Stan ‘consolidating’ says new Nine chief Mike Sneesby

Subscriber numbers for Stan are ‘consolidating’ while sport is not quite performing as expected, new Nine CEO Mike Sneesby says.

Nine CEO Mike Sneesby says subscriber numbers are consolidating at Stan. Picture: Britta Campion

Subscriber numbers for Nine’s streaming service, Stan, are ‘consolidating’ in the post-Covid environment, while its sports streaming offering has seen lower subscriber numbers than expected, according to new chief executive Mike Sneesby.

Appearing at the Macquarie Australia Conference, Mr Sneesby, who held the top job at Stan before taking on Nine’s CEO role, said that while Stan Sport subscriber numbers were “slightly lower” than expected, average revenue per user was higher than anticipated.

Talked up as Australia’s new “home of rugby”, Stan Sport launched in early February, with subscribers able to sign up for $10 a month on top of their regular Stan subscription.

“I think what we’ll end up with versus our business plan is a slightly more revenue per subscriber on a lower number,” he said.

“But overall we’re tracking pretty much where we expected to be at this point, so we’re very happy with that outcome.”

Stan currently has 2.3 million active users, with close to 150,000 of those also subscribing to Stan Sport.

Mr Sneesby, who stepped into the CEO position at the start of April, said his focus while in the top job would be on cost-outs, growing the business and ensuring its financials remain solid.

“The way that we’re set up in terms of the cost-out for the business, particularly around the more traditional areas that aren’t in growth, and our focus back into growth areas of the business — digital, video on demand and subscription — all of that strategy … (is) very sound.

“As we’ve gone through the merger, we’ve gone through setting up the right cost base for the business, and we’ve gone about focusing in those digital areas, the next natural step for us is to ensure that we don’t become complacent about the strength of our cash flows and the strength of our balance sheet.”

The company was in a strong position financially, he said, as he pointed to long-term growth opportunities within the business.

“That‘s the key thing that you’re going to see from me as I take this business into its next phase.

“We’ll be building on that cost out program and making sure we right-size our cost base, focusing on growth, but really looking to the long-term opportunity and making sure we don‘t become complacent about the strength of our financials.”

Mr Sneesby expects Nine’s free-to-air revenue growth to hit 50 per cent in the June quarter. Costs for the year, meanwhile, are expected to be down 3 per cent.

Third quarter metro free-to-air market revenue was up 6 per cent on the prior corresponding period, with Nine’s share more than 41 per cent.

“Our business is in great shape. Our strong audience performance is flowing through revenue growth across all our core businesses,” he said.

Nine shares finished Tuesday’s session up 2.5 per cent at $2.89.