ProSiebenSat.1 reports revenue decline, shuts down Sky Deutschland rumours

German media group ProSiebenSat1’s revenues for Q3 2022 were down by 9% to €920 million in what the company called an “increasingly difficult economic environment”. Company CFO Ralf Peter Gierig heralded the importance of digital platform Joyn but used the occasion of the results release to dismiss recent rumours that the company might acquire PayTV platform Sky Deutschland.

The company confirmed that its full-year outlook is for group revenues to hit around €4.15 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be around €650 million. Citing strategic highlights, it singled out the full takeover of streaming platform Joyn, which it says has moved “centre stage in the Group’s digital entertainment presence”.

The Group is now expanding Joyn into the first port of call in its digital ecosystem. It is also placing a stronger focus on interaction with and between users – for example with social app JoynMe, which is based on ParshipMeet’s vPaaS technology.

Ralf Peter Gierig

Less positively, it said “revenues were significantly influenced by the macroeconomic environment in the region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which is characterised by persistently high inflation and increasing consumer restraint. This particularly affected the advertising market. The deterioration of the overall economic environment in the German-speaking region also had an impact on the companies of NuCom Group, which are reported in the Commerce & Ventures segment.”

From January to September 2022, ProSiebenSat.1 recorded revenues of €2.9bn, a decline of 4%.

Gierig said: “The market environment has become increasingly difficult over the course of the year due to inflation, the energy price crisis and consumer restraint. It is especially in these times that we are systematically pursuing our transformation. We are investing in the digital future of our Group. As an early-cyclical company, we are thus very well positioned to benefit directly from an economic recovery, especially in the advertising market. That is precisely why the full takeover of the streaming platform Joyn was the right step. It plays a central role in our digital Entertainment strategy. Our aim is to develop Joyn into the largest freely accessible streaming platform for premium video content in the German-speaking region.”