Virgin Media Television narrows losses as digital advertising revenue climbs

Virgin Media Television (VMTV) substantially narrowed its after-tax loss to €578,000 last year, accounts filed at the Companies Registration Office show. This compares to a net loss of €6.1 million in 2022.
Accounts for the company behind the Virgin Media One channel and the Virgin Media Player recorded a 7.2 per cent climb in its revenue to almost €59.2 million in 2023.
The directors of the company – owned by telecoms group Virgin Media – said this was mainly due to an increase in digital advertising revenue from the Virgin Media Player, its on-demand app, which attracted a record 48 million streams last year. It was recently replaced by a new service called Virgin Media Play.
The directors also cited growth in what is known as addressable advertising, which is when advertisers pay to target particular audiences based on their location or lifestyle attributes.
The accounts for Virgin Media Television Limited show that the company’s operating loss narrowed 69.2 per cent to €1.4 million in 2023 after both the revenue increase and a fall in the cost of sales.
A separate set of accounts for Channel 6 Broadcasting Limited, the company vehicle for Virgin Media Two, show that its net profit fell 4.2 per cent to €8.1 million last year.
Its revenue softened 3.4 per cent to about €14.2 million after spot advertising declined slightly on the channel, which is Virgin Media Two is VMTV’s linear television home for Love Island, Big Brother and other imported reality series.
Operating profit fell 2 per cent to almost €8.4 million with net profit down 4.2 per cent to €8.1 million.
Meanwhile, the company showing the performance of Virgin Media Three, Cullen Broadcasting Limited, made a small loss (€23,000) last year, down from €1.8 million in 2022. Its revenue rose 21 per cent to €4.7 million.
The ultimate parent of each of the companies is the John Malone-controlled cable giant Liberty Global, which bought the former TV3 Group in 2015 and later rebranded the original TV3 channel as Virgin Media One.
The main channel recorded its highest ever audience in its then 25-year history in 2023 when Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup attracted 1,384,000 viewers.
Year-end figures from ratings body TAM Ireland and research firm Nielsen also show that VMTV channels grew their share of viewing among adults aged 15-plus to 19.8 per cent in 2023, a record for the group.