paywall is going. We’re about 55 per cent above the in-house (subscriber) target we set for year one,” said De Ceglie, although he declined to provide exact subscriber numbers.

Former Fairfax CEO. Picture: Hollie Adams

Mr Hywood declined to comment on his review, and De Ceglie was tight-lipped on market speculation that Mr Stokes could privatise the newspaper division, noting it was a question for the 79-year-old billionaire businessman.

Investors will get to grill Seven chief executive James Warburton about the future of the newspapers division and its financial performance during COVID-19 when Seven reports its full-year financial results on Tuesday.

Seven, like most in the media industry, has been hit hard during the coronavirus crisis as brands slash advertising spending during the economic downturn.

It joined a growing list of media companies, including Nine Entertainment, Prime Media and oOh!media to dump its annual earnings guidance earlier this year.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has smashed Seven’s ad revenue and marquee events, with the Australian Football League suspended from March until mid-June, and the Tokyo Olympic Games, which was slated to start in July, delayed for a year.

Since taking over Seven from Tim Worner last August, Mr Warburton has sought to overhaul the media group by focusing on improving its TV ratings with shows such as Big Brother, Farmer Wants A Wife and Plate of Origin.

He’s also looked to pay down Seven’s $540m-plus debt by selling non-core businesses.

Seven has raised more than $140m from the sale of its radio and magazine businesses, and its Perth newspaper headquarters.

It also acquired a near 15 per cent stake in Prime Media in December last year by issuing new shares after its $64m merger with the regional broadcaster was blocked by WIN Corporation’s owner Bruce Gordon and Australian Community Media boss Antony Catalano.

Most recently, Seven renegotiated the terms of its $750m debt ­facilities with its bankers, easing liquidity pressure.