Just three weeks into her role, TVNZ’s new CEO is already confronting the huge challenges facing the business and wider industry. Shayne Currie reports.

To be a new media chief executive these days, there is
no honeymoon. Long hours replace long lunches. Congratulatory emails and messages are sharing computer space with revenue and cost spreadsheets and global trends analysis.

After a summer holiday, Jodi O’Donnell stepped into the TVNZ chief executive role on January 30.

“I’m still here,” she agreeingly laughs as we sit down for an exclusive interview in a small meeting room alongside the foyer at TVNZ’s Auckland headquarters.

O’Donnell is widely respected in the media and advertising industry, with established credentials – more than 20 years at the state broadcaster, most recently as its commercial director. She is believed to be the first internal candidate to move into the CEO role and definitely the first female boss.

She knows, first hand, the immense economic challenges facing the industry and indeed TVNZ specifically, as traditional TV revenues dwindle and the broadcaster faces myriad challenges from the likes global giants such as Netflix, Meta and Google.

At the same time, she takes over leadership of an all-of-business transformation at TVNZ – rebuilding the plane while it’s still flying – as it moves to be a truly digital-first operation with new technology, recognising and meeting modern audience demands, and using data to focus on content that’s truly resonating.

That also means a huge piece of human relations work in ensuring TVNZ brings staff on that ride – that they know why it’s happening and giving them the necessary skillsets.

But in difficult economic conditions that transformation also means tough calls on staffing numbers and other costs.

Like almost every other major commercial media business in New Zealand, TVNZ has been cutting staff and/or not replacing vacancies. This month, a large number of general managers officially finished in their roles, as a result of restructuring.

TVNZ has had to continually review its forecasts and budgets over the last couple of months, says O’Donnell.

The broadcaster has about 700 full-time equivalent staff today. By the end of the year, “I expect it to be fewer than 700”, she says, matter of factly.

But she can’t say how many more job losses are to come, not even a ballpark figure.

“We’re not immune to the economic environment,” says O’Donnell.

“When we think about people, obviously restructuring is a very last resort from our perspective, but it’s something that we’ll have to think about ongoing as a requirement to ensure we’ve got a sustainable future business.”

In a follow-up email, a spokeswoman says: “We don’t have another round of redundancies proposed at the moment. We’ve been upfront with our teams that we will need to reduce our headcount in the coming months, though.”

O’Donnell says TVNZ is looking at all operational costs. “We spend a lot of money on content and production of content. Like I said, people are very much a last resort.”

She says TVNZ is “clearly focused on audiences and revenue”.

“Those two big challenges – with audiences migrating from broadcast to digital and revenues doing the same – coupled with a challenging economic environment have meant that we need to quickly focus on the operating model and make sure that it’s set up for a digital-first organisation.”

I ask her what keeps her awake at night.

“We do a lot as an organisation, and it’s being really clear on what the priorities are that will drive the most value for the future of this business.”

Does that mean there are no sacred cows? “I don’t think any organisation would say that there are sacred cows anymore.”

I raise one of TVNZ’s most sacred cows – the 6pm news.

Will that be around forever, when in reality people can access news 24/7? A lot of Aucklanders and other city commuters are still looking at their car dashboards at that time of the evening, rather than a TV screen.

“That’s an interesting question,” she says. “I think that people are consuming news throughout the day [but] it’s still the biggest-reaching news platform in New Zealand today.” (NZ Herald, Stuff and even the 1 News websites generate millions of views a day, so the debate over different metrics and biggest-reaching news platforms is a live one).

“We’ll continue to monitor that as and when audiences shift. What we’re seeing now is that a lot of people are watching the 6pm news, but they’re streaming it or they’re watching it on broadcast or they’re watching it as catch-up. You’ve got multiple ways that people can consume the content.”

TVNZ+ has been a big success for the broadcaster, but the platform is being overhauled. A technology upgrade is essential to allow TVNZ to compete against the likes of Netflix.

The digital transformation is largely invisible to the viewing public, but it will eventually deliver “new products and services”.

I ask her about moving into subscription on-demand television, like Netflix.

“We will always be an advertiser-funded business,” says O’Donnell. “But definitely in the future, we do need to create options. Whether it’s a subscription or whether it’s a pay-per-view [model], the investment in our future digital platform will allow us to have those options.

“We will always be advertising-funded – that’s still the core of the operating model of this business. But by investing in a future platform, it gives us options.”

TVNZ is enjoying strong ratings from its free-to-air live cricket rights, gifted to it after Spark Sport’s demise last July.

The recent Black Caps-Pakistan T20 series attracted a cumulative 1,627,900 viewers and generated 855,700 streams on 203,823 TVNZ+ accounts. The first test match between the Black Caps and South Africa on Duke this month reached 818,800 viewers and 734,522 streams on 135,497 TVNZ+ accounts.

TVNZ now produces the cricket itself, although it won’t say who is paying those hefty costs (whether it’s themselves, Spark or a combination of both).

The battle for sports broadcast rights is entering an intriguing stage. Last week, Sky TV announced it would screen more rugby and league matches this year on its free-to-air – and recently rebranded – Sky Open channel.

“I think that what Sky has done is fantastic,” says O’Donnell. “I think it’s great for all New Zealanders to be able to access more sport.”

She says TVNZ has to play to its strengths, and that the company emphasises this in its own discussions with sporting bodies.

“From an audience perspective, how we can help them acquire new viewers at the same time, that will certainly be the area that we focus on and we will always look for opportunities to partner.”

That includes with Sky.

“I think we’ve had great success with Sky as a partner historically and I think that we’ll look for more ways that we can partner, not just with Sky, but with other publishers in this market. I think it’s a really important part of a sustainable local media ecosystem. Everyone competes in certain areas, but there also have to be opportunities for us to collaborate.

