Revenue is up for ARN, but so are costs

ARN parent company HT&E has released its half year results to the stock exchange.
 
Its brands, which include the KIIS Network, Pure Gold Network, iHeartRadio, The Edge96.One and Mix106.3 Canberra, reach over four and a half million listeners each week.
 
HT&E says that in a radio market that is up by 5.9%, in the first half, ARN outperformed the market, with revenue growth of 7% year on year of $118.0 million.
 
Cost growth, however, has exceeded revenue growth, with costs up 11% to $80.3 million, even considering a reduction in licence fees.
 
ARN continues to target ratings and revenue growth by recruiting and retaining what they see as the best radio talent in Australia.
 
This includes strengthening the Melbourne and Perth markets, with an expanded digital offering and iHeartRadio as key strategic pillars.
 
At the start of 2018 ARN launched new breakfast shows on KIIS in Melbourne and 96FM in Perth.
 
A new national KIIS drive show commenced in January, and in June the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show launched on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne.
 
Despite an initial decline in ratings from the highs of 2017, ARN now feels its stations have delivered steady ratings improvements.
 
WSFM Sydney achieved its best result in 20 years with its number one FM rating, while Jonesy & Amanda remain the number two FM breakfast show, only behind Kyle & Jackie O who have held the top FM breakfast spot for 22 consecutive surveys.
 
Gold in Melbourne was number one FM overall, with the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show getting to number two FM in its first survey.
 
Adelaide retained its clear number one overall position, a spot they have held for 17 consecutive surveys.
 
ARN’s iHeartRadio “The 80s” was the #1 DAB+ station in Australia, while The Edge was #1 Sydney DAB+ station.
 
iHeartRadio app downloads now exceed 1.7 million with more than 1.1 million registered users and  ARN is now commercialising their iHeartRadio audience utilising dynamic advertising insertion technology developed by AdsWizz.
 
There are plans to further expand the iHeartRadio offeriing.

Chief Executive,Ciaran Davis says the radio and audio assets have “a good future” but, if the right offer comes for the business, HT&E will look at it.

With the AdShell sale, the company demonstrated it can drive shareholder value. “Equally, if an offer comes in for ARN, we’ll have the same attitude,” said Davis.

 

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