Five doubles profits for 2004 on the back of strong advertising market

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 10-Mar-05, 09:00

LONDON - Five has seen pre-tax profits double over the last year to €18m (£12.6m), as revenues rose by 10.4% to €276m, but its parent company RTL Group has said it is cautious on how advertising markets will develop this year.

The earnings figure is a record for Five and was released in RTL's annual results today. The company attributed the performance at the UK's fifth terrestrial network to strong growth in the advertising market and said that the advance in profitability was achieved despite a 10% rise in spending on programming.

RTL said that Five had outperformed the market in terms of adspend growth, up by 9%, compared with an average by 7%.

Audience share at the network increased marginally, from 6.6% to 6.7%, but it was one of only two terrestrial networks to see a rise in its adult viewing audience, along with Channel 4.

Highlights were programmes including the reality TV show 'The Farm', with its notorious scene of Rebecca Loos collecting sperm from a pig, and 'Cosmetic Surgery Live'. Five has also done well out of the 'Friends' spin-off 'Joey' as well as the 'CSI' francise, which now includes 'CSI: New York'.

However, RTL sounded a note of caution over the next 12 months.

Gerhard Zeiler, chief executive officer of RTL, said: "In the first two months of 2005 the picture remains mixed with low forward visibility. We are therefore cautious on how the advertising markets will develop this year."

RTL also profited from the success of 'The X Factor' and the continuing popularity of the 'Pop Idol' franchise, now produced in 30 countries. Both programmes are made by its production company FreemantleMedia.

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