The public and commercial TV and radio broadcasters in Germany earned €19.01 billion last year – an increase by €1.53 billion compared with 2012.

For 2015, the commercial broadcasters expect a turnover growth by around 4%. However, while revenues rise, profitability goes down, according to the results of a new study (PDF chart download) on the economic situation of the German broadcast industry in 2014/2015 compiled by market research and consultancy company Goldmedia on behalf of nine media authorities under the leadership of Bavaria’s BLM.

With a turnover of around €9.48 billion in 2014 (an increase by 4.2% compared with 2013), the commercial TV and radio broadcasters (including home-shopping) managed to increase their revenues, but faced a declining return on investment. Due to the drop in profit from €729 million (2013) to €600 million (2014), the average cost recovery level amounted to just 107% last year.

The strongest growth in the TV industry was recorded in the pay segment through subscriptions and video-on-demand. The pay revenues already reach a share of 21% among total revenues while the advertising revenues went down to 50%.

The situation in the local TV market remains difficult: With income of €98 million and expenses of €105 million, the channels only reach an average cost recovery level of 93%.

The commercial radio broadcasters, however, managed to reach record revenues of €679 million in 2014 due to the stable radio advertising market and reported a profit of €90 million (2012: €88 million). The average cost recovery level amounted to 115%.