ProSiebenSat.1 Group with first upward trend in advertising business as of July after COVID-19 impact on Q2 2020
Outlook: Economic brightening in ProSiebenSat.1 Group's core markets and first positive trend in the advertising business tangible as of July
Focus on core business pays off: Entertainment offerings' Total Video Viewtime grows by 3.4% in H1 2020 compared to the previous-year period
As expected and already announced, considerable COVID-19 impact on Q2 2020, mainly due to declines in the advertising business: Group revenues decrease by 25% to EUR 709 million; adjusted EBITDA declines from EUR 213 million to EUR 23 million; adjusted net income decreases from EUR 85 million to minus EUR 52 million
Positive development in NuCom Group with revenue growth of 5%
Liquidity position remains very good due to strict cash flow management: EUR 1,190 million in cash as of June 30, 2020
Unterfoehring, July 31, 2020. After the global COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions in public and economic life had as expected considerable impact on ProSiebenSat.1 Group's business performance in the second quarter of 2020, the Group is seeing the first signs of recovery in the advertising business as of July, supported by the economic brightening in the Group's core markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the second quarter, the Group recorded a revenue decline of 25% to EUR 709 million (previous year: EUR 947 million). Organically (1), revenues decreased by 26%. As announced, this resulted in particular from the significant COVID-19 driven declines in the advertising and content production business, while NuCom Group's revenues continued to grow, underscoring the importance of the Group's diversified set-up. Performance in the second quarter affected the half-year period accordingly: Overall, ProSiebenSat.1 closed the first six months of 2020 with revenues of EUR 1,634 million (previous year: EUR 1,860 million), down 12% year-on-year.
Rainer Beaujean, Chairman of the Executive Board & Chief Financial Officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE: In our core markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the economic environment is beginning to brighten, so we are seeing the first upward trend also in the advertising market as of July. We expect a decline of slightly less than 20% in July advertising revenues compared to the previous year and thus a clearly lower decline than in the past quarter. There are also signs of a further improvement in August with a minus of around 10% currently. At the same time, we continue to focus on our consequent cost and cash management and are looking more optimistically into autumn. Although it will not be possible to make up for the declines resulting from COVID-19 by then, the months from September to December will be decisive for the Group's business performance in the full-year. In the past, ProSiebenSat.1 has generated around 50% of its adjusted EBITDA in this period.
Operating performance in the second quarter of 2020
In the second quarter, external revenues in the SevenOne Entertainment Group segment declined by 34% to EUR 398 million (previous year: EUR 601 million). Organically, external revenues likewise decreased by 34%. As announced, this almost exclusively reflects the decline in advertising revenues, as the Group saw lower advertising bookings in the second quarter due to COVID-19. In the first half of the year, external revenues declined by 19% to EUR 961 million (previous year: EUR 1,180 million) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In contrast to the advertising market development, SevenOne Entertainment Group's entertainment and infotainment offerings achieved clear success in recent months. In the second quarter, the channels scored particularly highly in the for advertising customers relevant prime time with high reach for local formats such as Promis unter Palmen (SAT.1) and The Masked Singer (ProSieben). The linear and digital viewing time of the offerings has increased accordingly. Since the start of the year, Total Video Viewtime - the total number of minutes viewed on all of the Group's linear channels and digital entertainment platforms - has increased by 3.4% year-on-year.
As announced, the effects of the governmental COVID-19 restrictions also made a clear impact on the Red Arrow Studios segment, with the international content production business being especially affected. In the second quarter, external revenues decreased by 31% year-on-year to EUR 102 million (previous year: EUR 148 million). Organically, thus adjusted for currency effects, revenues declined by 33%. In the first six months of the year, external revenues were down by 17% to EUR 236 million (previous year: EUR 283 million), with the distribution business and the digital studio Studio71 developing stably.
In contrast, NuCom Group continued to grow in a COVID-19 influenced environment. The portfolio saw a 5% increase in external revenues to EUR 209 million (previous year: EUR 198 million) in the second quarter. Organic growth was likewise 5%. Parship Group's matchmaking business and the Beauty & Lifestyle vertical around the online beauty provider Flaconi both saw a significant increase in revenues respectively. In contrast, the impact of the nearly global travel restrictions and lockdowns was clearly noticeable in the business of the portfolio companies billiger-mietwagen.de (Silvertours) and Jochen Schweizer mydays. NuCom Group also grew in the half-year period - external revenues increased by 10% to EUR 437 million (previous year: EUR 397 million).
The other key financial figures also reflect the COVID-19 pandemic's considerable impact on the macroeconomic environment and the Group's business in the second quarter. The Group's adjusted EBITDA decreased by 89% to EUR 23 million (previous year: EUR 213
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
ProSiebenSat.1 Group with first upward trend in advertising business as of July after COVID-19 impact on Q2 2020 
