It’s been a brutal few decades for legacy media businesses, not least free-to-air TV channels.

So when Seven West Media announced its results for the last financial year, nobody was surprised that the figures were largely unencouraging. Seven’s revenue fell by 5% and its profits were down 63%. Even though it had cut costs by 2%, the company, once again, didn’t declare a dividend.

But there was also some encouraging data.

While revenue from traditional TV broadcasting was down 8% to $915 million, revenue from Seven’s streaming app, 7plus, was up 26% to $166 million. It was a small one – $17 million on $1.4 billion in revenue – but the company reported a profit for the year to June 30.

For once, a TV executive had good news to share about streaming. Seven West Media CEO Jeff Howard told the Australian Financial Review, “When you get to a point where [streaming] growth can offset linear decline, total TV revenue has a growth story. I think the perception of TV from an advertiser perspective, from an investor perspective… will fundamentally change.”

The streamers won’t necessarily replace FTA TV.

Whether perceptions change is yet to be determined. But rumours of the demise of FTA TV at the hands of deep-pocketed, globe-spanning streamers might turn out to have been premature.

In the US, networks such as CBS have folded their linear programming into hybrid streaming models, slowing cord-cutting’s damage and creating new digital ad inventory. In the UK, the BBC and ITV are pushing on-demand apps as core revenue plays, not just add-ons.

Nobody is expecting legacy TV broadcasters to recover their former prominence and profitability. However, those broadcasters are increasingly optimistic they can continue to survive in a much-disrupted environment.

Or as Howard put it, in reference to Australia’s FTA TV industry, “If the market continues to trade like it’s trading, and we can continue to grow share, then I’m hopeful that we’re in a position where we’ve got a business that’s got a revenue growth story for the first time since FY17. That would be a fundamental change.”