UTV sees its Irish radio revenue fall 5%

REVENUE from the Irish radio business of UTV has fallen by 5%, on a like-for-like basis, over the course of the first ten months of 2011.

In a trading update, the Belfast-headquartered broadcasting and media group said it was still outperforming the overall Irish radio market, although revenues from its operations in the Republic — which include Dublin stations Q102 and FM104 and Cork stations C103 and 96FM — are likely to remain flat up to the end of the year.

On an overall group basis, UTV said it has seen year-on-year revenue growth of 2% in the ten months to the end of October. That growth was mainly driven by a good showing in its British radio division, where revenue was up by 5% against a market generally down by 2%.