Media Prima Berhad announced today its first quarter results for the period ended 31 March 2019 (“1QFY19”).
As the media industry continued to face challenges within the current economic landscape, Media Prima’s commerce initiatives, led by its home shopping segment, maintained steady growth.
Media Prima Television Networks (“MPTN”) CJ WOW SHOP posted a 24% increase in total sales to RM54.5 million in 1QFY19 from RM44.0 million in the comparative period (“1QFY18”).
Nonetheless, tougher economic and operating conditions impacted the Group’s performance as a whole. Media Prima posted a 1QFY19 revenue of RM239.1 million against RM280.7 million in 1QFY18. T
The Group recorded a loss after tax (“LAT”) of RM42.8 million in 1QFY19 compared to RM23.0 million in 1QFY18 due to the decline in advertising expenditure and newspaper sales.
In the digital segment, Media Prima recorded RM17.4 million in 1QFY19 revenue against RM19.1 million in 1QFY18 due to slower growth from digital advertising and digital marketing early in the year.
According to Bank Negara Malaysia’s 1QFY19 report, the Malaysian economy expanded at a slower pace at 4.5% compared with 4.7% in the previous quarter and 5.3% in 1QFY18.
The report added that most sectors recorded slower growth in the three months period and that the Malaysian economy is expected to remain on a steady growth path.
Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad, Group Chairman of Media Prima, said: “As proven from past trends, we believe that these results are not reflective of the Group’s performance for the entire financial year.
“The 1QFY19 was a challenging period not only for the media sector as unfavourable macroeconomics conditions, such as weak consumer sentiment and lower gross domestic product growth, have affected various industries. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate better performance in the next quarter of the financial year as we align our business with the economic recovery.”
In the three months under review, Media Prima continued to diversify its revenue streams through investing in new growth areas across the Group.
This includes focusing more resources in eSports development and digital innovations in its traditional business segments.
Media Prima Digital, through its gaming division, MyGameOn, launched Malaysia’s first and largest eSports campus event, XPAX Kejohanan E-Sukan Kampus 2019, in collaboration with Kitamen and XPAX.
The event drew more than 17,000 visitors from six locations and recorded over 30 million impressions online with 2.2 million video views on Facebook and YouTube.
Malaysia is a fast-growing region for eSports and the Group believes that advertising revenue will move into this segment.
Earlier in the year the Group’s out-of-home (“OOH”) segment, Big Tree, launched Big+ which is an extension of the company’s OOH integrated offerings to expand audience reach via traditional and digital methods.
Through its three key offerings — geofence technology, image scanning technology and dynamic digital content — Big+ bridges the gap between awareness, consideration and purchase, increases engagement, and creates opportunities for target marketing and sequential messaging.
In content democratisation, the Group entered into a partnership with Southeast Asian digital entertainment service iflix.
The partnership will see over 1,000 hours of Media Prima’s content available on the popular video streaming portal for free following their linear television broadcast.
This will expand Media Prima’s digital reach across Malaysia and increase its online video views significantly. The Group’s total monthly online video views across all digital platforms stands close to 150 million.
The partnership with iflix will further provide easy access for consumers and open greater content monetisation opportunities for the Group through iflix’s ad-supported tier, iflixFREE.
As Media Prima rapidly embarks on digital-driven and commerce business strategies, its traditional media platforms continued to deliver substantial results to the Group.
In television, Media Prima continued to maintain its dominant broadcast position in Malaysia. TV3’s annual music awards show Anugerah Juara Lagu’s 33rd edition (“AJL33”), reached the attention of 6.3 million viewers, an increase from 6.1 million viewers last year.
The awards show garnered a total of 2.2 million views on TV3’s official YouTube channel. In content sales and distribution, Primeworks Studios sold over 70 titles and 500 hours of content to more than 10 platforms across 100 countries.
Datuk Kamal Khalid, Group Managing Director of Media Prima, said: “Structural changes in the media sector will continue to disrupt our traditional segments however our existing traditional brands still command an extensive reach and strong monetisation opportunities.
“While we will keep a close watch on our traditional businesses, digital and commerce revenue will remain our key focus areas in FY19.”
“We have become an established player in the digital realm having secured our leadership position for content on mobile devices in Malaysia. Moreover, we have been recognised as the ‘Digital Publisher of the Year’ at the d Awards 2019.
“Moving forward, we will continue to invest our resources in key growth areas as we are driven to see Media Prima become Malaysia’s leading digital-first content and commerce company,” added Datuk Kamal.
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