Advertising, sponsorship and licence fee revenue were down sharply at RTÉ in the first part of the year, according to management accounts for the station, seen by The Irish Times.
According to RTÉ's income and expenditure statement covering the first two months of the year, there was a net deficit of €2.1 million, with advertising, licence fee and sponsorship income failing to meet budget targets.
The station hoped to produce a €3.1 million surplus for this period, but sluggish advertising and poor licence fee revenue frustrated its plans. The accounts show RTÉ's licence fee and commercial income are offset against its operating costs.
RTÉ declined to comment on the figures, which give a rare insight into how the different parts of the station operate financially. Sources at the station said it remained unhappy with the money coming via the licence fee. Sources also said the station had recently received fresh figures for March/April and there were indications advertising was starting to recover.
January/February accounts, which contain some commercially sensitive material, show the build-up to war in Iraq took a toll on the station, with big advertisers particularly those based in London, declining to book space.
While the station brought in €7.7 million in advertising in February, it budgeted for € 9.2 million, according to the accounts. For the first two months of the year the station aimed for € 18.3 million in ad revenue, but managed only €15.8 million. Sponsorship income, for January and February at €807,000 was also below budget.
The firm, as part of the licence fee increase agreed with the Government, agreed to split into several different business units. The TV unit, according to the accounts, failed to meet its advertising targets in the first part of the year, with RTÉ 1 and Network 2 both under pressure.
RTÉ 1 pulled in €6.8 million for the first part of the year, while Network 2 produced €3.1 million. The depressed advertising market and rising costs in the station's TV directorate, created a net deficit in the TV division of €6.1 million for January and February. The radio division had a much smaller deficit in this period of €256,000.
The station's publishing division is increasingly supplying valuable income for RTÉ. According to these accounts the circulation of the RTÉ Guide, its main publishing venture, was 116,497 in January and February, slightly below what the station budgeted for.
But other parts of the publishing division appear to be profitable, with €260,000 of online advertising bookings and €135,627 via mobile SMS services.
An interesting aspect of the accounts is advertising revenue for RTÉ's various radio stations. Radio 1 brought in €2.7 million to end February - slightly more than budgeted for. Ad revenue for 2FM was also ahead of budget, although Lyric FM missed its ad targets by about €12,000.
The accounts also detail the costs of each station since the start of the year to February 28th: Radio 1 cost €2.2 million, 2FM cost €874,000, Lyric cost €393,000 and Radio na Gaeltachta cost €774,000.
