Good morning, everyone, and welcome to New Zealand Media and Entertainment's 2024 half year results webcast. My name is Kelly Gunn, GM Communications at NZME. Presenting on the call today will be Michael Boggs, NZME's Chief Executive Officer, and David Mackrell, NZME's Chief Financial Officer. All attendees will be in listen-only mode for the presentation, and then we will open the webcast to shareholders and analysts for questions. If you wish to ask a question, you can click Raise Hand at the bottom of your screen. I will then prompt you to unmute your microphone so you can speak. Please note that only participants joined from the webcast can ask a question. If you have any technical issues, please use the chat function on your screen and one of our team will help. I will now hand over to our CEO, Michael Boggs.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us as we take you through NZME's 2024 half year results. For those of you joining through our webcast, you'll be able to follow the presentation pack, which is in front of you on the screen now. Firstly, and as usual, I will go over the summary of our results and take you through some of the key highlights for the first six months of the year. I'll also discuss the current trading environment, our strategic priorities, and our market performance. David will then take you through the financial results for the half. Following that, I'll return to cover the performance of each of our divisions. That's OneRoof, Audio, and Publishing, concluding on the outlook for the remainder of 2024. As usual, Dave and I will be very happy to take any questions you may have.
Firstly, slide three has a summary of our results for the first half compared to the same period in 2023. I am pleased to report that our operating revenue increased by 3% to NZD 171 million for the first half of the year. This was a great result, especially given the challenges facing the New Zealand economy and its impact on the advertising market. I'll speak more about that shortly. As you'll see, operating EBITDA was NZD 21.4 million for the half. That's in line with the NZD 21.3 million in the first half of last year. The statutory net profit after tax was NZD 1.9 million, also substantially in line with last year, and our operating earnings per share was NZD 0.015 per share. Our cash flow from operations was NZD 12.1 million.
That's an increase of NZD 3.3 million on the same period last year. That meant that our net debt was NZD 1.6 million lower than 30 June last year. Now, this is higher than December, given the seasonal cash flows in the first half, which obviously include the final 2023 dividend that was paid in March. Additionally, the board has declared a fully imputed interim dividend of NZD 0.03 per share. That's consistent with last year. At the very heart of NZME's three-year strategy, which we've obviously spoken about previously, is digital transformation. This is focused on ensuring we continue our market-leading digital growth and innovation to deliver value for you, our shareholders. As you can see from the results on Slide 4, we've delivered digital growth across each of our three strategic pillars of OneRoof, Audio, and Publishing.
OneRoof has been a standout performer, with a 63% growth in digital listings revenue and a 70% increase in OneRoof listings upgrades. This highlights that vendors are seeing value in upgrading their advertising packages with us. In Audio, we've increased our digital audio revenue by 33%, demonstrating the value our advertisers are placing on our online audio platform, iHeartRadio, as well as in our leading podcast network. Total digital listening hours have also increased 14% year on year. In Publishing, we've seen a 13% lift in digital subscription revenue and an 11% increase in digital subscription uptake year on year. Value continues to be added to our digital subscription offering. These results are a clear demonstration of our digital-first strategy in action. NZME has outperformed the market in what has been very challenging market conditions for the media industry, both locally and globally.
The graph on the left of Slide 5 shows that for the six months to June, business and consumer confidence were at depressed levels, with high interest rates and inflation leading to lower consumer demand and reduced advertiser marketing spend. These challenges have led to a number of media industry participants making large-scale changes or in some cases, closing parts of their operations. The graph on the right shows NZME's performance against the market. The black dotted line shows agency advertising levels across the market over the past year. The blue line shows agency advertising spend at NZME over that same time. This demonstrates that we've been outperforming our media industry competitors in the agency advertising market. At the end of 2023, we refreshed our strategy, looking ahead to the next three years with, as we just discussed, digital transformation at the very heart of the strategy.
Our OneRoof business is focused on being your essential property platform. That means having a superior listings experience and performance via our channels, growing listings revenue, and accelerating our other non-listings product revenue. In Audio, we're committed to being number one in audio. We will achieve this by creating the most listened to and loved content, growing revenue share by delivering effective customer solutions, and growing podcast engagement and monetizing it. In publishing, we're focused on being New Zealand's leading news destination, with a scalable digital audience and advertising news platform, expert journalism to grow subscriber lifetime value, and continuing to have a high quality and efficient print business. We're really proud that at NZME, we attract Kiwi audiences like no other, reaching nine out of every ten Kiwis via our OneRoof, Audio, and Publishing platforms.
