Australian Media Sector: 2H26 preview, watching for drivers into FY27

Research evidence excerpt

Australian Media Sector: 2H26 preview, watching for drivers into FY27

Global Research

15 July 2026ab

Australian Media Sector Equities

Australia2H26 preview, watching for drivers into FY27

Media

Ailsa Lei

Traditional ad market remains volatile, but watching growth asset performance Analyst

The overall media advertisement industry remains volatile going into August reporting ailsa.lei@ubs.com

season, with the latest SMI data showing 3Q26 FTA down -8% and softening further +61-2-9324 3181

into 4Q, -13%. 2H26 ended -10.6% in line vs UBSe -10.3%. With both business and Lucy Huang

consumer confidence measures hitting record lows, and our UBS Economist forecasting Analyst

a fourth rate rise in August, we lower our assumption for ad spend to decline -3% yoy in lucy.huang@ubs.com

FY26e vs -1% previously. Our preferred pick across our coverage is NWS (Buy, PT $56/sh) +61-2-9324 2253

given exposure to Dow Jones which continues to benefit from geopolitical volatility and

Digital Real Estate in the medium term once we cycle out of short-term noise.

NWS. FY26e to finish in line vs expectations

Key things we are looking for going into FY26 result: i) DJ continues to benefit from

macro volatility, however, 4Q PIB cycling M&A activity in the pcp which will contribute to

lower headline growth (UBSe +9% yoy); ii) recent US property market data and our

channel checks point to a stabilisation in demand/supply. Existing home sales +3% yoy

in June (vs +1% 3mth avg) and median prices ticked up by +2% (vs +1% 3mth avg),

with commentary from the National Association of Realtors suggesting resilient job

gains coupled with wage growth continue to drive returned activity to the market.

Furthermore, our channel check feedback suggests agencies are budgeting low-single-