Saorview

Ireland’s free digital TV service continued to perform well in 2022, as Saorview audiences grew to 38% of all TV homes (Nielsen establishment survey, January 2023). An upgraded website supported our 2022 advertising campaign on TV, radio and social media, which featured the message ‘Make your Smart TV Smarter (just plug in an aerial)’. Launched in Q4, our customer messaging was enhanced by retailer point-of-sale (POS) merchandising nationwide, delivered by Saorview brand ambassadors who spoke directly to retail staff about the benefits of Saorview.

Notably, the campaign was bilingual, with Irish language versions of TV and radio ads, as well as bilingual POS. it is intended that Irish will be a prominent part of our communications going forward in line with the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021.

Saorview continued to add value and choice for Irish TV audiences in 2022, with the upgrade of TG4 to High Definition and the addition of Virgin Media Four which followed the addition of Sky News to the platform in 2021.

2rn

2rn, a wholly owned subsidiary of RTÉ, maintains, manages, and develops Ireland’s broadcast transmission network for all broadcasters on the island and provides infrastructure services to the telecommunications industry. As the custodian of Ireland’s national broadcast transmission network, 2rn makes sure the nation is always switched on and again achieved 99.99% reliability across television and radio transmission services.

The Saorview and Saorsat services transmitted by 2rn continued to make public-service television and radio services available free to every home in the State, offering high-quality video and audio. Of the 1.72 million television viewing homes in Ireland, approximately 648,000 had Saorview in 2022 and in approximately 201,000 homes, (Nielsen establishment survey, January 2023) Saorview was the only means of watching broadcast television.

In 2022 Covid-19 continued to necessitate changes to many work practices and processes as well as enhanced staff training to safely undertake the works necessary to maintain the reliability of the services provided, and to interact with suppliers and customers. The changes made did mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and there was no material impact on 2rn’s overall performance in the year.

Overall, 2rn generated revenue of €25.75 million in 2022, a small decrease on 2021 attributable to a decrease in the regulated revenue from national broadcast services. Overall, the €25.75million and year-on-year performance reflects the stability of the broadcast market and the solid performance of the mast and tower rental market.

There were no significant changes in the local, regional, or national radio market, as available spectrum capacity in the FM band is almost fully utilised. Cost pressures and competition in the telecommunications business continue to grow as does the requirement for fibre-optic connectivity. Achieving year-on-year revenue stability in the telecommunication business remained challenging.

RTÉ Guide

The RTÉ Guide remains Ireland’s top-selling magazine, with a weekly on-shelf issue, plus the iconic Christmas bumper double issue. The RTÉ Guide also publishes Taste, a food-focused yearly annual celebrating food, chefs, trends and seasonal produce. The magazine continues to be a revenue generator for RTÉ, helping to engage younger audiences, as well as continuing to maintain its core base. 2022 was the year that most of us got back to a somewhat normal life - for the print industry it was another challenging time as people started to move again and the ‘at home’ experience started to fragment - the newspaper and press industry saw overall volumes fall by 10%.

The RTÉ Guide saw a more modest decline and once again demonstrated resilience with a solid Christmas sale, with revenue aided by a cover price increase. Paper prices fluctuated wildly upwards over 2022, with costs driven by energy inflation and strikes in Finland, which were acerbated by the war in Ukraine. We’ve now seen the prices settle and expect a small reduction in paper costs over 2023. Overall, 2022 was a challenging year for the entire press industry but with a tight control of costs and the RTÉ Guide’s resilience at retail holding, it maintains its place as Ireland’s biggest-selling magazine.