On slide seven, you'll see the number of people across the country who are engaging with our platforms. The top line shows engagement with our traditional media of either print or terrestrial radio platforms. The bottom line shows our digital audience engagement. As you'll see, there are substantial audiences across each of our market-leading platforms. The overall result of our digital-first strategy, demonstrated in the earlier slide, is the changing mix of revenue. On Slide eight, you'll see our strong focus has seen us grow our digital revenue from NZD 44 million in the first half of last year to over NZD 50 million this half. The growth is significant for NZME, with total digital revenue as a percentage of total revenue more than doubling since 2019.
It also reinforces the ongoing strength of traditional media, such as print and terrestrial radio, and the huge part that it continues to play in our business, so let me now hand you over to David to take you through the first half financial results.
Thanks, Michael, and thank you to everyone joining us on the call today. In the first six months, we have delivered solid profitability in a challenging market. As Michael mentioned, this stands us apart from others within the industry. Slide ten shows the performance of each division compared to the first half of last year. OneRoof has been the standout performer, with a significant growth in digital revenue, with increased listings, upgrades, and an increase in new listings coming to market. Audio's result was lower, with strong digital revenue growth offset by planned marketing and promotional spend and higher selling costs, given a temporary change in the revenue mix. Our digital publishing performance for the half was underpinned by continued subscriber growth. Print advertising revenue declines were partially offset by additional third-party print revenue. Now turning to our operating results for the half on slide 11.
Operating EBITDA of NZD 21.4 million was just ahead of last year, despite difficult operating conditions. Operating revenue was 3% higher, but this was offset by higher operating expenses. Advertising revenue increased by 3%, and reader revenue was also higher, driven by a 13% increase in digital subscription revenue, partially offset by print subscriber revenue, which was down 1%, and a 3% decline in retail sales. Operating NPAT was NZD 2.8 million for the half, just below the NZD 2.9 million in the previous corresponding period. Slide 12 highlights the key expense categories and shows that overall expenses were up 3%, largely due to higher selling and marketing costs incurred to achieve the revenue results. People costs were contained to a 1% increase, reflecting a continued focus on achieving business-wide efficiencies.
Print and distribution costs increased, reflecting higher levels of activity. This was particularly due to increased OneRoof print advertising and additional third-party print contracts. Selling and marketing cost increases for the half relate to a number of revenue-driven factors. These include a higher proportion of our overall revenue for the business going through the agency channel, which led to higher agency commission, and also higher audio marketing costs from planned promotional activity in the first half. Third-party fulfillment costs were lower, in line with a reduced focus on selling third-party digital performance marketing. Property cost increases relate to increased audio transmission costs. Our non-recurring expenses are at a similar level to last year and relate primarily to restructuring activity. Slide thirteen highlights the continued strength of the balance sheet. With the seasonal increase in working capital and net debt, the key change, the key changes compared to December.
Net working capital, excluding cash, was NZD 3.7 million higher than the previous year end. This was due to the seasonally higher tax receivable, which was partly offset by a lower paper stock inventory. Net debt increased by NZD 12 million to NZD 30 million over the half due to that increased working capital and payment of the 2023 final dividend in March 2024. Net debt was NZD 1.6 million lower than 30 June 2023. Turning now to the cash flows on Slide 14. Cash flows from operations totaled NZD 12.1 million, which was NZD 3.3 million higher than 2023. This was primarily due to a favorable working capital movement and lower tax paid. The movement is in line with, the movement that goes in the line labeled "Other" relates to a tax obligation on the issue of shares under a long-term incentive plan.
Capital expenditure was higher due to accelerated product development activity, which supports our continued digital transformation program and the purchase of a small regional media business. Distributions to shareholders of NZD 11.2 million relates to the final dividend for 2023, which was NZD 0.06 per share and paid in March. The graph at the bottom of page 15 highlights the changes in net debt and the leverage over the last six years, and in particular, the increase in June. The seasonal increase in leverage ratio remains within the target range of 0.5-1x EBITDA, and is consistent with the first half of last year. Net debt is projected to reduce by the end of 2024, with the leverage ratio returning to the lower end of the target range.
As we've said, the board has declared a fully imputed interim dividend of NZD 0.03 per share, which is payable on the twenty-fifth of September, 2024. I'll now hand back to Michael, who will take you through the performance of each division.
