‘Love/Hate’ fans boost RTÉ sales

The latest installment of Love/Hate flying off the shelves helped propel RTÉ’s commercial arm to a 10% increase in pre-tax profits last year to €4.4m.

Across Ireland last year, revenues from DVD sales fell 30%. However, the public could not get enough of Nidge’s desperate efforts to maintain his criminal enterprise with the three separate Love/Hate titles ranking as the top three bestselling TV DVDs of 2013.

According to the directors’ report attached to accounts just filed by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, in contrast to the sharp downturn in DVD sales, “RTÉ Merchandising recorded significant revenue growth”.

The report also states that the popularity of Love/Hate series 4 resulted in the RTÉ Player usage increasing by nearly one third for the period September to October.

The fifth series of the hit series is due back on our screens this autumn.

While RTE does not disclose the revenues generated solely from the sale of the Love/Hate DVDs — which contributed to revenues at the broadcaster increasing by 6.5% to €23.1m — sales will go some way towards funding the series which costs around €600,000 per episode to produce.

The commercial firm operates the RTÉ Player; sells RTÉ TV shows overseas; produces the RTÉ Guide along with other commercial activities.

The directors’ report also records that RTÉ Digital commercial revenues saw a year-on-year increase of 13%, driven by the continuing introduction of award-winning new rich media formats across all platforms.

The report states that the RTÉ Player delivered an average of 3.8m streams per month in 2013. While traffic to the RTE.ie website fell year-on-year, mobile view grew to counter the change of user patterns.

Mobile advertising revenue was up significantly, although the level of demand for mobile advertising campaigns was below expectations.

The report states that the migration of Aertel to Digital Terrestrial Television platforms proved challenging in retaining clients and a number of key clients were lost during the year.

Digital advertising experienced a tough trading environment at the start of the year, however strong performance in the final quarter made up for lost ground.

RTÉ Commercial’s operating costs totalled €18.7m, last year compared to €17.7m in the previous 12 months. Personnel-related costs reduced from €6.39m to €6m.