THE MARY Byrne factor, higher daytime viewing figures and increased audience share helped TV3 Group to a 6 per cent rise in revenues last year.
The broadcaster made a dramatic swing from loss to profitability in 2010, as it took home a pretax profit of €68.5 million.
However, TV3 chief executive David McRedmond said the fourth quarter of 2011 was proving unexpectedly "tough" for broadcasters, as advertisers were holding out on booking slots and viewing figures for prime-time shows such as T he X Factorand The Apprenticewere down on last year.
Accounts for the group show revenues increased to €57 million last year, up from €54 million. The broadcaster, which is owned by the venture capital firm Doughty Hanson, said it had emerged from what had been “the worst trading conditions ever experienced in Irish media”.
The 2010 profit compares to a loss of €165 million in 2009, when a severe downturn in advertising forced the company to take a €118.7 million impairment on goodwill. No further impairments were made last year, while an €81 million exceptional gain was recorded under a variable element of a debt restructuring completed by Doughty Hanson in July 2010.
“It’s the start of a recovery, but it’s still very far from where we want to bring the company,” said Mr McRedmond. Revenue growth has come “from a very low base”, given a peak-to-trough market decline of almost 50 per cent.
“Advertisers are holding back their spend until December,” he said of current trading.
Although larger companies who booked slots well in advance were continuing to advertise, there had been a decline in “late money”, or slots bought up by advertisers closer to broadcast.
TV3 was offsetting the “extremely challenging” conditions by increasing its market share, he added, while RTÉ’s agreement with the Competition Authority to unwind its “share deal” advertising system could also benefit the group by €5-€6 million a year.
TV3’s audience increased for the third consecutive year in 2010, with its share rising by 6 per cent. It has achieved further growth of 4 per cent in 2011, while sister channel 3e has become the most viewed digital-only channel in Ireland, ahead of Sky One and E4.
The growth in viewing numbers for its daytime television programming in 2010 had been sustained this year, Mr McRedmond said.
Although Co Tyrone singer Janet Devlin is still in the running on The X Factor, there has been no repeat yet of last year's audience surge. Viewing figures for the live Saturday shows are down 10 per cent on the 2010 average audiences of 500,000-600,000 who tuned in to watch Dublin contestant Mary Byrne sing her way to the semi-final, when the audience exceeded 900,000.
Mr McRedmond said TV3 would be less reliant on “the shiny floor shows” and look to its overall schedule to draw in viewers.
The X Factor USAis performing well on a Friday night against RTÉ juggernaut The Late Late Show, however, attracting 250,000 viewers. "Intense interest in current affairs" is also helping Tonight With Vincent Browneto a nightly audience of more than 200,000, with viewers spiking in tandem with major news events.
Staff numbers at the group held steady last year at an average of 248, with 189 people involved in production. The company has two directors, Mr McRedmond and Steven Bone, a senior principal at Doughty Hanson. Directors’ remuneration in 2010 came to €421,000, up from €377,000.
The percentage of home-produced content on TV3 reached 37 per cent in 2010. The broadcaster said the completion of Ireland’s first large-scale high-definition (HD) studio in July 2012 at its base in Ballymount, Co Dublin, would help increase this percentage to more than 50 per cent.