Thanks for taking us through that, David. So the first division we'll turn to is our property platform, OneRoof. We have a strategic focus on it being your essential property platform. Slide 18 highlights the progress on the three strategic pillars for OneRoof and recent progress. Listings performance has continued its strong growth, with a 29% increase in inquiries on listings year on year. The revenue growth is supported by the number of listings upgrades, which are up 70% on last year. We're also focused on growing non-listing revenue, with our display and native advertising up 13%. These highlights confirm the strength of the OneRoof platform for both agents and advertisers. Slide 19 shows OneRoof's monthly online audience compared to the number one in the market, shown by the black line.
You can see that we're continuing to do an excellent job of reducing the audience gap to that number one player, and it now sits at around 10%. Agents continue to tell us that they are achieving great results from the OneRoof platform and audience. Some of the operating highlights for the OneRoof business are shown on page 20. Total residential listings have reached more than 60,000, and we've demonstrated significant growth in Auckland, with total listings up 38% and listings upgrades increasing by 62% year on year. We're also pleased to report a 20% growth in listings across the rest of the country and an increase of 82% in listings upgrades. With the rest of the country representing two-thirds of the total real estate market nationwide, this continues to be a growth opportunity for us.
We remain focused on other key opportunities within the real estate sector, including rental, retirement and commercial property listings. In addition, the mix of higher value listing packages has improved yield by 7% during the year. OneRoof has been the standout performer, delivering both revenue and profitability growth to achieve a first half EBITDA of NZD 1.4 million, improving on the loss for the first half of 2023. Digital revenue increased by 63% due to increased listings upgrades and higher tier product penetration, driving a higher average yield. Building on underlying real estate listings market recovery, Auckland listings revenue achieved growth of 71%, while revenue for listings from the rest of the country grew by 84%. Print revenue also benefited from a recovering market, with year-on-year growth of 32%.
People cost increases reflect additional sales resource, as seen and in line with the second half of last year. Higher print and distribution costs supported the print revenue growth that we saw. Turning now to slide twenty-two, which highlights the very strong progress made on OneRoof's strategic priorities. As I've already noted, the audience gap is closing, listing inquiries are up, listing upgrades are up, and profitability has significantly improved. A key product development focus has been website optimization, including improved lead generation capture and adding new customer engagement features for agents. Product development is also underway on improved agent customer relationship management integrations and reviewing the user experience of the OneRoof app. We have continued our OneRoof marketing success by leveraging NZME's wider assets and platforms.
Our dedicated New Zealand-wide sales team has delivered excellent results, with listing upgrades up 62% for Auckland and 82% for the rest of New Zealand. We look forward to the summer months approaching, where we expect to see higher value homes coming to market, attracting a higher marketing budget. This is expected to see increased listing upgrade percentages. The total listings coming to market continue to be below historical norms by approximately 20%. This provides further opportunity for growth into the future. Let's now move on to our audio division, which includes our many radio stations, our digital audio platform, iHeartRadio, and our leading podcast network. Our strategic focus is to be number one in audio. Page 24 highlights some of the key achievements of our audio platforms. We're dedicated to creating the most listened to and loved content across all our radio brands.
One of the examples of this has been Newstalk ZB remaining the number one commercial radio station for the past 16 years. We're also delivering customer solutions to grow revenue shares, which includes leveraging NZME's wide portfolio of brands and talent, and aligning them with customer needs to create bespoke campaigns and brand engagement. Podcast engagement and revenue continues to increase, and NZME remains at the forefront of the content that is consumed. The operating highlights for our audio division are on slide 25. As you can see, our total podcast download numbers have continued to grow, reaching 48 million, and total listening hours has grown to over 90 million. Our total audio revenue share has continued to outperform our audience share, reflecting the strength of NZME's advertising solutions. Moving to slide 26, this sets out the audio financial results for the half.
The digital momentum continues, with digital audio advertising revenue growing by 33%. Broadcast radio revenue also grew by 1%. This was pleasing, given the total market declined slightly year-on-year. Overall, EBITDA reduced as a result of higher first half costs. Higher selling and marketing costs were the key driver, with planned first half spend to deliver benefits later in 2024. In addition, increased agency commissions were incurred with more revenue sold through this channel. We expect the direct customer market to improve as the economy does. Other expenses were higher, primarily due to increased transmission costs. Slide 27 highlights the key progress on the audio division's key strategic priorities. We've seen improvement in audience and revenue share, but there remains plenty more to achieve. Digital audio is continuing its strong growth, and we continue to feel positive about its trajectory.