“That’s certainly a real focus for me.”

Meanwhile, Sky and TVNZ have still not reached an agreement over the new Sky Pod carrying TVNZ channels directly, just as the traditional Sky Box does. Instead, viewers have to access TVNZ+ and then go to each channel – slightly more cumbersome. It looks like discussions are at an impasse.

One of TVNZ’s biggest on-screen talents, chief correspondent John Campbell, has been under scrutiny recently for a series of politically charged opinion columns on TVNZ’s news website.

O’Donnell has no issue with Campbell, his role or his commentary.

“We are really comfortable. John is a very, very clever journalist. What I would say is that we’re always looking at ways that we can ensure we’ve got balanced content on our platforms.

“That’s something that we’re always re-looking at, and focused on, to ensure we do have that balanced view.”

She says those decisions are driven by executive editor Phil O’Sullivan and his team.

“Phil just picks that up himself – I’m very aware of the editorial independence of the newsroom. That’s something that Phil will bring to me – he shares his views on it.”

I ask O’Donnell if we can expect to see more opinion pieces on 1news.co.nz. The website certainly seems to be expanding its menu to try to lock in its status as the third biggest news website, behind NZ Herald and Stuff, but ahead of RNZ and Newshub.

“I think it’s more [asking] what types of content do the audiences want and if we’re seeing those pieces resonating well then I would say yes, we will do more of that.”

O’Donnell says she had been excited about the earlier prospect of a merger with RNZ. The planned marriage was canned a year ago last week.

“We were able to quite quickly shift our focus and certainty on our future. It is now clear that it’s in our hands.”

O’Donnell has, in my view, the toughest job that any TVNZ CEO has ever encountered.

She believes her experience at the broadcaster positions her strongly to lead this “pivotal moment in media”.

“I’m fortunate enough to have been here for a large part of my career,” she says.

“I understand very large parts of the organisation and how it works from a process point of view, from a people point of view, from a culture point of view. What I’ve committed to our team is that I’ll be as open and honest as I can be.

“But given my commercial background, I’m also very action-focused – outcome and results-focused. The ability for us to continue to focus on those priorities is certainly something that I’ll be leaning into.”

She confirms that she expects TVNZ’s financial loss for this year will be in line with the earlier forecast $15.6 million.

According to industry data, TVNZ’s free-to-air television agency advertising revenue in 2023 was 20 per cent down on the previous 12 months.

There are certainly many tough challenges.

TVNZ, like other mainstream media businesses, was before Parliament’s economic development, science and innovation select committee this week, arguing in favour of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.

The new law, if enacted, would force the likes of Google and Facebook to the negotiation table, and to start paying media companies for their journalism and other content currently used on the global giants’ platforms.

O’Donnell believes there needs to be a much more even playing field for New Zealand media in general and TV in particular.

Setting aside the massive 90 cents in every $1 in digital advertising going to the tech giants, TVNZ is also irked about restrictions on traditional broadcast television. It can’t, for example, screen ads on Sunday mornings – a bizarre and outdated legislative requirement.

As revealed two weeks ago, the uncertain future of traditional television broadcasting has been raised in a briefing document to new Media and Communications Minister Melissa Lee.

“As the sector transitions online, companies will be required to consider the viability of ongoing investment in analogue broadcasting infrastructure,” says a Ministry for Culture and Heritage briefing document.

“It is likely that the Freeview chief executives [from TVNZ, Warner Bros Discovery, RNZ and Whakaata Māori] will raise the future of traditional TV broadcasting with you. TV broadcasters pay a fee to Kordia (a government-owned firm), and the costs are increasingly unsustainable as competition increases from global streaming companies.

“The ongoing transition away from legacy transmission infrastructure continues to require careful management. Analogue radio and TV broadcasting still contribute to New Zealand’s resilience during natural disasters and towards equity of access for geographically isolated New Zealanders.”

A TVNZ spokeswoman said this week: “We haven’t raised Kordia fees with the Government at this stage, and of course we’ll honour the contractual agreement we have in place for these services.

“However, TVNZ (like all broadcasters) currently has the challenge of paying for three different distribution methods – DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television), DTH (Satellite) and IP (streaming). We need to provide our content where the various audiences are watching, but paying for three different distribution methods has a large impact on our operational costs.

“Broadcast audiences are declining but the distribution costs remain the same, and streaming audiences are growing and the cost to TVNZ for IP transmission is growing in line with these increases too. We will need to work with government and industry on what the future of broadcast distribution looks like.”

When it comes to her own viewing habits, O’Donnell describes herself as a news junkie, catching up with 1 News at 6 and news websites as her day allows.

She’s just finished After the Party with Robyn Malcolm – “I’m a bit late to the party … fantastic, fantastic local drama” – and is on season two of The Tourist.

She is married to Kevin and has two teenage children – the youngest has just started high school.

“I’m a big cricket fan. Well, I should say my son is a big cricket fan so I spend a lot of time watching cricket and I have been really impressed with the coverage [on TVNZ].

“That’s what most people talk to me about when I am out and about. Everyone’s really impressed with the TVNZ+ platform. And then the next thing is, usually, ‘I love having access to cricket’.”

She is working long hours as she settles into the new role, but running – and cricket-watching – help her de-stress.

She says she cares deeply for TVNZ.

“I suppose that there was so much that I knew already or was a part of already [before she stepped into the role].

“But yes, there are pretty long days at the moment as I really get my feet under the desk, and focus on the pressing priorities around what the rest of this year looks like and then setting the strategy for the next four to five years, or resetting the strategy for the next four to five years.”