Scottish free-to-air broadcaster STV (STVG) was flat at 216.2p despite reporting a better than expected recovery in advertising and a strong viewing performance in a third quarter update.
Total advertising revenue for the quarter was -4% year on year, with July -7%, August +1% and September -5%. October improved further to -2%.
STV-controlled advertising was higher with regional advertising up 8% and video-on-demand advertising up 10% in Q3. TV viewing was up 13% and online viewing up 82%.
Previous guidance for the Studios production arm is maintained with the profit impact of the hiatus due to Covid-19 'limited'. For 2021, Studios has £15 million to £20 million of commissions secured
Simon Pitts, STV chief executive, said: '2020 has underscored both the loyalty of our viewers and the resilience of our business. We've seen record growth in audiences across the whole of 2020 so far, not just during lockdown, with TV viewing up 13% and online viewing up 82%.'
Shore Capital analyst Roddy Davidson said: ‘We are very pleased to note the advertising recovery, strong viewing performance and digital and production momentum flagged in this morning’s statement. We are not changing our forecasts at present but would note that these feel underpinned despite a degree of uncertainty over Q4.
‘More broadly, we rate STV as a tightly managed, dynamic and entrepreneurial business with strong operational momentum and a clear and consistently executed strategy for accelerating growth in Digital and Production and capitalising on its dominance of the Scottish commercial TV market.’
STV as a tightly managed, dynamic and entrepreneurial business with strong operational momentum and a clear and consistently executed strategy for accelerating growth in Digital and Production and capitalising on its dominance of the Scottish commercial TV market.’
