ProSiebenSat.1 Group Sees Continued Growth in Q2

After a strong start to the year, ProSiebenSat.1 Group saw its second-quarter revenues increase by 1 percent to €1.06 billion ($1.1 billion), while adjusted EBITDA remained stable year-on-year at €166 million ($172 million).

Rainer Beaujean, group CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, said: “Our revenue development in the second quarter proves once again that, thanks to our diversified set-up, we are more crisis-proof than many other media companies. We were thus able to continue our growth as a Group despite difficult economic conditions. This was not only driven by our entertainment segment but also by the commerce and ventures business. Thereby, ProSiebenSat.1 also generated for the first-time revenues of more than €2 billion ($2.06 billion) in the first half of the year. At the same time, we are clearly focusing on synergies to create value in the long term. The disposal of Red Arrow Studios’ U.S. production business was the next milestone to position our Group in a more focused way and more profitably in the long term. We are closely monitoring the economic uncertainties in our environment—we have reviewed our outlook accordingly and updated our forecast to reflect the most recent portfolio measures. Overall, we remain confident for the second half of 2022.”

Entertainment’s external revenues recorded gains of 2 percent to €748 million ($773 million). Advertising revenues were stable against the strong previous-year period and were almost at the pre-crisis level of 2019. Revenues from the content business (program production and sales) grew by 15 percent, adjusted for currency effects and despite the disposal of the U.S. film distributor Gravitas Ventures in November 2021, with the revenue increase mainly resulting from the European business.

With the disposal of Gravitas Ventures and the disposal of the U.S. production companies as of July 1, the group has now completed the strategic divestments at Red Arrow Studios and is focusing on synergies in the German-speaking region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Accordingly, ProSiebenSat.1 further increased the share of local formats on the group’s stations compared to the previous year. On a half-year basis, the segment’s external revenues grew by 5 percent to €1.4 billion ($1.45 billion). This was driven by a 4 percent increase in advertising revenues, as the advertising market grew very strongly before the start of the Russia/Ukraine war.

For the full-year 2022, ProSiebenSat.1 Group is now forecasting revenues of around €4.36 billion ($4.5 billion) and adjusted EBITDA of around €805 million ($831 million), still mainly supported by the entertainment segment.