Ad market and sluggish German economy hit ProSiebenSat.1 first-half revenues

A soft advertising market and the faltering German economy have been blamed for group revenues slumping at German  giant ProSiebenSat.1 Media.

Bert Habets

ProSiebenSat.1/Amelie Niederbuchner

The Unterföhring-based company, run by CEO Bert Habets, today released its financial results for the first half of 2025, which showed that earnings had decreased by 7% to €840m (US$961m) in the second quarter of this year, “reflecting the challenging market environment.”

In H1, group revenues declined by 4% to €1.695m. Due to a weak TV advertising market and the deconsolidation of e-commerce platform Verivox, which was sold in March, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 40% to €55m in Q2 and by 40% to €99m in H1.

There was better news in ProSieben’s long-term digital evolution strategy, with streamer Joyn seeing its AVoD revenues grow by 62%. The platform has also posted record numbers of monthly users, reaching 9.2 million in Q2, an increase of 31% compared with the same period in 2024.

The group’s linear TV channels increased their market share among 20- to 59-year-olds to 21.3% (2024, 19.4%); while in the first half of the year, the overall audience market share rose to 20.5% (2024, 19.8%).

Earlier this week, European media group MFE-MediaForEurope, which is controlled by the family of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, raised its takeover offer for the company.

Looking to the near future, ProSieben noted that “the macroeconomic environment in the German-speaking region is challenging.” However, the group believes that both the domestic economy and entertainment advertising revenues will increase in H2.

The group is therefore aiming for revenues of around €3.85bn for the full financial year of 2025, with a variance of plus/minus €150m.

Martin Mildner, chief financial officer of ProSiebenSat.1, said: “Especially in times of economic uncertainty, it is essential that we consistently drive forward our transformation.

“We are pursuing effective cost management, expanding our reach across platforms and thus aiming to further consolidate our position in the market.

“We made important progress in the first half of the year. Our audience market shares are developing well [and] Joyn achieved new record figures and has now exceeded the 10 million user mark in Germany alone. We are confident that we will benefit quickly and directly from a possible economic recovery in the second half of the year.”