In his first media interview since chairman Peter Costello resigned after an altercation with a News Corp journalist, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby says the company’s eight-year bet on the Olympic and Paralympic Games is paying off.
The Australian Financial Review reports Sneesby saying that the network will bank $135 million in advertising revenue for the upcoming Paris Olympics, and insists it will turn a profit.
Sneesby said Nine is sending far fewer people to Paris to produce 16 times more footage than it did in 2012 at the London Olympics, when Nine last held the broadcast rights.
Nine spent $305 million to acquire the Olympic rights from Seven, and have broadcasting rights from Paris in 2024 through to Brisbane in 2032.
Sneesby assures Nine have filled its “torch” and “flame” sponsorship packages, which were valued at $12.5 million and $10.5 million respectively.
Toyota, Woolworths, Harvey Norman, and NRMA Insurance have signed up.
“We’ve now written $135 million of revenue across the Olympic and Paralympic Games. From a revenue point of view, that now guarantees that Nine will be profitable on the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Sneesby said.
“We’re taking into account all costs of the games, the production, the rights’ acquisition costs and all other associated costs involved.”
“For Paris, we will be taking 123 to cover our television broadcast production – so less than half the number of people on the ground,” he added said.
“We will produce over 5000 hours of programming just across Nine and 9Now.”
Just over 200 people from Nine will be in Paris, Sneesby said, which includes 18 from Nine News, 18 from radio, 18 from the mastheads, and 20 to 25 from the executive team and Stan.
“The impression might be that it’s a fun and luxurious trip. In fact, it’s going to be jam-packed with official duties,” he said. “There’s certainly no [Nine] executives that are travelling to the games for the purpose of spectating.”
Sneesby’s confidence in Nine’s profit from the Olympics comes as The Australian reports Nine is facing a “Games blowout.”
The News Corp masthead reported that the company is staring at a potential $60 million loss from its Paris Olympics broadcast.
Several sources told The Australian that Nine’s total Games costs come to at least $120 million – including $100 million on its broadcast deal with the Internal Olympic Committee plus $20 million “or more” in production costs.