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Speaker 1: Now sky TV has posted a nineteen point three million

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Speaker 1: dollar after tax profit, but it says economic conditions remain challenging.

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Speaker 1: Its revenue is boosted by buying three for one dollar.

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Speaker 1: The chief executive is Sophie Maloney. High Sophie Hiver.

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Speaker 2: How are you doing.

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Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you. You've got to be happy with

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Speaker 1: how this has been received. I see your shares have

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Speaker 1: bumped up today.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot, we are. It's been a lot of

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Speaker 2: hard work, but really happy to be sharing the strong

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Speaker 2: results and in particular for our shareholders, you know, uplifting

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Speaker 2: our half yer dividend to the fifteen cents. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: a lot of work still to come, but yeah, really

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Speaker 2: happy with the result.

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Speaker 1: What are you worrying about? What is the warning in

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Speaker 1: the economy?

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Speaker 2: Look on the revenue side, the linear TV you know

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Speaker 2: isn't is a lot softer than we thought it was

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Speaker 2: going to be. And also you know, we know that

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Speaker 2: key we are still struggling with cost of living and

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Speaker 2: so we're really mindful of that. We have a team

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Speaker 2: who are all here trying to deliver the best value.

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Speaker 2: But I am you know, it's the concerns that we

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Speaker 2: always thought there might be some green shoots. But now

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Speaker 2: we're looking at an election year and the uncertainty that

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Speaker 2: that brings. So we've guided you know, our full year

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Speaker 2: guidance on the revenue side takes that into account.

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Speaker 1: What is up with the linear advertising? What's going on there?

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Speaker 2: Look, it's good, it's a good question. I think that

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Speaker 2: there's you know, we obviously bought TV three and three

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Speaker 2: now and we're going through that integration process, so we're

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Speaker 2: bringing the teams together. We're really excited about the advertiser

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Speaker 2: upfront that we hosted here in the week. The feedback's

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Speaker 2: been really positive, so I know the team will be

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Speaker 2: getting out there now to talk about the combined offer.

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Speaker 2: But so from our side, I think there's more to come,

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Speaker 2: and we need to make sure we're communicating the benefits

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Speaker 2: of TV advertising, particularly to build the power of brands.

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Speaker 2: But my team is going to be working hard, particularly

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Speaker 2: in Q Forarder, to see what we can do about

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Speaker 2: that trend.

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Speaker 1: Is it an advertising problem across all forms of advertising

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Speaker 1: or specifically TV advertising.

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Speaker 2: Look, my view of what we're seeing is that we've

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Speaker 2: seen that radio is performing well, so that's good, but yeah,

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Speaker 2: the TV side does seem to be suffering a bit

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Speaker 2: more than others. So I do think it's incumbent on

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Speaker 2: us to make sure that we're talking about that value

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Speaker 2: and allowing clients to see the benefits because we're now

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Speaker 2: actually switching on the data that's fueled our content deal

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Speaker 2: making to unleash that's for advertising clients. So that means

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Speaker 2: we can be much more targeted and effective in what

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Speaker 2: we're delivering for clients right across the network.

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Speaker 1: Hey, that is a significant drop off in the number

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Speaker 1: of Neon customers. What's going on there?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I think that, as we talked about a

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Speaker 2: week or so ago, Yeah, those Neon numbers are not

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Speaker 2: where we want them to be. The content that we've

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Speaker 2: had isn't driving the right level of acquisition and retention,

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Speaker 2: and hence are in a place of looking to some

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Speaker 2: new studio deals to fuel that pipeline and have a

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Speaker 2: steady drum beat of titles that are broader appealing. So

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Speaker 2: and there's also just the process of making sure that

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Speaker 2: Neon has a new glow. And so that's what you're

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Speaker 2: going to see from us in the in the coming

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Speaker 2: months and for the rest of the year. And so

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Speaker 2: certainly I'm hoping that we're going to see that improve.

