TV4 digital provides lift for Bonnier Broadcasting

TV4 Play

Sweden’s Bonnier Broadcasting has seen strong sales and profit growth on the back of record earnings at free-to-air broadcaster TV4 Group and a reduced loss from pay TV outfit C More.

TV4 turned in sales of SEK4.739 billion (€450 million), up from SEK4.469 billion in 2017, and EBITA of SEK1.382 billion, up from SEK1.022 billion.

C More saw revenues rise from SEK1.545 billion to SEK1.936 billion with an EBITA loss reduced from SEK296 million to SEK99 million.

Struggling Finnish commercial broadcaster MTV increased its sales more modestly, from SEK1.732 billion to SEK1.891 billion, while its EBITA loss declined from SEK218 million to SEK211 million.

Bonnier said that TV4’s results confirmed it as “one of the most profitable TV companies in Europe” thanks to strong growth in digital services, where TV4 Play has outperformed the Swedish AVOD market for the last two years, as well as cost-cutting.

The group said that TV4 had successfully developed its advanced advertising capabilities, with the introduction of a families with young children target group on linear TV and the introduction of programmatic media buying with three of the six largest operators in the country – Telia, Com Hem and Boxer.

In pay TV, Bonnier kicked off an initiative to make C More profitable at the start of last year, along with a plan to introduce more local programming such as drama series Beck, Jägarna and Dirigenten.

Bonnier said that MTV had outperformed the challenging local advertising market, while digital AVOD service MTV Digital had grown its streaming usage by 40% and SVOD service C More Finland had also grown.

Nordic telco Telia last year agreed to acquire Bonnier Broadcasting for SEK9.2 billion.