NZME signs deal with Meta; out of NPA collective bargaining process

NZME has signed a commercial deal with Meta, owner of Facebook. Photo / AP

NZME has signed a commercial deal with Meta that will see the Silicon Valley giant support the news group on "digital transformation projects".

The owner of the NZ Herald and BusinessDesk confirmed the transaction to the NZX this morning, after confirming "advanced" talks at its annual meeting this week.

The deal is NZME's second major transaction with Big Tech in as many months. The news group agreed a money-for-content arrangement with Google in March, which is expected to boost annual earnings to $67 million to $72 million.

In a statement, NZME chief executive Michael Boggs said the group's previous earnings forecast last month also took the Meta deal into account.

Unlike the Google agreement, the Meta partnership is not a money-for-content deal. Instead, the Mark Zuckerberg-controlled group will provide funding to support NZME's "subscriber growth and retention".

Following the deal with Meta, NZME is no longer part of the News Publishers' Association's bid to strike an industry-wide collective agreement with the Facebook parent.

A spokeswoman confirmed NZME had withdrawn from discussions with the NPA-led group, but said the company "could choose to join the collective bargaining with Meta in the future if it so decides".

The NPA, representing publishers including Stuff and The Otago Daily Times, wants to strike collective deals with both Google and Meta.

Once a key part of the NPA-led process, NZME announced plans to withdraw from collective bargaining talks with Google last month, following its agreement with the search engine giant.

NZME's departure from collective talks with both Meta and Google is a blow to the NPA group, but the rest of the consortium is set to receive regulatory approval to hold discussions with Google and Facebook.

The NPA-led group yesterday received provisional approval from the Commerce Commission to collectively bargain with Google and Meta. The Commerce Commission has given local news groups initial permission to seek collective deals for their news content. The regulator will make a final decision in the coming weeks.

Pressure is mounting on Google and Meta to sign further commercial deals. While Google has signalled plans to pay for news content through its Google News Showcase platform, Meta has so far shown no intent to launch its Facebook News service in New Zealand.

The lack of progress with Meta has prompted the Ministry for Culture and Heritage to work on a potential market intervention in recent months.

- BusinessDesk