UTV Media advertising down by 7%

UTV MEDIA has seen a further 7% fall in advertising revenue from its Irish radio operations since the beginning of this year, following a 16% fall for the whole of 2009.

The Belfast-headquartered broadcasting and media company, comprising Ulster Television and radio stations across Britain and Ireland, said group revenue was up 5% in the first four months of this year compared with the corresponding period in 2009.

The revenue decline in the Irish radio division – made up of seven stations, including FM104 and Q102 in Dublin and Cork stations 96FM and C103 – was compounded by sterling exchange rate losses, which accounted for 2% of the fall. This meant that basic like-for-like revenues were down 5%.

Revenue in UTV’s British-based radio operations was up 8% year-on-year.

Overall, however, the group has maintained a very cautious tone for the remainder of this year.

“We are encouraged by the fact that trading in the first half of 2010 is ahead of our expectations. However, we remain cautious about the remainder of the year, due to the uncertainty surrounding the pace of recovery in Britain and the timing of the recovery in the Republic,” management said.