Mixed Picture For ProSiebenSat.1’s Full-Year Results As TV Advertising Weighs On Numbers
ProSiebenSat.1 Media’s full-year financial results showed a mixed picture as the German giant this week saw content from public broadcasters ZDF and ARD fall off its streamer, Joyn.
Unterfoehring-based ProSieben posted revenues of €3.92B for 2024, up 2% year-on-year, as growth in several segments was offset by a “challenging macroeconomic situation” that has had “significant impact” on linear TV advertising. Adjusted EBITDA was €557M, down 3.6%.
Both results were in line with guidance, with ProSieben noting private consumption and companies’ willingness to spend on ads “did not develop as positively as expected at the beginning of the year,” while the Dating & Video segment “declined in a difficult and highly competitive economic environment.”
This marks the third year in a row TV advertising has hit ProSieben’s numbers, and comes as speculation about ProSieben’s future continues. Lead shareholder MediaForEurope (MFE), which last week posted a 15% rise in profits, is expected by many to launch a full takeover bid following today’s results. MFE last year came close to triggering a restructure at ProSieben based around splitting up the business and selling certain assets, but was narrowly defeated in a shareholder vote.
The full-year financials numbers came ProSieben this week informed users of Joyn that a “test phase” in which they could access the libraries of pubcasters ARD and ZDF directly through the service “is now over” and would not be available on-demand going forwards.
However, Joyn users can still access ARD and ZDF as live TV channel streams and content from ARD Plus and ZDF Studios, the networks’ commercial divisions, thanks to separate deals. This comes after Joyn controversially added ARD and ZDF library content to its aggregator service without consent during the test phase, leading to legal action.
Joyn remains ProSieben’s priority, ProSiebenSat.1 Media CEO Bert Habets saying today: “Our goal is clear: we want to establish Joyn as the leading advertising-financed streaming platform in the German-speaking region and continue to significantly increase Joyn’s marketable reach with clear double-digit growth rates per year.”
Joyn saw AVOD revenues rise 36% and increase its monthly video users by 44% to 7.1 million, as revenues in the Digital & Smart business increased 5%, while the Entertainment segment in which Joyn sits posted full-year revenues of €2.54B, down 1% on 2023. This was primarily due to the TV advertising decline. Adjusted EBITDA for Entertainment was down 12% at €416M.
PrioSieben is aiming for full-year 2025 revenues of €4B, though it expects the macroeconomic climate in German-speaking regions to remain “challenging,” and is predicting adjusted EBITDA of €550M.
Meanwhile, ProSieben noted is continuing the processes to sell non-TV operations Flaconi and Verivox, as it doubles down on a TV-first strategy based around growth of Joyn.
“Our focus on the entertainment business and the consistent implementation of our strategy are paying off,” said Habets. “This is demonstrated by the strong growth of Joyn and the improved performance of our linear channels at the end of the year. We are also investing heavily in programming and new technologies in order to strengthen our competitiveness in the long term.”
