Virgin ad revenue declines in Q3 but subscribers increase

by Tristan O'Carroll, mediaweek.co.uk 29-Oct-09, 10:25

LONDON - Virgin Media's ad revenue fell in Q3 although its pay-TV cable offer continues to add subscribers, reaching 3.71 million by the end of the period.

The company declined to detail actual ad revenues, derived from its ad sales house IDS and online operations. However, it noted that ad revenue was down due to "macroeconomic-related declines in the total TV advertising market".

However, it claimed VMtv, owner of Living, increased its overall share of the TV advertising market.

Revenue from its content operations, which include ia 50% stake in Dave owner UKTV, was £34m, up from £30.9m in Q3 2008.

Virgin Media accrued a £5.5m pre-tax profit in the quarter from its stake in UKTV.

Within its cable pay-TV platform, Virgin Media signed up 37,000 new subscribers to end the period. It also revealed the average monthly reach of its VoD service was 55% of its digital pay-TV customers.

ARPU, the average revenue paid by each Virgin Media subscriber in Q3, was £44.24, up 5% year on year.