We upweighted the marketing investment for The Hits, and this has delivered its highest audience since its 2014 brand launch. Sustained ZB and ZM share continues to underpin the total NZME audience reach. New shows, including Sports Cafe and The Mantoyas, strengthen the podcast content offering, adding to the existing roster of many popular shows. We have a focus on key genres to drive podcast consumption, including sports, comedy, and onboarding of the TED network content. Recent alignment with a leading audience targeting solution will deliver increased data capability, better customer solutions, and we believe increased revenue. Finally, coordinated industry collaboration is being used to advance audio advocacy, targeting key events and client decision makers. As I've noted, we have strong momentum with podcasting and digital listening, and we are continuing to simplify how we go to market to sustain the strong revenue growth.
Turning now to our publishing division, which has had a strategic focus to be New Zealand's leading news destination. Some key achievements of our publishing business are highlighted on page 29. In June, nzherald.co.nz was ranked the number one news website in the country based on Nielsen's online ratings. While this can fluctuate from month to month, we are pleased that we have closed the audience gap while still having a large paywall site. Digital subscriptions have grown 11% year-on-year, and our key print products are also ranked number one. The operating highlights for our publishing division are on slide 30. Digital subscriptions have increased over the last three years at a compound annual growth rate of 27%, with yield also improving. While the volume of print subscribers has reduced, yield improvements have offset much of this decline. The publishing financial results are presented on page 31.
Overall, reader revenue increased by 2%, driven by the strong 13% growth in digital subscription revenue despite the tough economic environment. Newspaper circulation revenue declined by 2%, with 3% lower retail outlet sales and print subscription revenues just 1% lower. Despite the market being down, digital advertising revenue grew, but at a slower rate. This growth was more than offset by print advertising declines and highlights the need to grow digital revenues faster as the market recovers. Our continued emphasis on efficiency and cost control delivered a net 1% cost reduction in the first half of this year. So in summary, the overall publishing EBITDA was 2% lower than the comparative period last year, driven by increased digital publishing earnings, almost offsetting the lower print publishing earnings. Let me show you that now.
Page 32 separates the financial performance of the distinct digital and print parts of the publishing business. The results demonstrate the digital business delivering a positive result on a standalone basis. Digital saw a significant improvement in profitability during the half. As a reminder, all editorial people and content costs are allocated to the digital business unless they are specifically and only for the print business. The print business is treated as a by-product and is only allocated the costs of transitioning digital content into the print product. On this basis, the print product continues to deliver a very strong EBITDA contribution. Slide 33 highlights the key progress on Publishing's 2026 strategic priorities. An enhanced subscription platform has been developed and will go live in the second half of this year. This includes a dynamic experience that will maximize subscriber lifetime value and open up new segments.
This will allow us to increase new subscriber targeting, accelerate acquisition, and improve retention. A redesign of the New Zealand Herald is rolling out alongside new homepage variants and personalization to increase audience engagement and build deeper reader relationships. Enhanced advertising experiences are being implemented with new high-impact ad units to improve yield and effectiveness. A new truly digital-first operating model has been embedded, with a focus on leveraging data and experiments to optimize story planning and selection. This is resulting in a more efficient operation. In addition, we're pleased with the performance of the print products and subscriber base despite its declines. The four graphs on page 34 support our cautious optimism in the near term. The graph on the top left shows that business confidence improved significantly in July.
As noted in the other charts, there has been a recent drop in the Official Cash Rate and lower inflation metrics. These suggest that market conditions are improving. Let me now cover off the operating environment outlook on slide 35. NZME delivered growth in advertising revenue of 4% in the first quarter of the year, however, this slowed in the second quarter to 2%. Quarter three is currently tracking to 1% growth year-on-year, reflecting the difficult trading conditions and reduced confidence levels that we have witnessed with the business community. This has seen the advertising market reduce year-on-year. We have already implemented initiatives to remove NZD 6 million of annualized cost, which will come into effect in the second half. We are heading into our largest quarter of the financial year.
Businesses are signaling their intention to spend as sentiment improves, and NZME remains well positioned to take advantage of this. As you've seen, OneRoof is continuing to deliver rapid audience, revenue, and profitability growth. However, the operating environment remains uncertain. Based on the current performance, NZME confirms it expects to be at the lower end of the EBITDA range previously issued of NZD 57 million-NZD 61 million. We are pleased to have declared an interim dividend at the same level as last year. There is significant seasonality of cash flow. Based on this and the current outlook, net debt is forecast to reduce to the lower end of the target leverage ratio at year-end. The board regularly reviews the capital management position of the company.
