Pickup in TV ad sales buoys RTL, ProSieben outlook

European broadcasters RTL Group and ProSieben said an upturn in TV advertising revenue and strong first-quarter results gave hope for higher earnings in 2010 and possibly a sustainable recovery. RTL, Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster, said TV advertising in most of its western European markets had shown robust growth, boosting revenue and its core profit, which more than doubled. Germany, Europe's biggest TV market, as well as France and the UK had shown the best development, RTL said on Thursday. Smaller rival ProSieben struck a similar tone. In Germany, its core market, revenue soared thanks to improved advertising revenue and it also recorded higher sales in the Netherlands, Belgium and its northern and eastern European markets. Both companies said they expect earnings to improve compared with 2009, when a double-digit decline in TV advertising hit broadcasters as companies tightened their purse strings amid the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, the two rivals cautioned that predictions could only be made to a limited degree and that it was difficult to say whether the postive trend will be sustainable. Advertising markets first showed some improvement in the last quarter of 2009, but media and broadcasters have been hesitant to herald the develoment as the long-awaited recovery. RTL said core profit surged 126.4 per cent to €197m ($255.5m) on a sales increase of 10.1 per cent to €1.3bn.