Having posted Q1 2020 results down 7.1 per cent, M6 Group, owner of French commercial TV channel M6, has announced a €100 million cut in programming costs, which represents around 20 per cent of 2019’s total spend.

M6 has posted a €321.3 million consolidated revenue in the first quarter of the year, with the first significant impact of Covid-19 not coming until March. The TV consolidated revenues were €228.9 million (down 4.1 per cent) including ad revenues of €202.9 million (down 8.5 per cent).

The second half of March saw a fall of more than 30 per cent in advertising. M6 Group’s consolidated profit from recurring operations stood at €45.6 million compared with €64.2 million in the same period of last year. The multimedia advertising revenues, that include the results from the Youth division integrated last September, fell by 9.2 per cent, due to the sudden decline in consumer spending.

Despite live TV and replay audiences rising as a result og lockdown measures, M6’s objective for the second quarter will be to absorb “in the region of 50 per cent of its fall in revenue”.

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