Kin drama and GAA help drive profits at RTÉ's commercial arm

International sales of Dublin gangland drama Kin last year contributed to a 7 per cent rise in pretax profits at RTÉ’s commercial arm to €6.62 million.

New accounts filed by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises DAC show that the higher profits came despite a slight fall in revenues to €14.87 million from €15.11 million in 2020.

One of the standout performances for the RTÉ subsidiary last year was its sales generated from TV programmes, which increased by 25 per cent on 2020. Directors said the jump came from “the sale of a small number of RTÉ productions”, such as Kin.

RTÉ announced last year that AMC+ had acquired the rights to Kin for North America, Australia, New Zealand, Iberia, Latin America and the UK. The show was also purchased by Dutch TV station NPO. Starring Aiden Gillen and Clare Dunne, Kin is produced by Bron Studios and Headline Pictures in association with the State broadcaster.

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Another big contributor to profits were sales of GAA matches internationally through the company’s 50-50 joint venture with the GAA, GAAGo. Profits from the joint venture almost doubled last year to €1.04 million, with RTÉ's share rising to €536,000 from €237,000.

GAAGo targets the Irish diaspora, featuring more than 100 live and on demand games a year. Revenues at GAAGo Media DAC jumped 43 per cent to €2.86 million as its profits nearly doubled from €550,000 to €1.04 million.

The directors of RTÉ Commercial Enterprises state that its financial position “continued to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Revenue from in-programme competitions “experienced another challenging year”. Revenues fell 20 per cent largely as the level of audience engagement with flagship interactive TV competitions had not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The editorial decision not to run viewer competitions on certain Late Late Shows — with those programmes instead raising funds for individual charities — also had an impact.

The directors said the RTÉ Guide “had another strong year in circulation terms and was just 1 per cent down year on year”. Total sales of 1.84 million included a 2 per cent slippage for the flagship Christmas issue which sold 265,000 copies. Advertising revenues increased by 29 per cent on 2020.