Seven’s suffering continues as FY25 accounts paint bleak picture
Seven West Media has suffered revenue and profitability drops in grim financial accounts that show the media company continues to rein in costs across TV and publishing. One bright spot was audience and revenue for its digital video product 7Plus, which grew strongly.
Seven’s overall revenue for the 2025 financial year dropped by 4%, to $1.35 billion, with earnings before interest and taxes down by 23%, from $151 million to $116 million.
Profits after tax fell by 62%, from $45 million in FY24 to just $17 million.
Total television revenue dropped by 5%, to $1.184 billion. Advertising revenue on its linear TV stations fell 8% from $995 million to $915 million, while 7Plus advertising grew by 26% to $166 million, from a $113 million base in FY24.
Advertising slipped by 7% in metro markets, and 5.8% in regional markets. The rest of the total TV revenue decline is due to the non-renewal of the Meta agreement from the prior financial year.
Earnings before interest and taxes in the TV division dropped 26% to $103 million.
Over at The West — the company’s west-coast media monopoly, which includes The West Australian, Sunday Times, Perth Now, The Game, and its east-coast digital play The Nightly — revenue dropped by 3%, from $175 million to $169 million, in line with a 3% drop in costs, while earnings before interest and taxes dropped by $2 million, or 8%, to $23 million.
Advertising revenue dropped by 7%, which was partly offset by a 4% rise in circulation revenue.
Seven’s FY25 results
Seven’s CEO and managing director Jeff Howard declared in an ASX release these results “reflect the execution of the strategy to kickstart growth”, and to that end the company’s operating expenses dropped 3% overall. This is despite an increase in net costs related to investment, which was up from $17 million in the prior year to $29 million.
Personnel costs in its TV division fell by 5%, while it paid 2% less for media content in FY25. Costs at the West Australian publications were also pulled back by 3%, to $142 million a year, which the network’s ASX filings said reflects “tight cost control and efficiency improvements across advertising, production and editorial teams.”
Seven also managed to pay down $14 million in debt, lowering this from $301 million at June 30, 2024, to $287 million.
Seven West Media’s media properties
Cashflow before temporary and capital items has fallen from $54 the prior year, to $47 million. One of these temporary outflow items was the building of the Phoenix total TV trading platform, which cost $15 million, while another $3.75 million was paid for the purchase of SCA’s regional TV assets.
“SWM successfully executed our expense reduction plan in line with guidance,” Howard said. “We continue to drive productivity and efficiencies without compromising content or editorial quality.”
The company’s cost-out program managed to claw back $108 million during the year, with a projected $35 million in savings expected in the current financial year.
Howard warned that FY26 will see an increase in costs related to its AFL broadcast, and incremental costs from the acquisition of Southern Cross Media’s regional TV assets.
Seven’s operating costs
The company delivered EBITDA growth of 6% in the second half of FY25, which is the first time it has posted half-year growth since FY22. It has forecast FY26 earnings of $161 million, which would represent a modest jump from FY25, and revenue in the range of $1.235-$1.245 billion.
The board will not pay a shareholder dividend.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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