The turn around at Network Ten continues apace with news it was back in the black after reporting a $13.4 million profit at this morning’s half year financial report.
The first-half profit compares to a loss of $264.4 million from the corresponding period last year brought about by a one-off write down on its television broadcast licence. The network also reported that revenues had improved by 8.1 per cent to $348.5 million aided by improving ad market share it had pinched from rivals Nine and Seven.
A raft of hit shows including MasterChef, The Bachelorette and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here have helped turn around the network’s fortunes in recent times. At its worst, Ten was pulling about 17 per cent ad share (according to SMI data), however, that has been as high as 24 per cent over the past six months.
The turnaround was also helped a the sale of its US outdoor advertising business Eye and a capital injection it received when Foxtel bought a stake in the business in 2015.
Ten chief executive Paul Anderson said of the results: “Our clear strategy of investing in fresh and innovative prime time content and expanding strategically our digital media business tenplay is producing encouraging results.”
