Nine will book News Bargaining Incentive money before any deal

By James Dore · 2026-10-22

Booking money before it arrives

Nine Entertainment will start recognising News Bargaining Incentive money in its accounts this financial year, before it has a deal or a cheque. Its AGM trading update on 6 November says the News Bargaining legislation "has now been passed and is intended to deliver a consistent and growing stream of annuity-style earnings". With "no direct qualifying deals currently in place", Nine "intends to accrue an amount of the expected News Bargaining Incentive during FY27, subject to further clarity from the Government". The first cash payments under the scheme will not be received until the first half of FY28.^[1]

The incentive, which passed Parliament in August, is aimed at platforms with significant social media or search services. A platform that makes deals with at least eight news businesses pays a lower rate than the incentive alone; one that does not has its money returned to the news sector through the News Journalism Payments scheme.^[3] Deals must be finalised before the end of a platform's financial reporting period to offset its liability for that period.^[3]

Nine is not the only network counting on it. At Southern Cross Media Group's AGM a day earlier, managing director and chief executive Rohan Lund said "the NBI legislation has been passed and we will seek to recover our full share from the pool". He also said lower payments by Google for news had weighed on both television and publishing revenue in the first quarter, alongside a TV ad market that was down mid-single digits.^[2]

Nine's update does not say how much it will accrue. For other publishers waiting on the same scheme, including the regional and First Nations outlets that led the News Innovation Fund payouts, Nine's approach is the first public sign of how a listed publisher will account for money the platforms have not yet agreed to pay.

The quarter

Nine still expects revenue and EBITDA growth in FY27, weighted to the second half. Total TV revenue for the first quarter was down 6% on a year earlier, which Nine partly blamed on a later start for The Block and the FIFA World Cup and Commonwealth Games on other networks. It expects a low single-digit fall in second-quarter TV revenue.^[1]

Elsewhere the numbers were better. Nine Publishing's digital subscription revenue grew 7% in the quarter, and Nine expects Outdoor revenue to grow in the mid teens in the first half, helped by new sites and contracts in Australia and New Zealand. It also raised its cost savings target from $160m to at least $180m in annualised savings by the end of FY27.^[1]

"Our digital publishing assets continue to grow more quickly than print is declining," chief executive Matt Stanton said.^[4]

The chair's pitch, and the protest vote

In his first AGM address, chair Peter Tonagh set Nine's journalism against the platforms. "The algorithm-driven feeds that increasingly shape Australia's public debate, most of them run from offshore, answer to none of those tests," he said, after describing the courts, standards bodies and audiences Nine's journalists answer to. "Revenue built on content we own, rather than on someone else's algorithm, is the most durable kind there is."^[1]

Shareholders were less persuaded on pay. Proxy votes lodged before the meeting showed 34.40% against the remuneration report, above the 25% threshold for a first strike, Mediaweek reported. "Our executives should do well when you do well," Tonagh said.^[4]

James Dore

James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.