TV Market Round-Up: October 2010
Total television revenues were up across the board in October, with just one exception – Channel 5.
Channel 5, which is now under Richard Desmond’s leadership, saw revenues fall once again – although an unsettled few months were expected as the broadcaster only changed hands in August.
Desmond has made many changes since the acquisition, including cutting seven of the nine executive board directors in a bid to make savings of around £20 million, but he has also been hiring – most recently, Nick Bampton joined his team as commercial sales director.
Analysts said Desmond would struggle to increase 5’s current share of TV ad revenues in the autumn trading season, although TV representatives were quick to back Desmond’s financial acumen at MediaTel’s recent TV Summit. Phil Georgiadis, chairman and chief executive at Walker Media, said: “Desmond has already put money into 5; he can offer content that advertisers want to invest in; he will give us a modern day broadcasting solution. He will do better with the finances than RTL ever did.”
In a one on one interview with Raymond Snoddy, ITV’s new CEO Adam Crozier, was, if anything, even more confident – “he will make money, and very quickly,” he said.
Looking at ITV’s revenue, Crozier has good reason to be pleased with the broadcaster’s performance in October – with both ITV1 and ITV Breakfast increasing their figures compared with this time last year. Channel 4 also had a good month, enjoying a 12.1% increase.
Overall, total terrestrial revenue was up 13%, with a higher 18.3% uplift for total satellite.
The outlook for 2011 television ad revenue is less certain, with broadcasters saying it is “virtually impossible” to predict the market. However, despite this, panellists at the TV Summit were keen to hazard a guess. Channel 4’s sales director Andy Barnes said the market will see a small rise, while ITV’s Gary Digby predicted a slightly more positive increase.
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TV market data is available in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database.