Nine Entertainment's new chief says he'll take a lawyer's analytical approach to coaxing more revenue out of digital services while cutting free-to-air costs in an unrelentingly lean ad market.
Hugh Marks stepped into the sizeable chief executive shoes left behind by David Gyngell last week and after his first annual general meeting as CEO, the former board member said managing content costs was one of his first tasks.
"Matching content for platform is going to become a priority," Mr Marks told AAP following Tuesday's meeting.
"I think as well, we've got this transition which we've started, which is lowering the cost of foreign product.
"Foreign product hasn't been performing as well as it has in the past for free to air television."
During the meeting, chairman David Haslingden painted a grim picture for advertising, saying the metro free-to-air ad revenue would have "flat to very low" growth for FY16 while regional markets remained soft.
Nine in August reported a writedown-driven loss of $592.1 million for 2014/15, with underlying profit down 2.9 per cent to $140.1 million due to lower ad revenue.
Mr Marks said free-to-air will remain a strong business while "digital is the opportunity for us" as Nine captures data about its audience's online viewing habits.
"That data is incredibly valuable because we know who's looking to buy a new car, who's just inquired about travelling on a holiday, who's inquiring about insurance," he said.
"We'll know a lot more about our audience and I think that will enhance the value of our overall proposition."
Mr Marks started as a lawyer at Nine before moving on to the production side of the business, first at Nine, then at Southern Star.
He shares a passion for content with Mr Gyngell and, while he doesn't expect big changes, he did flag a different approach to his predecessor.
"I can't get rid of the lawyer in (the) background in me, so that analytics that you learn as a young lawyer growing up I think is something that will drive me in my analysis of the business," he said.
Mr Gyngell remains on Nine's board but kept a low profile at the AGM, taking the floor only briefly at Mr Haslingden's invitation to tell the meeting he was leaving the CEO post with mixed emotions.
"I'm far from retiring, I'm just focusing on something that's a little bit more important to me personally at the moment, that's my family," Mr Gyngell said.
Mr Haslingden made special mention of the impact subscription video on demand (SVOD) services have had on viewing habits - driving viewers to watch more TV.
He said Nine's SVOD joint venture with Fairfax Media, Stan, would have 300,000-plus active subscribers by the end of the year.
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