It continues to have a desire to operate at the lower end of the target leverage ratio, given the uncertain market conditions that we're operating in. I'd like to finish with Slide 36, which sets out how the key elements of our strategy will deliver superior returns. Our central objective is to relentlessly pursue a digital-led strategy across our three key platforms. As we've said, OneRoof has been a standout performer, with its digital growth meaning that it is now profitable, and we are confident that it can continue to strengthen its share of a sector which has a large profit pool. We are getting real traction on our leading podcast position in New Zealand, and this will drive future digital revenue growth. Our strong position in news, politics, and business continues to grow strongly and is improving our audio profitability.
Finally, we continue to invest in our digital publishing platform and a new business of journalism operating model. We believe this will provide us with a very different and superior capability relative to our competitors, one that supports journalism for future generations. Now, that concludes our presentation. David and I would obviously be very happy to take your questions.
Thank you, Michael and David. We'll now open the webcast for any questions from shareholders. If you'd like to ask a question, please click Raise Hand on your screen, and I will unmute your microphone for you. Please, can we ask that you ask just one initial question and one follow-up, if you wish, to ensure everyone gets an opportunity to ask their question. If you have another question to ask after that, can we ask that you rejoin the queue so we can give others the opportunity to speak? Our first question is from Arie Dekker. Thanks, Arie.
Oh, good morning, and thanks for a very clear presentation. Just starting with OneRoof, can you just sort of give an indication of your comfort that OneRoof can maintain that positive EBITDA in second half and possibly build on the momentum, you know, what sort of key risks to that outcome would be? And then also just in relation to OneRoof, what you're generating in terms of non-listing revenues as the digital proposition progresses.
Well, good morning, Arie, and thanks for your questions and attendance. Yeah, as we sit here today, we are, you know, confident of OneRoof's performance and how it moves into the second half of the year. Second half last year, I think we did have a small profit for OneRoof, and we would expect, you know, to see a definitely a gain on the first half of this year. Dynamics will really come down to what's happening with the property market. What we've seen in the first half is, you know, initially a large number of properties coming to market, and then it's been quite quiet for the last couple of months, and much of that has been lower-value properties who don't spend as much on marketing.
We do see that momentum right now changing, I think driven by interest rates coming down a bit, and would expect to see the market improve in the second half of the year. One of the things I think we've also called out, and, you know, it'd be nice to see it this year, but it certainly will be in the years ahead, as listing volumes coming to market are still 20% down on historical averages. So, there's still plenty more momentum to be built and inventory to come to market in a normal, much more normal market.
Yeah, and just in terms of that non-listing revenue?
Yes, so, the non-listing revenue, as you will have seen, was up, I think 13%, during the period. It's certainly the smaller component now of listings upgrades, but it's an area that we're continuing to see more and more interest from advertisers wanting to be on the platform, as we bring more functionality to the site. So we do think we'll continue to see good growth there.
Yeah, and then just the only other question I'll ask, and I'll go back into the queue, I guess. Just on the cost out, I mean, it's good to see those targets. Can you just give a bit of a sense of where those savings will be focused? I mean, presumably not much in OneRoof. And then also, how much of the benefit will flow through in second half versus, you know, into next year, and whether you expect any significant exceptional costs as part of it?
Thanks, Arie. So just in terms of that, so they, those initiatives have been implemented. So, in terms of the benefit, that will flow through to the second half, you know, well, GrabOne's quite early on in the second half. And then in terms of it, it has had. You know, we haven't impacted the resources around OneRoof, so we continue to see that momentum of growth there, and it won't affect that outcome. And what we have looked at is areas where we've improved efficiencies, and probably two-thirds of that, you know, has come from people cost and the balance from other areas we're able to, you know, create more efficiencies in the business.
Sure. And so have the exceptional costs been realized in the first half?
No, some will be at the start of the second half, but they're not significant.
Thank you.
Thanks, Arie. We now have a question from Roger Colman. Thank you, Roger.
Morning, Roger. Are you on mute, Roger?
All right. We might just move on to the next question, which is from James Lindsay. Thanks, James.
Thanks, gents, and well done, as I say, on a good result for the period. Just on carrying on those conversations on costs in Audio, transmission costs obviously lifted quite a bit, I think 89% or so. Can you just give us an indication of sort of the next few years for transmission costs there? And then, secondly, just following on from that, the conversation about OneRoof for the second half and carrying on, just with regard to your expectations on price. Your sort of headline premium listing is obviously at quite a discount to the leader in the market, so just interested in where you'll take that.
