ProSiebenSat.1 bounces back in Q4

German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 saw its revenues bounce back in the fourth quarter, with 11% growth to €1.492 billion, thanks in part to strong growth in the German domestic advertising market.

The quarterly numbers helped boost the broadcaster’s full-year performance, with total revenues of €4.047 billion just 2% down on the pre-COVID-19 prior year.

ProSiebenSat.1 saw strong Q4 growth across its business segments. TV entertainment arm Seven.One Entertainment saw revenues rise by 2% to €826 million for the quarter, thanks to the recovery in the advertising market. Seven.One Entertainment was down 9% to €2.286 billion for the full year after taking a hit in Q2 from the pandemic.

Studio arm Red Arrow saw revenues rise by 14% to€218 millino in Q4 after being hit badly in previous quarters due to the impact of COVID-19. ProSiebenSat.1 said that Red Arrow would be fully integrated into its entertainment arm and was focusing on producing more content for the company’s entertainment channels. ProSiebenSat.1 pulled its planned sale of the production outfit a year ago as the impact of the pandemic made itself felt.

Dating sector unit ParshipMeet Group saw its revenues jump from €53 million in 2019 to €132 million for the fourth quarter, with the contribution of acquisition The Meet Group and growth from US dating outfit eharmony.

Ecommerce arm NuCom Group saw revenues for the quarter rise by 8% to €315 million, with strong growth from its bea,uty and lifestyle businesses.

The group’s adjusted EBITDA rose by 12% to €377 million in Q4, with full-year EBITDA down 19% to €706 million, better than previously forecast.

“With our new set up, we are increasingly focusing on exploiting synergies within and between our business areas and thus creating added value as a Group,” said chairman and CFO Rainer Beaujean.

“In the entertainment business, we are laying a profitable foundation for our diversification with a focus on local content and improved monetization across all platforms. While we are now preparing ParshipMeet Group for its IPO, we want to show in the Commerce & Ventures segment how we can use the power of advertising to build digital companies into leading consumer brands by way of minority and majority investments. In this way, we want to grow profitably with a clear focus on earnings and, in the mid-term, to improve our P7S1 ROCE (return on capital employed) target to over 15%.”