Digital income at Scottish broadcaster STV is more than a half up from last year, thanks partly to increased adoption south of the border.
Half-year digital revenue hit £2.7 million.
The growth is partly the result of the “STV Anywhere” strategy to deliver STV Player VOD on multiple platforms with ads and partly the STV Local initiative which has so far created 22 local websites and gathered 300,000 monthly uniques.
But STV also says: “The growth in digital revenues has accelerated as we improve our presence in the London market and we are confident this trend will continue in H2”
STV Anywhere has now clocked 114,000 mobile app downloads. STV Local’s existing sites cover a third of the population. STV spent the last six months attracting local advertisers. A Glasgow site will launch in Q4.
None of the digital growth stopped group-wide STV revenue falling five percent to £47.2 million, which the broadcaster attributed to a climb-down from last year’s football World Cup and Scottish Government election ad sales period.
Pre-tax profit is up from £6 million to £6.5 million.