Weak UK ad market hits RTL revenues

A weak UK television advertising market contributed to a first quarter drop in revenue for Five owner RTL Group, the European broadcaster has announced.

RTL reported revenues of €1.336bn in the first three months of the year - a 2% fall from €1.363bn in the same period in 2007.

Earnings before interest and tax were €188m - an 8.4% increase year-on-year. RTL put this down to the strong performance of its German operation Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, whose hits include formatted versions of I'm A Celebrity... and Pop Idol.

In a statement to investors, RTL noted growth in Five's audience share since it began airing Neighbours in February.

"The net TV advertising markets in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands all grew in the first quarter of 2008 whilst the French and the UK TV advertising markets were down," it said.

"The outlook for the full year 2008 remains unchanged: with regard to advertising sales, RTL Group has − despite the current economic climate − no reason to be pessimistic."

Start-up losses were €3m, down from €8m in 2007, when Five Life and Five US were launched.

RTL recently announced it had poached Dawn Airey from ITV to lead Five, prompting speculation it wants to bolster its operations in the UK.