Declining ratings likely to hit MCOT revenue in first half

Falling TV ratings hurt the first-half performance of MCOT Plc, the broadcaster of Modernine TV, as it expects revenue of 2.8 billion baht for the period, 20% lower than its projection.

Chief financial officer Jessada Promjart said the company maintained its fullyear revenue target of 6.5 billion baht despite the middling performance in the first six months.

MCOT will report its first-half operating results this week.

The lower revenue was attributed to a reduction in advertising income, as the ratings of many of its TV programmes, particularly from 5-8pm, were down. News programmes from 6-8am still received satisfactory ratings.

‘‘We’ll adjust our TV programmes once we receive the final TV ratings,’’ said Mr Jessada.

He said adjusting ad rates is not easy in light of the low ratings, so achieving 6.5 billion baht may be difficult.

A source from MCOT said the lower ratings were the result of an inappropriate method of obtaining TV programmes for Channel 9, many of which were selected on the basis of executive connections.

MCOT began adjusting its low-rated TV programmes on July 1 and will reschedule poorly performing programming this Thursday.

MCOT said its TV loading factor — the take-up rate of available advertisement airtime — dipped for both prime-time and non-prime-time slots over the past two years.

Its highest loading factors for primetime and non-prime-time slots were 143% and 108% respectively in the fourth quarter of 2010. But the figures fell to 80% and 35% respectively in this year’s first quarter.

MCOT’s first-quarter revenue for TV business was 857 million baht, down from 1 billion in last year’s fourth quarter. Its radio revenue fell as well. In contrast, its concession revenue rose, mainly from its 6.5% share of TrueVisions’ total revenue.

Some 51% of the TV programmes aired on Modernine TV (Channel 9) are inhouse production, while 29% are timeshares and 20% are rented. The programme breakdown by category is 31% news, 29% edutainment, 25% entertainment, 11% sports and 4% miscellaneous.

Nielsen Co (Thailand) reported Channel 9 had an 18% market share in the first half of this year, ranking third among six free TV operators after Channel 7 (32%) and Channel 3 (30%).

In terms of audiences, Channel 7 attracted 49%, followed by Channel 3 at 33% and Channel 9 at 8%.

Mr Jessada said an English Premier League (EPL) deal with CTH will be finalised soon, with broadcast rights set at 2 million baht per game and 50% revenuesharing excluding on-ground activities.

‘‘We hope the EPL deal will help our performance to improve significantly,’’ he said.

An analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Securities said MCOT faces tough competition from digital TV operators and unstable executive management, which could allow political intervention.

MCOT’s concession with TrueVisions expires in 2019 and that with Channel 3 a year later.

Shares of MCOT closed Friday on the SET at 42.50 baht, down 50 satang, in trade worth 11.4 million baht.