STV Group PLC on Tuesday said its full-year performance is in line with market expectations despite challenging advertising and commissioning market conditions.

The Glasgow-based television broadcaster and content producer said in a trading update its third quarter total advertising revenue, before commission, was up 5% and ahead of guidance.

The company said it expects fourth quarter TAR to be down around 10%. This is due to strong comparators in the previous year that drove up advertising revenue, including the Rugby World Cup.

Full year TAR is expected to be up between 2% to 3%, boosted by the European Football Championships earlier this year, the company said.

The company said STV Studios ‘continues to perform well’ with a £92 million forward order book on October 31. STV Studios won multiple commissions in the third quarter including a second series of ’Criminal Record’ for Apple TV+. Further commissions for original formats have been won in the fourth quarter including ’Crime Scene Cleaners’ for Channel 4.

STV also said that a cost savings plan was on track to deliver at least £1.5 million savings in 2024.

New Chief Executive Rufus Radcliffe said: ‘There’s no doubt that we continue to operate against a challenging advertising and commissioning backdrop, and we will continue to take action to mitigate against that where possible. The acquisition strategy in STV Studios is helping us to deliver in a tough market, with new commissions secured for original formats since our interim results.’

Radcliffe joined from ITV PLC on November 1, where he was managing director of streaming, interactive and data.

Shares in STV were up 6.7% to 207.00 pence in London on Tuesday afternoon.

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