Latest news with #MikeSneesby
Zawya
12-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Saudi: MBC Group achieves $70.26mln profits amid solid revenue growth in Q1-25
Riyadh - MBC Group generated 117.27% year-on-year (YoY) higher net profits at SAR 263.51 million in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, compared to SAR 121.28 million. Earnings per share (EPS) increased to SAR 0.70 in Q1-25 from SAR 0.33 in Q1-24, according to the financial results. The revenues amounted to SAR 2.04 billion as of 31 March 2025, an annual leap of 65.39% from SAR 1.23 billion. Quarterly, the Q1-25 net profits climbed by 50.05% from SAR 175.61 million in Q4-24, while the revenues soared by 64.86% from SAR 1.23 billion. Mike Sneesby, CEO of MBC Group, commented: "Our first quarter results underscore MBC Group's market leadership, with solid revenue growth and robust profitability driven by peaks in viewership and advertising during Ramadan.' Sneesby added: 'Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in long-term business growth and sustainable profitability, prioritizing premium content that resonates with our audiences, and harnessing AI to streamline operations and enhance personalization, all while maintaining clear, disciplined engagement with our investors.' As of 31 December 2024, the net profits of MBC Group jumped by 2,327% YoY to SAR 426.13 million. Source: Mubasher
Arab News
08-04-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Sam Barnett to step down as CEO of MBC Group
DUBAI: Sam Barnett is stepping down as CEO of MBC Group after more than two decades with the company. He will be replaced by Mike Sneesby, the former CEO of Australian media network Nine Entertainment. Barnett will join Central European Media Enterprises as its CEO. He will be based in Prague and oversee the company's 46 TV channels and streaming platform Voyo. Both men will take up their new roles on May 1. 'Sam Barnett has played a key role in growing our group into a regional market leader within the competitive media and entertainment industry,' MBC Group Chairman Waleed bin Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim said. 'Looking ahead, we have ambitious growth and expansion plans and I'm confident that Mike Sneesby, along with our stellar team, will propel the group to new heights.' Before heading up Nine Entertainment, which runs several TV channels, websites and newspapers, Sneesby was CEO of its streaming platform subsidiary, Stan, which he also founded. Sneesby said he aimed to continue MBC's growth 'with increasing global impact' through 'innovation, creativity, digital transformation and our continued commitment to the production of world-leading content with fresh and compelling storytelling.'
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mike Sneesby Appointed CEO of Top Middle East Broadcaster MBC Group as Sam Barnett Steps Down
Veteran TV executive Sam Barnett is stepping down as CEO of top Middle East broadcaster and streamer MBC Group and Mike Sneesby, former CEO of Australia's Nine Entertainment has been appointed his successor. Barnett, who led MBC for more than 20 years in two separate stints has been instrumental to MBC becoming a major Middle East player in both the linear and streaming spheres. Barnett will now join PPF Group's Central European Media Enterprises as its Prague-based CEO. More from Variety Mike Sneesby Resigns as CEO of Australia's Nine Entertainment Hend Sabri on Arabic Adaptation of 'The Good Wife': 'It's Crucial to Have Such a Nuanced Character in This Part of the World' 'Top Chef Middle East' Moves to Saudi Arabia's Neom Hub for New Season Sneesby left Nine Entertainment, which spans TV, streaming and newspapers, in September 2024 following months of turmoil including the passing of a staff no confidence motion against him and the group's board of directors. Sneesby was previously co-founder of Australian streamer Stan and its CEO from 2015. Sneesby's appointment to lead MBC Group comes as the Saudi-owned group is on a growth trajectory after floating a 10% stake on the Riyadh stock exchange at the end of 2023 and gaining increasing traction on its streaming side. The Saudi government currently owns a 60% stake in MBC while the rest is held by MBC Group chairman Waleed bin Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim who founded the pan-Arab satcaster that operates leading premium streamer Shahid VIP. Streaming is booming across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where the OTT subscription video market enjoyed robust 13% growth in 2023, led by local players Shahid and StarzPlay, according to media analyst Omdia. It expects streaming revenues to reach $1.2 billion in to Omdia, Shahid — which is part of Saudi-owned linear TV operator and streamer MBC Group — leads the MENA streaming market with a 22% share thanks to its 3.6 million subscribers at the end of 2023. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025 The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
HBO Max arrives in Australia 10 years after Netflix paved way for TV's radical reshape
Netflix officially launched in Australia a decade ago. But that isn't when Australia began its relationship with Netflix. Just as Australia over-performs in areas like sport and science globally, back in the early 2010s we punched above our population weight and led the world in global TV show pirating and setting up dodgy international Netflix accounts. When Netflix officially opened its doors down under on 24 March 2015, many of us were already very familiar with the streaming service. The launch was two years after Netflix launched its first original series, House of Cards (seen locally on Foxtel, a couple of months after the Netflix premiere), along with Netflix originals like Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Hemlock Grove and Marco Polo. Hands up anyone who remembers Marco Polo? In the decade that followed the launch of Netflix in Australia, the local TV industry has been radically reshaped, with more dramatic changes to come over the coming years. While many of these changes can't be attributed entirely to Netflix's presence in Australia, the arrival of Netflix sparked a series of changes that opened the door to new media companies competing with traditional TV channels and shifted viewers' behaviour. Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a free newsletter After all, Netflix got viewers to do the one thing that Foxtel always had trouble doing in Australia: it convinced us to start paying for television. According to Acma, the number of adults watching free-to-air free-to-air TV has declined from 71% in 2017 to 46% last year. Meanwhile, video streaming subscription streaming service use by adults has increased from 29% in 2017 to 69% in 2024. With more than 6.2 million Netflix subscribers in Australia alone (including paid and unpaid users), it is evident that streaming services are having an impact on traditional TV viewership. Back in 2015, when Netflix first launched, local media executives like Shaun James from short-lived streaming service Presto (a joint venture owned by Foxtel and Seven) and then-Stan chief Mike Sneesby would tell media that they didn't see their streaming video products as cannibalising broadcast TV, but rather as an additive – claiming most viewers weren't streaming until after 9pm. Media reporters were sceptical then and you certainly don't hear current executives try to make similar claims now. It is a fallacy to suggest that in the past we weren't paying for content. Without a second thought we were buying newspapers and magazines, renting out DVDs and VHS tapes, buying CDs and records and all sorts of other physical media. But outside of buying the occasional TV show DVD boxset or the third of Australians who were paying for Foxtel at its peak, Australians weren't comfortable with paying for TV. Since the launch of Netflix, that has changed. In addition to the ever-escalating price of a monthly Netflix subscription, Australians are now paying money each month for multiple streaming services. In its annual subscription entertainment study, analytics firm Telsyte reported an increase of year-on-year subscribers for all but one of the major streaming services in Australia. This has flow-on effects. It limits access to quality content for viewers who either cannot afford to pay for streaming services or have trouble with the technology. This disproportionately impacts older Australians. But then there is also the issue of sport. In Australia major sporting rights are protected by anti-siphoning legislation. Major sporting events and games are first offered to free-to-air broadcasters, but increasingly we are seeing shared deals between networks and pay companies which put sport behind paywalls. The legislation also isn't keeping up with shifting interests, with women's sport like the AFLW not protected by the anti-siphoning legislation. Pay services are seeing opportunities here. Foxtel launched sport streamer Kayo. Stan now has Stan Sports, which is available for an added fee. Paramount+ and Prime Video are both streaming sport regularly. And Disney+ will launch an ESPN section on its service on 26 March. Australia will be the first English-language market outside the US to add ESPN, with Disney openly saying it may be interested in pursuing sport rights. Back in 2013, Netflix exec Ted Sarandos said in an interview with GQ that the goal for Netflix 'is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us'. He was expressing the desire to make Netflix into a premium TV destination that could attract top talent working with budgets that offer creative freedoms. Since then, Sarandos has retracted that sentiment. In an interview with the New York Times last year, Sarandos expanded out this idea to include the likes of CBS and the BBC. His view now is that they want a broader range of quality TV that extends beyond what we consider to be prestige dramas and comedies, to also include reality shows, documentaries, sport, stand-up comedy and more. There's an interesting symmetry to the fact that just one week after Netflix marks 10 years in Australia, Warner Brothers Discovery is launching the new streaming service Max, which includes all of HBO's programming. The focus of Max is on HBO's prestige dramas and comedies but also includes reality shows, documentaries, stand-up comedy and more. With Netflix having already become HBO and moved on to a wider audience, it's interesting to now see Max struggling to catch up to become Netflix. What does the next 10 years look like? Netflix opened a doorway for every major US studio and entertainment company to launch their own streaming services and go direct to consumer. The impact of that in international territories like Australia is that local streaming services, reliant on that pipeline of US and other global content, have been squeezed. If you are Stan, Binge, SBS on Demand or any other local player, it is now more expensive to buy the remaining content that isn't already exclusive to one of the other streamers. This past year Foxtel (which controls Binge) lost content deals with the BBC and HBO. ESPN's future at Foxtel remains a question mark for the moment. And it's looking down the barrel of a rights deal set to expire with NBCUniversal, which Stan – also facing similar content access concerns – will no doubt make an aggressive play for. As further contraction in the industry sets in, it is difficult to see a pathway forward for either Foxtel/Binge or Stan without a major strategy change. Foxtel will likely pivot in the direction of sport under new owner Dazn, a European sports broadcaster. But even sport doesn't provide much cover with the internationally owned streamers all flirting with Australian sport rights deals that offer the promise of large-scale international distribution. Beyond it all is Netflix, which has seen profitability in recent years and a customer base that still has growth, and is making successful forays into live entertainment focused around sport and variety entertainment. A decade in, the impact of Netflix launching in Australia has been the dramatic decline in traditional TV viewership, Foxtel in retreat and hungry international competitors baying for sport rights. The industry that now exists outside of Netflix's paywalled gates is as structurally safe as a house of cards.
