The first round exit of the French team from the World Cup has hit advertising revenues at French broadcaster, TF1, which had set in place a pricing model based on the team’s expected progress through the competition.
Analysts at ABN Amro are now expecting H1 ad revenues to be down by 1.9% at E818 million, following a 0.4% rise in Q1 and a predicted 4.0% fall in Q2. However, growth should start to look more healthy as comparables ease further into the year – H2 2001 revenues were down by 10%.
ABN is forecasting 4.0% growth in Q3 and 5.0% in Q4; full year forecasts have been downgraded from 3.5% growth to 1.0%, after the poorer than expected second quarter, which had originally been forecast to show 4.0% growth.
TF1 will report its H1 figures on 23 July after market close. Separately, reports claim that the company has tabled a E2.0 billion bid for insolvent media empire, Kirch Media (see TF1 Offers Low-End Bid For Kirch Media).
