UKTV Touts £123 Million Investment in Content Behind Record Profit

LONDON: UKTV is crediting its focus on investment in exclusive and original programming as a key driver of its record ratings, revenue and profit in 2014.

UKTV invested £123 million ($191 million) in content last year. Strong advertising revenues, derived from a strong SOCI (share of commercial impacts) performance, meant UKTV posted record revenue of £283 million ($440 million) last year and saw a 10 percent increase in EBITDA at £74.1 million ($115 million).

Darren Childs, UKTV's chief executive, said: “UKTV has now grown its share of the British commercial TV market to 9.4 percent, making our portfolio of channels vital for advertisers. This is the first time in the history of British television that a non-PSB channels business has played such a big role in the ratings, but expect much more from us. This is just the groundwork to ensure long-term future success for UKTV.
 
“We are significantly increasing our investment in brilliant content, both in what we spend on our outstanding U.K. originations and in our enviable collection of ‘best in class’ acquisitions from BBC as well as from C4, ITV and overseas. We pay relentless attention to our ever-increasing reach and distribution, ensuring modern British viewers can enjoy our vibrant channels and imaginative shows, whichever kind of television provision and technology they have: free, pay or online only.”
 
Jan Gooze-Zijl, the chief financial and operations officer, said: “Our strategy of focused investment in content and channels that viewers love is paying off in our financial results—in 2014 we generated record levels of revenue (£283 million; $440 million) and we increased EBITDA by 10 percent to achieve an all-time high of £74.1 million ($115 million). In 2015 we are substantially increasing our investment in content beyond the 2014 levels of £123 million ($191 million) and already we are delivering year on year market share growth in our viewing.”