ProSiebenSat.1 leaning on Joyn after ‘difficult’ year

Source: ProSiebenSat.1

German broadcast group ProSiebenSat.1 saw revenues and earnings grow in the fourth quarter at the end of a “difficult” 2023 that saw both sales and EBITDA decline.

The group again pointed to digital and the performance of its streaming offering Joyn as pointing the way to a brighter future.

“We put our streaming platform join at the centre of everything we do,” said CEO Bert Habets, speaking on the company’s earnings call.

“We want to focus on the freely accessible ad-financed part of Joyn and with this we strengthen Joyn’s position as an AVOD offering in the market. This opens new monetization opportunities for us. We can now offer our advertising customers more digital and smart advertising products on Joyn and this creates new revenue streams. We are also linking Joyn more closely with our channels.”

Habets said that to “withstand competition” from global streamers, it would be necessary to forge partnerships with competitors and others in the domestic market, citing the group’s recent advertising partnership with RTL Group, the availability of Joyn on Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV and the extension of a distribution partnership with Vodafone as examples of partnerships.

“In an industry facing increasing competition we need to form partnerships to leverage synergies. We will cooperate with competitors where it makes sense and we’re legally allowed to. Only through cooperation will we be successful in the future as an industry. Our north star must always be how can we make our offerings more attractive for our users and for our partners,” said Habets.

‘Slight’ revenue growth expected in 2024

ProSiebenSat.1 turned in full year sales of €3.85 billion, down from €4.16 billion in 2022, down 7%, or 4% at constant currency, while adjusted EBITDA fell “as expected” from €678 million to €578 million.

The company said it now expected “slight” revenue growth this year, setting guidance at €3.95 billion plus or minus €150 million.

The broadcaster said its full-year numbers had been dragged down by a poor first half amid market uncertainty, lack of consumer confidence and a decline in ad spend.

Entertainment revenues fell harder than the overall top line, with entertainment segment revenues down 11% to €2.57 billion, with blame being placed on the dampened German ad market.

On the upside, the company pointed to strong digital growth. Streaming offering Joyn had its strongest operational results to date during the fourth quarter, with 6.3 million monthly users watching 8.8 billion minutes of video and AVOD revenues increasing by 37%.

ProSiebenSat.1 said that an expected 2% growth in the German ad market would underpin its own modest growth expectations this year. However, 2024 EBIITDA is expected to be flat or slightly below last year’s total.