Russia’s Gazprom-Media saw its consolidated revenues increase by 9% to R22.6 billion (€248.3 million) in the third quarter.
According to the group in its latest set of results, the growth was due to an increase in ad revenues of its TV channels. Indeed, ad revenues in the Media Business segment grew by 5% to R16.6 billion.
At the same time, figures published by the Russian Advertising Association (AKAR) show that the TV ad market in the country as whole contracted by 3% in the third quarter.
Gazprom-Media notes that revenues from the sale of rights to audiovisual reproduction decreased by 9% to R2.3 billion in Q3. This was nevertheless not as steep a decline as in the second quarter.
The strong decrease in income from the sale of rights was compensated by an increase in income from the distribution of paid thematic channels from “Red Media” and sports channels, as sports partially returned to TV.
Gazprom-Media had an operating profit of R1.86 billion in Q3, compared to a loss of R695 million a year earlier. Its net profit of R1.19 billion compared to a net loss of R913 million in Q3 2019.
Gazprom-Media says that against the backdrop of a 7% decline in the TV ad market in the first nine months of this year, its TV ad revenues fell by only 4% in the same period.