SIGNIFICANT RISE IN MPB DIGITAL AD REVENUE

Media group posts positive Ebitda of RM2.2m

MEDIA Prima Bhd (MPB) recorded a significant increase in digital advertising, digital content and commerce revenue in the three months ended March 31.

This helped the leading integrated media group to post positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of RM2.2 million with net loss decreasing 44 per cent for the three months.

MPB had written off major exceptional items last year to start the year on a clean slate.

The group said the positive results reflected the progress of its transformation efforts, coded Odyssey, to become Malaysia’s leading digital-first content and commerce company. They include creating more digital content and applications, capitalising on intellectual properties and sale of content to new markets.

“These initiatives have begun to translate to margin enhancements in the first quarter,” it said yesterday.

MPB’s revenue increased 3.1 per cent to RM280.7 million in the first quarter, from RM272.2 million a year ago.

It recorded a lower net loss of RM23.0 million compared with a RM41.4 million net loss in the first quarter of last year.

MPB, currently in third place in terms of digital access in Malaysia, recorded a 98 per cent rise in digital segment contributions in the first quarter. This was contributed by higher advertising revenue from Rev Asia Holdings, Southeast Asia’s largest digital media company bought by the group in August last year.

For the commerce segment, revenue from CJ Wow Shop rose 58.8 per cent to RM44 million, from RM27.7 million in the first quarter of last year.

The home-shopping business increased its customer base by 19.8 per cent to 771,300 buyers during the quarter.

For the Media Prima Television Network (MPTN), tonton remains the number one online video service in Malaysia with registered users increasing 2.6 per cent to 7.8 million in the three months.

The popular over-the-top platform, which is also available in Brunei and Singapore, continues to grow by 18,000 users weekly. The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Bhd has benefited from the group’s digital-first strategies by focusing its efforts on digital publishing.

According to Google Analytics, Harian Metro’s website recorded more than 8.6 million monthly average unique visitors for the first three months this year, maintaining its position as the number one website for news and information in Malaysia.

Berita Harian website ranked second with a total of 6.1 million monthly average unique visitors in the first quarter.

MPB believes the Odyssey strategy will continue to drive its recovery.

The group plans to speed up revenue generation by maximising major assets and simultaneously diversifying new revenue sources.