Revenues at Virgin Media Television increased 21 per cent to €60.9 million in 2021 as its advertising income bounced back, accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office show.
The broadcaster, which is owned by broadband, pay TV and mobile company Virgin Media Ireland, saw its operating loss fall 46 per cent to about €7.1 million as a result of last year’s recovery in the advertising market, which stalled when the pandemic struck.
Virgin Media Television is the company behind Virgin Media One, formerly known as TV3, the second most-watched television channel among Irish households after RTÉ One. The operation of this channel is defined as its principal activity.
The company also broadcasts Virgin Media Two and Three, while this year it has added Virgin Media Four as well as Virgin Media More, with the latter channel – used for drama premieres and sport – only available to subscribers to Virgin’s cable television packages.
Its revenues also derive from digital advertising – such as ads that run on its Virgin Media Player – as well as international programme sales and facilities income earned from renting out its studios.
The group’s share of viewing among adults aged 15-plus rose 9 per cent to 19.1 per cent across its channels in 2021, a year in which the Virgin Media Player hit a new high of 45.5 million streams.
Live coverage of Ireland v France in the Six Nations was the broadcaster’s most-watched programme in 2021, attracting 798,000 viewers. Some 13 of the top 20 most-watched programmes across Virgin Media Television last year were live sporting events, with 11 of these Six Nations games. From 2022, it shares the rights to the rugby competition with RTÉ.
Its most-watched non-sporting show in 2021 was I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! with the series finale attracting an average of 514,000 viewers last December. The next run of the series begins this Sunday, having moved earlier in the calendar to avoid a clash with the Fifa World Cup.
Virgin Media Television employed an average of 271 people in 2021, up from 260 the previous year, its accounts show.
The company’s ultimate parent is the John Malone-controlled cable giant Liberty Global, which bought the former TV3 Group in 2015, rebranding TV3 as Virgin Media One in 2018.
The directors’ report accompanying its accounts states that notwithstanding net current liabilities of €6.1 million as of the end of 2021, its financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, as sufficient resources will be made available to the company to meet any liabilities as they fall due.
