Advanced Television

Mediaset improves performance in Q3

November 14, 2018

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Italian commercial broadcaster Mediaset reported a better performance in Q3, usually the weakest for the TV market, compared to the same period last year.

The positive results were due to increased advertising revenue (+3.5 per cent) for the World Cup, cost reduction at group level (by €71 million), leading to a growth of net profit (+€24.3 million).

For the first nine months of 2018, group net revenue reached €2.4 billion (on the level of last year), with net profit of €27 million (€34.5 million in 2017). Revenues in Italy were €1.7 billion and in Spain €696.4 million, impacted by the stagnation of the advertising markets in both countries. However, in Italy, Mediaset’s gross ad revenues grew by 2.5 per cent, a better performance than the overall TV sector (+1.2 per cent).

Positively impacting the results were the termination of Premium’s multi-year football contracts and the process of digital transformation of the pay-TV offer launched at the beginning of the year.

The Group’s net debt dropped from €1.4 billion in December 2017 to €961.4 million at the end of September 2018.

In the first nine months, Mediaset’s channels in Italy and Spain confirmed their net leadership among viewers in the commercial target.

In October, Mediaset completed the public offering of transmission towers company EiTowers, resulting in a net capital gain of €500 million.

Categories: Articles, Business, Results