On June 17, Gazprombank published the financial results for January-March 2020. The key indicators for Gazprom-Media Holding are presented within the “Media-Business” segment.

Key financial figures for the first quarter of 2020:

  • Consolidated revenues for January-March 2020 grew by 5% to 24.9 billion rubles thanks to the growth in advertising revenues from Gazprom-Media Holding’s television channels and the increase in revenues from the distribution of special-interest channels and film distribution
  • The operating profit of the “Media-Business” segment grew by 22% to 1.6 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2020. The television and film businesses of Gazprom-Media Holding made the biggest contribution to this positive operating result. Net profit added up to 917 million rubles.

Advertising revenues

Advertising revenues in the “Media-Business” segment grew by 2% to 16.8 billion rubles. These numbers correspond to the market dynamic of TV advertising on broadcast channels, which are a key asset for Gazprom-Media Holding. According to the Russian Association of Communication Agencies (AKAR), the market of TV advertising on broadcast channels grew by 2% in the first quarter of 2020.

It was possible to achieve these results thanks to good audience indicators across a number of premiere projects on the Holding’s TV channels from January to March*. TNT recorded a high level of viewership for its premieres of the series Voyna Semey (Family Wars, 11.5%), Patriot (14.5%), Koroche (In Short, 11.6%), Domashny Arest (Home Arrest, 13.9%), Call Center (11.6%), as well as the humour show Comedy Club (13.7%). The second season of the reality show Posledniy Geroy. Telezriteli Protiv Zvezd (The Last Hero. TV Viewers v. Celebrities) was the top premiere on TV-3 channel in the first quarter of 2020. Its first episode got a 7.8% viewership share. The most successful premieres on Friday! channel were the projects Mir Naiznaku (The World Inside Out, 7.3%), Na Nozhah (Knives at the Ready, 6.3%), Oryol i Reshka. Ivleeva VS Bednyakov (Heads or Tails. Ivleeva VS Bednyakov, 5.8%).

NTV launched the show Maska (The Mask) in the first quarter of 2020. Its fifth episode was broadcast on March 29, got a 7.2% rating and a viewership share of 19.1%, which made it the best entertainment program of the first quarter. In weekend programming, NTV was in second place among the “big three” channels in the entire 18+ audience with a share of 9.9% (Russia 1 - 12.1%, Channel One - 9.8%). Series premieres on NTV also got high audience indicators: Nevsky. Ten’ Arkhitektora (Nevsky. Architect’s Shadow, 12.5% share) and Goryachaya Tochka (Hot Spot, 12% share). The viewers’ interest in news content started to increase at the end of the first quarter, which was reflected in the viewership shares of NTV’s primetime news programs: Segodnya (Today) at 19:00 - from 10.3% (Q1 2019) to 12.1% (Q1 2020), Itogi Nedeli s Iradoi Zeynalovoy (Weekly Summary with Irada Zeynalova) - from 13.5% (Q1 2019) to 13.9% (Q1 2020).

* Mediascope, Russia, cities with more than 100,000 people, time period 01.01.2020-31.03.2020, audience aged 14-44 for TNT, TV -3, Friday!; audience aged 18+ for NTV. Share indicator (%).

Non-ad revenues

Gazprom-Media Holding’s non-advertising revenues grew by 11% to 8.1 billion rubles. The main influx into non-advertising revenues came from copyright sales, which grew by 15% to 5 billion rubles from January-March 2020 thanks to Central Partnership’s strong film distribution, as well as the growth in revenues from the distribution of Red Media’s special-interest channels and the sports channels of Gazprom-Media Match.

Based on the results of the first quarter, Central Partnership came out in first place among Russian film distributors in terms of box office sales: the company’s share on the film distribution market came out to 31%. This reporting period saw the release of the film Kholop (The Peasant), produced by Yellow, Black and White together with Gazprom-Media’s KIT Film Studio and Central Partnership. The film collected 3.2 billion rubles in cinemas across Russia and the CIS, thus becoming the highest-growwing film at the Russian box office over the last 10 years. Moreover, the comedy sequel Politseysky s Rublevki. Novogodniy Bespredel 2 (The Policeman from Rublyovka. New Year’s Mayhem 2) continued its theatre run, and collected 1.1 billion rubles at the box office.