Healthy profits bring glow to Operation Transformation

Pretax profits at the independent production company behind RTÉ’s Operation Transformation last year increased almost fourfold to €312,537 in the 12 months to the end of September last, up from €82,127 in 2017.

RTÉ confirmed on Friday that Operation Transformation – fronted by Kathryn Thomas – will return for a 13th series in 2020.

On the success of this year’s show, an RTÉ spokesman said: “The 23rd of January programme had an average audience of 509,000 and a share of 38.5 per cent of those watching TV at the time.

“It was the highest-rating episode of the series. Overall the series averaged 446,000 viewers and a share of 32.5 per cent.”

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According to Philip Kampff, director at Vision Independent Productions, the company's Welsh version of Operation Transformation is also proving to be a ratings winner. "Operation Transformation is also showing real promise on S4C in Wales where it is their most popular show outside of sports and soaps."

Reflecting on 2018, Mr Kampff said: “We had a good year due to royalties from formats produced overseas mainly from The Hit, Super Star Ding Dong, Division.

“Our focus on creating our own intellectual property is working for us. Our new show, The Big DIY Challenge, has just been taken by a distributor for overseas sales.

“The shows that are generating revenue overseas are all shows that we invested in to get them off the ground. When you are trying something new and different you have to take the initiative and risk yourself and not everything works.”

At the end of September 2018, Vision Independent Productions Ltd was sitting on accumulated profits of €710,775. The company’s cash pile increased from €456,241 to €685,047. Staff costs at the firm last year totalled €207,334.