TF1 Profit Drops, Revenue Rises

BOULOGNE: TF1 Group’s 2016 revenues rose by 2.9 percent to €2.1 billion ($2.2 billion), with strong gains in its Studios and Entertainment segment helping to offset a drop in ad revenues.

Ad revenues fell to €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion), while revenue from other activities rose to €532.6 million ($567.9 million). Net profit for the year fell from €100 million ($106 million) to €41.7 million ($44.5 million).

TF1’s five free-to-air channels had an audience share of 27.4 percent of individuals 4 and above, down slightly on 2015. TF1’s audience share was 20.4 percent.

Issuing its annual results, TF1 noted, “2016 was a year of transformation, in which the TF1 group set new operational priorities and implemented a new organizational structure. In 2017, we will push ahead with a resolutely multichannel, multimedia and multi-activity strategy, combining pulling power with targeted reach on each channel and developing growth areas in DTT, digital and production.”

On the heels of its acquisition of Newen Group, TF1 aims to expand its production activities and distribution channels and better monetize its content. It will also limit program costs, noting in its results that it is embarking on a strategy of an “overhaul of our rights buying policy, increasing in-house production, and developing content for digital devices. Over the next three years, this policy should enable the group to hold the average annual cost of programs (excluding major sporting events) for our five free-to-air channels at €980 million.”