So just, I'll take the transmission costs, James. In terms of that, part of it will flow out and reduce in the second half, and part of it relates to the inflationary pressures around the maintenance of sites and the servicing of sites, which are, you know, coming from a supplier to us. So they were, you know, higher over this last six months. That inflationary pressure, I suspect, will continue, but there is a portion of it which was specific to the first half, which won't flow into the second half.
And James, with regard to your OneRoof question on price. Price isn't something we are pushing with regards to OneRoof. As you mentioned, we are significantly lower than the number one in the market. Our focus is actually twofold. I guess one, getting deeper penetration of listing upgrades, and so we definitely don't want price to be a deterrent for that. And then secondly, to actually sell higher-value packages because when we do that, we can then prove the power of the platform even more. So right now it's about gaining share, and that's what our focus is.
And just to follow up on that, just what do you think is sort of holding back getting, yeah, very high penetration? I mean, obviously, you've made really good gains in that premium listing side of things, but where is the roadblock? Because is it from the customer perspective or at the agent level?
Probably twofold. One is, you know, customers will spend money when they think they're gonna sell their house. If they don't think they're gonna sell their house, they might not spend the money. So that's part of it, so we need to be back into a cycle of people thinking they're going to sell a house. Now, obviously, we'll be saying to customers, "Well, if you don't spend any money, you're not gonna sell your house on marketing," so you get into a little bit of a circular there, but definitely when properties are selling, people are prepared to spend more, so you know, that would be a good place to be, and then the other thing is, it's actually the agent who does the selling for us.
And so it is a numbers game of getting around the agents and starting with, you know, the top agents, and then making sure that you can bring all the others with you. And that's just the process we're continuing to go through.
Great. Thanks for that. And then just last one from me before we go back in the queue. Yeah, thanks for slide five with regard to the sort of your revenue versus the rest of the market. That's good information. Just interested in your thoughts about the sort of specifics about what's driving your significant outperformance.
I genuinely think it is the ability for us to package up all of our products. So it'll be very rarely that we sell, "Would you like a radio schedule or a print schedule or a digital schedule?" We approach the market with, "What's the business problem you're trying to solve? Here's some content that will work across all of our platforms," and that allows us to get a larger share.
Great. Thanks very much.
Thanks, James. And now we'll just go back to Roger Colman. Sorry about that, Roger. Go ahead with your question.
Just got a query on the traffic gap to Trade Me property, and it's to do with their. If I include their rentals, which is about 22% of their total listings, including rentals, and your ratio is only 11%. I make the net gap that you're leading them already, but only if there's no editorial traffic thrown into the OneRoof UV data you've presented.
Mm-hmm.
So the question I've got is, what do you think your percentage of your traffic is editorial, granted? And, if it's not much at all, possible implications is you're already ahead of them.
Yeah, I think, you know, I'd love to be able to dig into that further, and so, you know, in some regards, it can be, you know, a bit of a blunt metric. So as you say, rentals aren't a focus for us from a driving monetization at the moment, and as with many other areas, whether it be commercial, rural, and so on, we do have, you know, a number of those listings on our site, but it's not an area we're really pushing hard and focused on, but it will be. Similarly, from a, you know, the number one player, they don't have as much editorial as we have. So there are ups and downs in each.
Editorial would be less than 20% of our overall audience, but as you say, they'll be having a lot more from a rental and other products than us.
Right. So I've got a conclusion to come from that. What do you think the value of your cross promotion is to the OneRoof arithmetic, the profit and loss balance sheet?
Yeah, it's not something I've tried to work out because we don't cost it across the business that way, and you know, we'd just be having to look, I assume, at what a Trade Me does or a Realestate.co.nz does, which I'm sure would be, you know, a number of millions of dollars in total.
I've got one very quick one, which is to do with radio. Culturally, you don't seem to have ever made it big time in ratings and therefore revenue share in the music segment. Is it logical to keep one complete pyramid structure in the radio and, or else have a two-pyramid structure to culturally get into the music advantage that MediaWorks, RadioWorks has got?
Yeah, I think, well, firstly, overall, we do have higher revenue share than we have audience share, so I might debate with you the first thing you made about we haven't been able to be successful in music, 'cause we are getting.
Yeah, yeah. I understood that.
Yes.
That's given, but.
Yeah. The key thing for us is two brands, The Hits and Coast. ZM is in the top five in the twenty-five, fifty-four. In fact, it's leading it, and so it's the next two stations, which are our focus stations on improving performance overall, and we have a couple of people very focused on that.
