Virgin Media Television (VMTV), recorded a significant decrease in its losses post-tax, amounting to €578,000 in the most recent year, as detailed in the reports filed with the Companies Registration Office. This is a sharp contrast to the €6.1 million net loss suffered in previous year, 2022.
The company behind Virgin Media One channel and the Virgin Media Player saw a 7.2% increase in revenue in 2023, nearly reaching €59.2 million. The head figures at the firm, a subsidiary of the telephone services group Virgin Media, attributed this primarily to increased digital advertising income from the Virgin Media Player, their on-demand application that drew a peak of 48 million streams last year. This service was recently succeeded by Virgin Media Play.
The directors also underscored the growth in what is called addressable advertising, a type of advertising in which businesses pay to specifically target audiences based on geographical or lifestyle features.
The reports for Virgin Media Television Limited reveal that the company reduced its operating losses by 69.2% to €1.4 million in 2023, thanks to a combination of increased revenue and decreased sales costs.
Virgin Media Two, operated by Channel 6 Broadcasting Limited, registered a decrease in net profit by 4.2% to €8.1 million last year. Following a slight drop in spot advertising on the channel, revenue fell 3.4% to roughly €14.2 million. The station hosts Virgin Media Two shows such as Love Island and Big Brother on VMTV’s traditional television platform.
The company’s operating profit declined 2% to nearly €8.4 million whilst net profit fell 4.2% to €8.1 million.
Cullen Broadcasting Limited, which reports on the operations of Virgin Media Three, incurred a minor loss (€23,000) last year, a substantial dwindling from €1.8 million in 2022. Its revenue saw a growth of 21% to €4.7 million.
Each of these companies is ultimately owned by Liberty Global, the cable behemoth controlled by John Malone. It seized the former TV3 Group in 2015 and later reformed the original TV3 channel into Virgin Media One.
The key channel reported a record high viewership of 1,384,000 in 2023 during the Rugby World Cup match where Ireland was defeated by New Zealand. This exceeded its audience in the 25-year history of the channel.
The final statistics of the year from ratings agency TAM Ireland and research company Nielsen reveal that VMTV stations expanded their viewing percentage to 19.8 per cent among the demographic of adults above 15 years old in 2023, setting an unprecedented record for the network.