ProSiebenSat.1 boosted by channel and digital gains

German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Group reported strong second quarter earnings, buoyed by gains in it channels and digital businesses. 

The firm said that in the Broadcasting German-speaking segment, which includes free TV stations and its basic pay TV and HD distribution business, external revenues rose in the second quarter by 2.4 % to €486.7 million.

ProSiebenSat.1 Group also expanded its net TV advertising revenues in all its German-speaking markets in the second quarter of 2013, taking a 43.6 % share of gross advertising in the German market.

“In Germany, ProSiebenSat.1 benefited from the positive trend of the Sixx and Sat.1 Gold station, focusing on the core target group of female viewers,” said the company. Sat.1, ProSieben, Kabel Eins, Sixx and Sat.1 Gold closed the second quarter of 2013 with a 27.8 % audience share, roughly consistent with 27.6 % last year.

On the digital side, ProSiebenSat.1 reported a 65.5% increase in external revenues to €112.6 million. The firm’s online video unit noted a 47% market share for its VOD service Maxdome, which it called Germany’s largest online video platform, and said that MyVideo was also Germany’s first web TV station.

“We again increased revenues and earnings across all segments and are making very rapid progress in expanding our growth business. We are leveraging the synergies between the TV and digital areas and their growth potential in an extremely consistent fashion, which hardly any other media company does,” said Thomas Ebeling, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media.

Overall, ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s revenue for the second quarter was €624.8 million, up 11.4% from €561 million in 2012, while the firm increased underlying net income by 4.5 % to €104.3 million, up from €99.8 million for the same period last year.