While the industry debates the death of linear media, Media Prima is doing something far less dramatic — and far more strategic.
It’s making money elsewhere.
For the first quarter ended 30 September 2025 (1QFY26), Media Prima recorded RM198.9 million in revenue and RM1.6 million profit after tax, reflecting a 2% year-on-year revenue increase and a 12% rise in profitability.
But the real shift isn’t in the total. It’s in the source.
The growth came not from ads, but from non-advertising revenue, which expanded by 16%, cushioning a marginal dip in advertising income.
In a media landscape still emotionally attached to ad spend as its oxygen, this is an important signal:
Media companies that survive the next decade won’t be the best at selling ads — they’ll be the best at making ads irrelevant to their survival.
The Most Important Number Is the One Brands Usually Ignore
Most readers will skim past the 2% growth. They shouldn’t.
In an economy where advertising budgets are increasingly fragmented — spread across creators, platforms, retail media networks and performance ecosystems — consistency, not speed, is becoming the real currency.
Media Prima’s performance suggests a quiet pivot from a campaign economy to a platform economy.
A platform economy where value is generated through:
Three Growth Engines Rewriting the Model
1. Home Shopping: Where Content Finally Cashes In
Media Prima’s Home Shopping segment posted a 21% revenue increase, driven by higher TV-based sales and improved product offerings.
This matters more than the number suggests.
For decades, Malaysian broadcasters poured money into content hoping for ad wins. Now, content is becoming the shopfront itself.
Home shopping is not just teleshopping — it is trust commerce:
It’s not e-commerce chasing clicks. It’s relationship commerce.
A lesson here for marketers chasing TikTok virality: trust compounds, trends don’t.
2. Big Tree & OOH: The Revival of Physical Credibility
Media Prima’s Out-of-Home arm, Big Tree, recorded 7% revenue growth, driven by stronger display revenue.
OOH’s resurgence isn’t nostalgia — it’s strategy.
As algorithm-driven platforms become more cluttered, unpredictable and brand-unsafe, physical out-of-home offers three things brands increasingly crave:
There’s something audiences still correlate between size and seriousness. A billboard doesn’t just deliver reach — it delivers reassurance.
And in periods of economic caution, reassurance sells.
3. Broadcasting Beyond Spots: The New Utility
Broadcasting revenue grew 4%, driven again by non-advertising income.
This is where the shift becomes most telling.
Broadcast networks are transitioning from spot sellers, to content platforms, and now into cross-media utilities.
This means that licensing, content syndication, branded programming and strategic distribution partnerships are no longer side plays — they are quietly becoming just as important as traditional ad inventory.
For agencies and brands still treating broadcasters as buying points, this is a cue to update their thinking.
What Media Prima’s Strategy Signals To The Market
Chairman Datuk Seri (Dr) Syed Hussian Aljunid described the quarter as a reflection of resilience, guided by governance, operational efficiency and sustainable value creation.
Meanwhile, Group MD Datuk Rafiq Razali pointed to the role of collaboration across divisions and continued investment in digital, content and data capabilities — even amid pressure on overall advertising spend.
In simpler terms: This isn’t cost-cutting survival. This is structural repositioning.
And it’s happening while many agencies are still arguing over rate cards.
Lessons for Brands & Agencies
If you’re a brand marketer, agency leader, or media planner in Malaysia, here’s what this performance should trigger:
1. Stop Treating Media Owners as Vendors
Media companies are becoming ecosystems. If you’re still negotiating only CPMs, you’re missing collaboration value.
2. Rebalance Your “Digital Bias”
Growth is no longer purely digital-first. It’s trust-first, platform-first, and hybrid-first.
3. Think Revenue Ecosystems, Not Campaign Cycles
Media Prima is building earnings beyond spot sales. Brands need the same shift — beyond one-off launches and seasonal campaigns.
Beyond Profit: The Social Dimension
Amid its commercial performance, Media Prima also disbursed RM570,000 through the Media Prima–NSTP Humanitarian Fund for medical aid and community development in 1QFY26.
This matters because increasingly, performance without purpose doesn’t sustain reputation. And audience trust is still the most fragile currency of all.
The Bigger Picture: A Blueprint, Not Just A Report Card
Media Prima’s latest quarter is not a cheer — it’s a signal.
A signal that the future of Malaysian media will not be won by chasing more ad dollars, but by building more valuable ecosystems around audiences.
And for marketers, that might be the harder shift to accept.
Because ad budgets are easy to cut.
But ecosystems require commitment.
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