Okay. Thank you very much. I'll come back later.
Thanks, Roger. We just have a couple of written ones from Dennis Shaw. The first is excellent progress on OneRoof, particularly on the margin profile of 8% within the first semester, breaking out of unprofitable territory. This is strong validation that the 15%-25% EBITDA margin range is quite achievable. How do we think about the fixed cost portion of OneRoof's expense base? Is it mostly fully in place? Asked in another way, how should we think about the incremental margins from here as revenue continues to grow?
Thanks, Dennis. So as we've talked about in terms of layering in the cost for OneRoof, we put a lot of that cost base in last year, in terms of making sure we had the right size around the sales resource in particular. And you know, the growth in that cost base is relatively small moving forward. So as we've said before, we expect that leverage to, you know, create improved margins and, you know-
. hence the target margin range of 15%-25% that we have there for 2026. So, to your point, absolutely, we expect that leverage to translate to improved margin.
I think the only thing I would add to that, David, and for you, Dennis, is as we go up some of the higher packages in OneRoof upgrade, some of that money we do pay on to third-party platforms to ensure we get further reach. That becomes less of a requirement as the OneRoof audience grows and, you know, the gap to number one grows and the inquiry generates. So firstly, it's every dollar's still incremental as we go up the packages, which means the margins will improve as revenue grows, because the costs are substantially fixed, other than that piece we might put onto third-party platforms, and then secondly, in the future, we expect to put less on those third-party platforms because we have the audience, so again, we would see that improving margins.
Yeah, we're feeling very confident about the 15%-25% margin range.
Just another follow-up on OneRoof from Dennis. Regarding average yield on OneRoof, it's hard to eyeball those charts. What was the year-on-year percent growth in Auckland yields compared to the rest of New Zealand? Qualitatively, how do these yields in each region compare to our big competitor? That will inform how we think about the growth in yields in each region over the near term.
Yes. So sorry, Dennis, I don't have those percentages with me, but what I can tell you is, these are fractions of our competitor. So, you know, it would, you know, you can see there for Auckland, you know, an average yield of less than NZD 500, for example, whereas you'd look at our, you know, main competitor will be up at NZD 1,500-NZD 2,000, for example, and beyond. I don't know, David, if you had any more you wanted to add on yields, or?
Yeah, we have grown. The Auckland yields have grown at a higher rate overall, and they grew by about 10.
Thanks, Dennis. We'll now go back to Arie Dekker, who has a follow-up question.
Oh, thanks. Yeah, just a couple of publishing-related questions. Firstly, just on display advertising revenue and publishing. Can you just sort of confirm that you're sort of comfortable with your share there, and just what you're sort of seeing on the display advertising and publishing? You know, 'cause it has been a bit flatter. And then just in terms of the corporate yield, it's good to see some stabilization there. But just what you expect to. I mean, do you expect to see that growing in the next twelve months, and do you have an immediate target for that yield, and what sort of level is it?
Yes, I'll take those, if you like, David. So, on the digital advertising, the way we look at it is through the IAB data, which shows we are growing our overall share of digital revenue. So as you see, while we're up 1%, the market is down multi percentage points, and so we are pleased to be growing that. And I think we've, you know, spoke about this probably, earlier this year, is digital, you know, seems to be the one that can be switched on and off quicker by advertisers, actually. So they're making their decisions very quickly as to whether they're spending, you know, today or not. And, as the market's been tough, it's been the one that they've been deciding to, you know, not spend on as much.
So that is one we would expect to see improvement on, as the market improves. And then on the yield on corporate subscribers, yes, so that has been a key focus for us, improving yield. We don't have a specific forecast, but we would, even with just the work that's going on, you know, in recent months, seeing overall yields actually going up. The other thing that's happening, as I mentioned, is we've got a new paywall software going in in the next month, and that will allow us to open and close stories based on your propensity to pay. It will allow us to target different segments. It'll allow us to offer different pricing for overseas subscribers.
So I think we'll be much more dynamic, and we expect to see an acceleration in digital subscription growth.
I know, that's excellent. Thank you, and don't worry, you've already got me paying. You're the way you take money out by stealth is very effective.
Excellent. We'll just work on the yield now.
Thanks.
Thanks, Arie.
Thanks, Arie. We have another follow-up from James Lindsay.
Yeah, well, that ties in beautifully into what I was going to ask, just with regard to yeah, in the publishing side of things as well, and price. Just yeah, progress in print, just with regard to sort of lifting that headline, well, yeah, well, price versus the headline rates, your expectations of progress on that, and, and, you know, relate that to the economy at the moment?