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Speaker 2: It's certainly the lowest it's been since December twenty twenty,

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Speaker 2: so definitely definitely a place we needed to take some action,

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Speaker 2: and we are.

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Speaker 1: The reduction in the number of Skybox customers. Is that

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Speaker 1: just the usual thing that happens when we have an

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Speaker 1: economic downturn, people start to cut the costs.

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Speaker 2: Look, I think there's a year that definitely has an impact.

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Speaker 2: I think there are you know, customers are looking at

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Speaker 2: different choices. So we see skysport now has got great growth.

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Speaker 2: There will be some of that that's coming from the

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Speaker 2: box side of the business. And look, we've had a

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Speaker 2: pretty you know, we had a bit of a tricky

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Speaker 2: last year or so when we had Project Migrate that

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Speaker 2: disrupted our Skybox business quite significantly. We've come through that

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Speaker 2: and so I'm I'm looking forward to there being a

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Speaker 2: slowing of that decline. To be honest, I think we

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Speaker 2: can you know, nurture customers through. But but yes, the

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Speaker 2: economy certainly does have an impact. Where as customers make

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Speaker 2: tough choices.

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Speaker 1: Are you going to be affected in any way by

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Speaker 1: the paramount Netflix Warner Brothers deal.

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Speaker 2: Well, not in the not in the near term. I

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Speaker 2: mean which ever way it goes. Actually, even in the

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Speaker 2: longer run, no, because there's a plethora of studios that

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Speaker 2: we can work with. The great thing about our new

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Speaker 2: entertainment strategy is that we've got the financial flexibility to

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Speaker 2: go after individual titles with the backbone of the paramount deal.

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Speaker 2: But you know, there are other big studios out there

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Speaker 2: that we have relationships with, and including Sony, NBC Universal.

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Speaker 2: So No, in the longer run, we'll wait to see

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Speaker 2: with interest. I think it's going to be, you know,

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Speaker 2: a long time before there's clarity on that. And New

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Speaker 2: Zealand is at the bottom of the world. Heather and

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Speaker 2: and those studio deals they're made and made up in

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Speaker 2: the nor America and it takes a little while to

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Speaker 2: trickle down to this part of the world.

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Speaker 1: Now, I've got a suggestion for your viewing suggestion, but

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Speaker 1: having given your position in the company, I think you

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Speaker 1: might have already watched it. And my disclaimer is, Sophie

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Speaker 1: that I haven't watched this, but everybody else has. Have

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Speaker 1: you watched Heated Rivalry?

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Speaker 2: I have watched the first episode And why.

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Speaker 1: Did you bail out? Is it because the acting is

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Speaker 1: that bad? No?

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Speaker 2: I just to be honest, I haven't been able to

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Speaker 2: watch anything of late because it's been incredibly busy and

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Speaker 2: sport is back and so you know, I do have

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Speaker 2: to say four k UHC with Super Rugby has been

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Speaker 2: pretty fabulous, but of course we've got a worry is

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Speaker 2: coming back. So I had one recommendation for you, thank

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Speaker 2: you for the heated rivalry one. It's called The Lady.

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Speaker 1: Do you know what? Actually, Sophie, I was looking at

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Speaker 1: that and I was going to ask you if that's

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Speaker 1: any good, but I thought, this is not the kind

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Speaker 1: of crap that Sophie watches stuff about we do you

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Speaker 1: do Royal's hair?

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Speaker 2: No, she's well, she's the royal dresser, is Sarah Ferguson.

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Speaker 2: So apparently it's bad. So I'm going to recommend it

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Speaker 2: and maybe try and watch the thirst episode of that

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Speaker 2: this weekend too.

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Speaker 1: All Right, Sophie, thank you for the tip. Appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Sophie Maloney's sky TV chief executive. For more from Heather

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Speaker 1: Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be

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Speaker 1: from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio