SEEK’s Freemium Rollout and AI Push Could Pressure Short-Term Revenue

SEEK’s Strong Foundations and Growth Outlook

SEEK Limited, the leading employment marketplace across the Asia-Pacific region, unveiled its strategic vision and operational progress at its Investor Day presentation on 21 May 2025. The company reaffirmed its FY25 guidance, forecasting revenue and earnings in the top half of previously announced ranges. This confidence is underpinned by a combination of upgraded advertising products in Australia and New Zealand, a successful freemium model rollout in Asia, and ongoing investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to drive product innovation and operational efficiency.

Chief Executive Officer Ian Narev highlighted SEEK’s robust market position, with approximately 250 million unique candidate visitors annually and a dominant placement share in key markets. The company’s scalable platform and trusted brand recognition provide a solid foundation to capture further growth opportunities across APAC.

AI and Product Innovation Powering Placements and Yield

SEEK’s product strategy centers on growing both placements and yield by enhancing how candidates and hirers engage with the platform. The company is leveraging AI to personalise candidate experiences, improve job matching quality, and introduce outcome-based pricing models that align cost with hiring success. This approach is already delivering results, with high single-digit yield growth and increased placement shares reported in Australia, New Zealand, and emerging Asian markets.

Upgraded ad tiers launched in Australia and New Zealand have introduced differentiated pricing and enhanced targeting capabilities, resulting in a 13% increase in penetration of advanced ads and a 24% yield growth in premium ads. Meanwhile, the freemium model in Asia is expanding ad volumes and hirer acquisition, particularly in emerging markets like the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, where early results show a 50% growth in total ads and a return to pre-freemium revenue levels within 6-12 months.

Operating Leverage and Regional Expansion

SEEK is also focused on achieving operating leverage by maintaining stable core technology and corporate costs while directing discretionary investments toward product innovation and AI. The unification of SEEK’s platform across APAC has reduced duplication and accelerated learning, enabling mid to high single-digit cost growth that remains capped even during periods of revenue expansion.

In Asia, the company has reorganised commercial and sales teams to better support key accounts and revenue generation. The rollout of variable pricing and new product deployments across the region is expected to drive yield growth and ad scale, positioning SEEK for sustained revenue growth as the freemium model matures.

Looking Ahead

SEEK’s leadership team emphasized the significant growth runway ahead, driven by deeper hirer relationships, expanded candidate engagement, and continued AI innovation. The company’s clear execution plans aim to convert more job roles into successful placements while aligning pricing more closely with value delivered to hirers. With a strong foothold in both developed and emerging APAC markets, SEEK is well positioned to capitalise on structural trends such as the formalisation of employment and digital transformation of recruitment.