Miserable Q1 for Antena 3

Antena 3 recorded sharp drop in revenues and profit and an audience share decline in the first quarter of 2009.

The Spanish free-to-air broadcaster posted revenues of €166.2m, a 23% year-on-year decline. Net profit was down 74% at €8.1m. Audience share in the quarter was 15.3%, compared to 16.5% in the same period in 2008.
Spain’s TV ad market has been hit particularly hard by the current economic downturn. The main free-to-air players are also having to contend with the success of the country’s DTT service. The private broadcasters welcomed the Spanish government’s recent announcement that it will phase out advertising on public broadcaster RTVE.