STV note resilient advertising revenue and production arm growth

STV Group plc – the company that operates two ‘Channel 3’ (formerly the ITV regional UK network) areas in Scotland – today announces that it expects Total Advertising Revenue (TAR) to be down c.2% for the full year 2022, delivering a resilient performance, and growth of c.8% compared to the pre Covid year of 2019.

STV Chief Executive Simon Pitts:

“STV has performed strongly in 2022 with advertising revenues expected to finish only 2% behind 2021’s record performance and 8% ahead of 2019. On screen we have enjoyed an excellent end to the year, with I’m a Celebrity proving to be the biggest TV series of 2022, ahead of Strictly Come Dancing, and the World Cup STV’s most streamed event ever with over 6m streams.

“While we remain mindful of the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, we are becoming a more resilient and diversified business that is well placed to take advantage of the growth in demand for streaming and global content.”

STV expects regional advertising to perform broadly in line with national advertising for the year and VOD advertising on STV Player to continue to deliver good growth. 9-month TAR was -3%, in line with expectations, and Q3 TAR -17% as UK economic uncertainty led to caution in the advertising market. As anticipated, Q4 has seen a stronger performance, boosted by I’m a Celebrity and the FIFA World Cup 2022, and is forecast to be down c.1% against tough comparators from 2021 (Q4 2021 TAR: +16%). Within that October TAR was down 13%, November up 3% and December is expected to be up around 6%.

STV Chief Executive Simon Pitts

On screen, STV has had a very strong finish to the year, with ITV Studios’ I’m a Celebrity the most-watched TV series across all UK TV channels in 2022, and STV Player’s most streamed series ever with over 3m streams. England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to France delivered STV the highest peak-time audience in Scotland across all channels this year of 1.6m viewers. The tournament is already STV’s most streamed event ever with over 6m streams so far, over 50% ahead of last year’s Euros.

STV Studios continues to make progress, with over 30 new commissions secured this year (FY 2021: 15) and previous full-year 2022 guidance confirmed of £20-25m in revenues and at least £1m operating profit. Additionally, STV confirms improved STV Studios guidance for 2023, with secured revenues now at £50-55m, significantly ahead of their target to quadruple revenues to £40m by 2023.

STV Chief Executive Simon Pitts:

“Our recently announced partnership with ITV significantly strengthens our STV Player content and advertising proposition, while STV Studios continues to make great progress towards its goal of becoming the UK’s leading nations and regions production company. With over 30 new shows commissioned this year, we have already secured £50-55m in revenues for 2023, significantly ahead of our target, and our commissioning pipeline continues to show good momentum.”

STV launched as Scottish Television in 1957 on the then Independent Television Network, for central Scotland. Grampian joined the network in 1961 for north Scotland. Today STV operates both services as STV North and STV Central. The rest of the ITV Network, the ‘Channel 3’ franchises, were all purchased by ITV Plc leaving STV as the final true independent on the network.

STV Player