Yeah. So, I mean, as you'll see, we, the yield price continues to move up. NZD 2, you can see on the right-hand side there, versus, say, NZD 5 is a headline price of a print subscription, so we do continue to push that. And it is managed, as you'll know, to the individual. In the last twelve months, we have had a yield increase of 8% for our print products, and so that's where we're continuing to push as hard as we can.
. And, given where the economy is, just with regard to, you always do a particularly good job, or known to do a particularly good job on win back rates and things like that for people that do. Is there any sort of trends in the economy on that, or you're expecting that to be able to be improved if the economy does see some tick up in the next six, 12 months?
Yeah, I think we would see an improvement. Having said that, you'll see on slide 33, our print subscription volumes are 89,000. We started at 92,000. That did include some removal of some New Zealand Post weekend deliveries. And so we think that rate's, you know, been pretty good in the first half, but I think if the economy improves, we'd see it improve even better.
Yeah, and then just lastly, on the digital side of things, just, your view, of growing price there over sort of the next two or three years?
Yeah, I think price would come from some of the new targeting solutions that we're putting in, so it's not a direct focus. You know, right at the moment, we'd just like, you know, obviously the market to improve and us continue to hang on to the larger share we're getting, but a number of the advertising units are now highly targeted, which are allowing us to get a larger yield, and that is beginning to flow through.
Right. That's it for me, and, you know, well done on a pretty tough environment to produce, you know, pretty commendable results. So well done.
Thanks, James.
Thanks, James. And we have another follow-up from Roger Colman.
Gentlemen, a couple of quick statements from you. What's happening with Google money? And that's number one. Number two, in terms of, shareholder polling in respect of, Trade Me, OneRoof, obviously the tension between people who want to see profits, and people who want to see reinvestment. So what's your view of, what the company will do and what it recommends to shareholders?
Right, so a couple of questions there. Thank you. So, firstly, we're obviously supportive of the legislation that the government is working through at the moment. That's the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. Some of the things that, you know, we're making sure we talk to the government about is to ensure that it includes artificial intelligence. So initially, the view is from the global platforms, like a Google, is that the legislation doesn't. Our belief is that legislation does include reach through to artificial intelligence, and so therefore opens it up to a number of other players would be captured by it. We're expecting to hear that, more on that, you know, in the coming weeks even. And it would be in place next year.
We're looking forward to that bringing lots of people to the bargaining table. I think it's an important piece of legislation that Paul Goldsmith's working on at the moment. With regard to OneRoof, I think it's a fine balance. We're wanting to ensure that we continue to grow it as quickly as possible and deliver on profitability, because we want to prove that it is a profitable, sustainable business, which we've obviously done in the first half of this year, and now we want to deliver the growth for it. I think, you know, the other argument obviously is invest more, maybe, incur some losses for a few more years to then have a much bigger business.
I think we have a real mix of shareholders who are saying, "Actually, you've invested a lot already. Prove that it works and deliver us some value from it." So, you know, we're sort of walking a tightrope down the middle of that.
Okay. And just a quick, quick rider to that. CapEx for 2025, will it still be around the NZD 10 million range, or you can get it lower after a bit of a pick up now in this fiscal year?
Yeah, I think certainly in that sort of NZD 10 million-ish range. I'm not sure it'll go a lot lower. I think that represents about the level which I would expect us to track at. We're certainly a little bit ahead of that for the first half of this year, as we've got a number of projects in place, but I would expect us to be at a similar level next year, Roger.
Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen, and well done in the economic circumstances. If there is a recovery, it should have a boom in calendar 2025. Is that right?
We're with you, Roger.
Yeah. Okay, then, I'll sign off. Thank you.
Thank you. All righty. That brings to the end of our Q&A. Thank you all for joining us. Just while I've got everyone here, I wouldn't mind just doing a shout-out to the NZME team. It's been a big half. Everyone's had to work really hard, and the team should be really proud of the results. As usual, there'll be a recording of this presentation on our website later today. But to our shareholders and those on the call, thanks again for your support of NZME. We'll be catching up with some of you over the coming days and weeks, and so we look forward to that. We're also in our planning mode for an update to all shareholders at our Investor Day, currently planned for November.
We'll be able to present more of an update with 2024 and beyond, and how we're gonna deliver further on the strategic priorities and the three-year plan we've laid out. Thanks again, everyone, for your interest and your support. Have a great day.