‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor boosts RTÉ commercial arm’s profits

The top-rated RTÉ documentary charting Conor McGregor’s rise as a UFC fighter helped RTÉ’s commercial arm to pre-tax profits of €4.4m and increased revenues in 2015, figures show.

Fianna Fáil finance spokesman, Michael McGrath

The six-part series The Notorious was RTÉ’s biggest overseas hit last year when it was sold to seven territories around the world.

The series, which was produced by McGregor and Motive Television for RTÉ, charts McGregor’s rise, in just three years, from working as an apprentice plumber on Dublin’s building sites to becoming an internationally recognised fighter.

New accounts filed by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd show that the sale of The Notorious helped with the “continued success” of RTÉ’s global sales of programming in 2015.

SBS Australia, Fox Sports Australia, Fox Netherlands, BBC for Scandinavia, Poland, and Africa, Qatar Airlines, Thai Airlines, Emirates, and NRK Norway all acquired the hit RTÉ2 series about the mixed martial arts star.

The promotional video alone for The Notorious had the third highest number of views on RTÉ’s YouTube channel at 239,045 views in 2015.

Last year, the overseas success of The Notorious documentary also helped the RTÉ commercial firm to increase revenues by €1.7m, or 7%, from €23.69m to €25.43m.

McGregor would also have profited from the overseas success of The Notorious but any gains from the production will pale in comparison to the $40m (€35.7m) he expects to earn for 2016.

The figures show that accumulated profits at RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd at the end of December 2015 stood at €65.38m.

Another factor behind the increase revenues for the firm was RTÉ’s online advertising and sponsorship income, which last year increased by 17%.

According to the directors’ report, the key trends behind online advertising were the growth of rich media formats and all screen interactive formats; an increase in in-stream video advertising and continuing development around mobile formats.

The increase in online advertising income followed a record year for RTÉ’s online sports offerings, with page views climbing by 58%. The All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Kerry proving the most popular sporting event online in 2015.

The report reveals that more than 80% of RTÉ’s digital traffic is now on mobile devices as more people read breaking news and content on the move.

In 2015, RTÉ.ie attracted an average of 5.5m unique browsers per month.