A fall in promotions and sponsorships led to a decline in revenues at Virgin Media Television in 2024, a year in which the broadcaster’s managing director said “difficult decisions” had to be made due to a “challenging” advertising market.
Accounts filed on Thursday by the company behind the Virgin Media One channel reveal turnover fell by 1.6 per cent to €58.2 million last year.
Separate accounts for Channel 6 broadcasting, the company behind the Virgin Media Two channel, revealed an 11.1 per cent dip in revenues last year to €12.6 million.
The decline was “primarily due to a decrease in spot advertising booked through advertising agencies”, the directors said in a report attached to the accounts.
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Meanwhile, despite the dip in turnover, Virgin Media Television reported an operating profit of more than €17.2 million, a stark improvement from a more than €1.4 million loss in 2023.
However, the large increase was primarily driven by a one-off €15.6 million gain, related to the merger of a dormant subsidiary company, Kish Media, and the reversal of an impairment charge against intercompany balances owing, according to the directors’ report attached to the accounts.
[ Virgin Media received ‘nothing’ after requesting €30m from StateOpens in new window ]
When the exceptional accounting item is excluded, Virgin Media Television swung to a €1.5 million operating profit in the year from a €1.4 million operating loss in 2023, due to a fall in sales and distribution costs last year.
The broadcaster employed 251 people in 2024, a decline of more than 8 per cent from 2023, according to the filings. Consequently, Virgin Media Television’s staff costs dropped from €19.5 million to €16.9 million in the year.
The company, which is ultimately owned by US telecoms billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Global, had accumulated losses of more than €45.6 million at the end of last year, an improvement from €59.4 million in 2023.
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In June Virgin Media Television managing director Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin told an Oireachtas committee that the station had to make some “difficult decisions” about its programming in 2024, due to the “commercial situation” the broadcaster found itself in.
The executive was referring to the decision to cut the Tonight Show’s airtime to two programmes a week from four.
Ms Ní Chaoindealbháin said the station is operating in an “ever more challenging” advertising environment dominated by digital advertising, which accounts for 58 per cent of the total market.
Last year Virgin wrote to then-minister for media Catherine Martin, requesting €30 million to fund its news and public service output.
Ms Ní Chaoindealbháin told TDs and senators at the Oireachtas media committee in June that the station received “nothing” from the Government following the request.
In the letter, Ms Ní Chaoindealbháin raised questions about the sustainability of Virgin Media’s competition with RTÉ, given that the State broadcaster receives €200 million in annual Government funding, along with “annual multimillion-euro taxpayer-funded top-ups”.
Year-end figures from ratings body TAM Ireland and research firm Nielsen showed Virgin Media One had four of the top 50 most viewed programmes in the Republic in 2024.
All four were international rugby broadcasts. Ireland’s Six Nations clash against France attracted more than 1.07 million viewers, making it the second most-watched programme in the State last year, just behind the Late Late Toy Show.
