RTÉ | A YEAR IN REVIEW | 2020

REDUCTION IN SPECIAL EVENTS AND REDUCED OPERATING COSTS OWING TO PANDEMIC SEES RTÉ RETURN NET SURPLUS OF €7.9 MILLION IN 2020

To view the 2020 Annual Report, fully optimised in HTML, in Irish and English, see  http://www.rte.ie/annualreport.

RTÉ is today releasing its Annual Report and Group Consolidated Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2020.

RTÉ Annual Report 2020, in summary:

• Total revenue (TV Licence/Commercial) declined by €11m between 2019 and 2020 (€342.1 V €331.1), following a modest increase year-on-year in 2019
• Operating costs (before Special Events) were significantly reduced in 2020, by €28.5m (€333.7 V €305.2)
• There was a decline in commercial revenue by €11.3m to €134.5m due to market contractions relating to the pandemic and changes in media consumption habits
• Licence fee income received by RTÉ in 2020 was just €0.4 million higher than 2019, despite an increase of €10 million in the amount received from the DEASP in respect of ‘free’ television licences, which was a part reversal of the public funding cuts made since 2010*
• Owing to reduced operating costs and reduced costs for Special Events, the Net Surplus after tax and Exceptional Items for the year was €7.9m (2019 -€7.2m).

You can access the full Financial Review at www.rte.ie/annualreport/

The Annual Report also highlights RTÉ’s many achievements in 2020, including:

• RTÉ Player saw a 36% growth in viewing in 2020, with 67.5m streams.
• 90% of Irish people chose RTÉ as their primary source of information on the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
• RTÉ Supporting the Arts partnered with more than 100 local, national and community arts events in 2020.
• The RTÉ Guide bumper Christmas issue continued to be an Irish publishing phenomenon, with almost 271,000 copies sold.
• 1.4 million people tuned in to RTÉ Does Comic Relief, with over €5.5 million raised.
• RTÉ grew its total weekly radio listeners to over 2 million in 2020, representing 51% of the adult 15+ population.
• Almost 4 million individuals or 90% of the Irish TV population tuned in to RTÉ’s television services in the early stages of the pandemic (2 March–17 May 2020).

To read more about RTÉ’s achievements in 2020 see http://www.rte.ie/annualreport

In addition:

• Thousands joined with RTÉ to #ShineALight in 2020.
• Children (and parents) flocked to RTÉ’s Home School Hub.
• 1.7 million people watched The Late Late Toy Show on RTÉ platforms.
• The Illuminations art project fostered solidarity and built resilience.

Dee Forbes, Director-General RTÉ, said: “The public in Ireland turned to RTÉ in huge numbers in 2020, and placed huge trust in us during what was a very challenging year for everyone. It is at the heart of our public purpose to reflect Irish life, and Irish lives: when the nation came together in 2020, RTÉ was there. While the pandemic resulted in declines in commercial income, it also saw reductions in our operating costs, due to the deferral of a wide range of sporting events (many of which will return in 2021), of programme productions, and from new ways of working. This in turn meant that in 2020, RTÉ delivered a surplus. But the longer-term funding issues for public service media remain acute, and urgent. For RTÉ, the achievements of 2020 will fuel the drive to ensure that the funding of public media is put on a firm footing. Future generations deserve a strong, independent Irish voice.” 

Read the Director-General’s Review here: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/director-generals-review.html

Moya Doherty, Chair of the RTÉ Board, commented: “The pandemic encouraged RTÉ to examine its operating structures and to design new and crisis-efficient modes of delivery. With the backing of the Board, RTÉ continued in its plan to stabilise the organisation’s finances in 2020, and we continued to assess RTÉ’s remit, seeking to maintain the best possible portfolio of services and content for audiences in Ireland in the context of declining funding and revenues. This thinking contributed to a renewed and more urgent conversation about public service media. The arguments for the sustenance, protection and patronage of public media took on a real-time and real-world resonance as a result of the pandemic.”

Moya Doherty continued: “2020 was the year when empathy and connection emerged once more as defining elements and differentiators for public service media. Our audiences showed us, perhaps more clearly than ever, what they value and what they need from their national broadcaster. We will continue to evolve and adapt to meet that need, and will build stronger once the crisis has passed to ensure that our long patience as a nation has its just reward.” 

Read the Chair’s Review here: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/chairs-statement.html

To view the 2020 Annual Report, fully optimised in HTML, in Irish and English, see http://www.rte.ie/annualreport, where you may also download the full report, and access additional information:

– Financial Review: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/financial-review.html

– What We Made in 2020: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/rte-what-we-made-in-2020.html

– What We Did in 2020: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/rte-what-we-did-in-2020.html 

– What We Won in 2020: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/rte-what-we-won-in-2020.html

– Statistical Information: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2020/business-review/statistical-information.html

ENDS

*The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media is responsible for the collection of licence fee monies from An Post and from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection in respect of ‘free’ television licences.