Media Prima seeks revenue growth from non-traditional media

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's integrated media company, Media Prima Bhd, is seeking to grow its digital and non-traditional revenue streams through strategic business initiatives following a challenging outlook on traditional media.
Group Chairman Datuk Seri FD Iskandar said the company had launched a number of key ventures last year that were 'Business to Consumers' in nature such as home shopping platform, CJ Wow Shop, the revamped online video streaming subscription service, tonton, mobile gaming and digital lifestyle applications for mobile users.
He said more recently, the company had also announced the acquisition of REV Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd which significantly strengthened Media Prima's digital reach to derive revenue from the growth in digital advertising.
"The company had initiated key initiatives in 2016 to enable new revenue streams while we consolidate our market share in the core advertising revenue," he said in a statement today.
FD Iskandar said the company anticipated a prolonged period of market stagnation, with a flat or lower advertising revenue recorded by media platforms with the exception of our Out-of-Home and Digital platforms.
"Factors such as customer fragmentation, technological advancements, a shift in traditional advertising to digital media advertising and increased competition from new entrants and global media players continued to pose challenges to the company during the first quarter of 2017," he said.
Group Managing Director Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin said the traditional media industry was facing declining advertisement expenditure following tough macro economic conditions, increased competition, technology disruptions and changes in consumer behaviour.
"The expected outlook for 2017 is equally as challenging. Nonetheless, we are cautiously optimistic about the potential of our new business initiatives even though they remain in a period of gestation," he said.
Amrin added the company planned to derive additional revenue streams by expanding its market base into regional markets via its television, content production and out-of-home businesses.
Meanwhile, he said the acquisition of Rev Asia, which was already profitable, was expected to contribute positively to Media Prima's digital business, moving forward, once completed.
He said the company planned to bank on the new skill sets obtained from the recent acquisition to further boost its revenue via digital advertising.
"The acquisition also resulted in Media Prima having the third highest digital reach in Malaysia behind only to Google and Facebook," he added.
Media Prima recorded a pre-tax loss of RM39.36 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2017 from a pre-tax profit of RM21.29 million recorded in the same period last year.
Revenue declined to RM272.2 million from RM304.06 million previously. – Bernama