Southern Cross Media has downgraded its earnings and will cut up to 300 roles, while confirming an in-house AI tool is already running across its teams. The story is not that AI takes jobs, it is which jobs go first.
A weak ad market explains the cuts. The AI tool explains why a lot of them are not coming back.
Southern Cross Media Group, the owner of Triple M and 7NEWS, has downgraded its full-year earnings and announced it will cut up to 300 roles before 30 June. At the same time it confirmed an in-house AI tool that turns television news into web-ready copy and imagery in minutes is already running across its broadcast and digital teams. The timing tells you everything.
The group, formed from the January merger of Southern Cross Media and Seven West Media, now expects FY26 underlying EBITDA of $185 to $190 million, down from earlier guidance of $200 to $220 million. Revenue is tipped at $1,860 to $1,870 million, around 2.5% below prior guidance. Management said advertising conditions deteriorated materially more than anticipated in the fourth quarter, with television hit hardest. The shares fell more than 6% on the news.
Up to 200 of the redundancies are expected to land across Seven's broadcast and print operations. The AI tool was not pitched as the cause. The two announcements just arrived in the same breath.
Why it matters
This is the first clean look at AI moving from slide deck to payroll line at a major Australian media business. The lesson for marketers is not that AI takes jobs. It is which jobs. The work that went first is the production work. Turning a story into copy and a thumbnail. The doing, not the thinking.
If your team or your agency spends most of its day on production tasks that an AI can now do in minutes, that cost is exposed. The roles that hold up are the ones that decide what to make and judge whether it worked. The roles that read numbers and challenge an output.
Southern Cross Media's downgraded FY26 EBITDA guidance, cut from $200 to $220 million as TV ad conditions worsened. Source: Capital Brief
What to do about it
Audit where your people actually spend their hours. Separate production work from judgement work. Be honest about which is which.
Move your best people up the stack. Put them on strategy, measurement and the calls that need a human, not on tasks a tool now does faster.
Use the freed-up time, do not just bank the saving. The businesses that win here reinvest the hours into better thinking, not thinner teams.
Watch your own media costs. A softer TV market means sharper deals for advertisers willing to negotiate. Ask what your spend is actually buying right now.
Do not confuse cheaper output with better output. AI makes production fast. It does not make the brief good. That is still on you.
The ad market will recover. The shift in what a media job is will not reverse. Plan your team around the work that still needs a person in the chair.