TVB expects double-digit growth in ad sales for 2024

Local broadcaster TVB expects to see a double-digit growth in its advertising income for 2024, following a over 10% year-on-year increase in the fourth quarter of last year.

According to the official announcement on HKEX, TVB expects to achieve positive EBITDA for the whole year of 2024 and a positive net profit for the second half of 2024, excluding extraordinary one-off items. 

TVB expects its advertising income to grow further in 2025 as it continues to bring back yet more large corporate advertisers to its TV platforms. A positive indicator is the response from clients to its “early bird” campaign, whereby clients can pre-commit to advertising packages on its TV platforms in 2025 at favourable rates. The number of such commitments TVB secured during the quarter exceeded by a double-digit percentage the comparable amount it obtained a year before, during its early bird campaign for 2024. 

Meanwhile, revenue from digital advertising on myTV Super platform was over 10% higher during the quarter on a year-on-year basis, compared to the last quarter of 2023. With this, TVB’s digital advertising income over the full year 2024 will also be higher by a strong double-digit percentage compared to the year before.

In the group’s OTT streaming business, TVB continues to serve around two million average monthly active users (MAU) across all service tiers. Its premium myTV Gold subscribers saw an increase of 9% and 6% respectively compared to Q3 2024 and Q4 2023 due to certain incentives it introduced during the quarter to attract new viewers.

In terms of mainland China-related businesses, TVB has begun selling advertising spots on its TVB Jade and Pearl channel feeds into Guangdong province from 1 January 2025 after agreeing on a new commercial arrangement with its signal carriage partner in Guangdong last year. It said there is strong interest in this new product from its advertising clients in Hong Kong who wish to extend their marketing reach into the Greater Bay Area outside of Hong Kong. Thus, TVB expects its advertising income in 2025 to benefit from this new initiative. 

Moreover, TVB has started filming four new co-production drama titles, namely Mrs. Revenge (夫妻的博弈), Themis (正義女神 Themis), I Only Live Twice (模仿人生), and Wars of Roses (玫瑰戰爭). Adding to the ongoing production of D.I.D. 12 (刑偵 12), The Queen of Castle (巨塔之后), and The Fading Gold (金式森林), TVB has a total of seven drama titles in various stages of production. Meanwhile, during the quarter, its coproduction titles No Return (巾幗梟雄之懸崖) and Darkside of the Moon (黑色月光) began airing on Tencent Video and Youku respectively.

Don't miss: TVB reduces losses due to recovery in advertising income

Back in August 2024, TVB reported a 65% reduction in its net loss for the first half of the year, bringing it down to HK$143 million compared to the previous year, driven by a 21% surge in advertising income. Its digital advertising income jumped 39% as more advertisers took advantage of the reach of its myTV SUPER platform, which had two million monthly active users during the period.

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