2013 Up and Down for TV3

TV3's 2013 was up and down. Financial pressures increased during the year with the decision by the government to sell on TV3's loan book as part of the liquidation of IRBC (formally Anglo Irish Bank) and the continued dip in advertising revenue through out the year. In November the announcement that many of TV3's top shows would move to UTV in early 2015 was a surprise blow to the channel. Since that announcement TV3 have been able to hold on to some of its top shows, including Downton Abbey and The X Factor. TV3 then announced that its owners Doughty Hanson (DH) had bought back their loan book from the government at a discount, preventing such loans ending up as part of NAMA.

TV3 still remains Ireland's second most popular TV station with on average 13% audience share. Its sister channel, 3e, continues to grow with its addition on Saorview in 2012 it has access to 98% of the population, seeing its audience share grow to around 2% and often beating Channel 4 and BBC 2. 3e successfully over took RTÉ TWO during the final week of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, becoming Ireland's 3rd most watch TV channel, ahead of BBC 1. The highest rating for the programming on 3e was 423,100 as Kian Egan of Westlife was made King of the Jungle.

Overall TV3 and 3e had a total audience share of 13.7% combined in 2013.

Irish programmes that help TV3 over 2013 included The Estate (229,000), The Great Irish Bake Off (262,500), At Home with the Healy Rae’s (243,000), Christmas Toys (364,000) and Deception (371,800). These were helped by sports and imported programming such as UEFA Champions League (423,500), Britain’s Got Talent (335,900), and The X Factor (520,500).

A relaunch of TV3.ie saw the company win at the Eircom Spider Awards and a 35% increase in numbers visiting the site, while xpose.ie saw a 260% increase in numbers. Across social media TV3 currently has 543,664 followers.

TV3's TV viewing companion app was also introduced in 2013. ShowPal was downloaded by 40,000 people making it the number 1 free entertainment app. ShowPal successfully won 3 awards at the Appys and the Golden Spider Awards.

TV3 Group Director of Content, Jeff Ford, said: “2013 was a significant year for TV3 Group. We not only officially launched our new Sony HD Studio but we also increased our output on home production by focusing on much bigger shows, utilising our own state-of-the-art facilities. Despite a worsening ad market, TV3 Group continues to buck the trend by continuing to grow market share. We look forward now to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in 2014 and 2015 with great optimism.”