Nine's Sneesby hits out at Meta over content deals but keeps cards close on costs
The head of Australia's largest domestic media company has criticised Facebook's parent Meta for walking away from deals with news publishers but declined to detail how the company would manage the fallout.
Nine Entertainment Co chief executive Mike Sneesby has publicly criticised social media company Meta for walking away from lucrative licensing agreements with Australian news publishers, but declined to elaborate how his company will make up the shortfall if its own deal expires.
In a wide-ranging discussion with Macquarie analyst Darren Leung in Sydney on Wednesday, Sneesby attacked Meta's decision to walk away from deals it struck with news publishers in 2021 under federal government legislation and highlighted the performance of Nine's content on Facebook. “We’ve all seen a very disappointing approach to negotiations with Australian media companies from Meta,” Sneesby told investors at the Macquarie Australia Conference on Wednesday.
“But for us, we’re very confident in the volume of content that has been exploited on Facebook’s platforms. Nine’s video generates over 5 billion views on Facebook’s platforms, has been growing at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of over 50% per annum,” he said. “So there is a material value exchange [that] has taken place.”
But Sneesby would not be drawn on how the company would manage costs in its publishing business if its Meta deal, estimated to be worth in excess of $20 million a year to the company is renewed, and as it confronts a weak advertising market.
