RTÉ is €9.1m in the red as it reports worst deficit since 2018
RTÉ's 63rd annual report for the 12 months to the end of 2023 reveals a net deficit of €9.1m. This was up on the €2.8m deficit in 2022, and €7.2m deficit in 2019.
RTÉ has recorded its worst financial losses since 2018 in what the broadcaster has admitted was one of its most damaging years and an "all-time low".
According to its 63rd annual report and group financial statements for the 12 months to December 31, 2023, the net deficit was €9.1m.
This was up on the €2.8m deficit in 2022, and the €7.2m deficit in 2019, but less than the €13m deficit in 2018.
RTÉ has also admitted the Ryan Tubridy payments controversy — in which it was revealed that RTÉ under-reported the salary paid to Ryan Tubridy and failed to disclose €345,000 of additional payments — contributed to a €17.3m drop in licence fee income to €201.7m.
RTÉ board chairman Terence O’Rourke has also said that if RTÉ cannot regain the public's trust then “RTÉ has no future”. The annual report stated:
The accounts also show the amount of cash RTÉ could access quickly from its bank accounts during the year dropped by €35.4m.
RTÉ said this was due to the decline in licence fee sales and inflation.
TV advertising, the single biggest contributor to commercial revenue, also declined by 6.2% in 2023.
This was, the broadcaster said, largely anticipated as 2022 had featured a winter FIFA World Cup which had proved “exceptionally popular” with both audiences and advertisers.
Sales of the were down 7.6% year on year in line with a market that is estimated to have declined by 8%.
Total copy sales of 1.5m included a 6% decline in sales of the flagship Christmas issue, which sold 225,355 copies.
Advertising revenue for the also declined year on year “as the magazine advertising market proved challenging”, it noted.
In his comment in the accounts, RTÉ board chairman Terence O’Rourke said: “2023 was a difficult and damaging year for RTÉ.
“Achievements on air, on screen, and online, and elsewhere, were overshadowed by the revelations which emerged in June last year.
“All in all, it was an all-time low for the organisation.
He added: “Trust is vital for any national public service media organisation and in the case of RTÉ, it has been badly damaged.
“Rebuilding it will take time and commitment, but it is something on which we are firmly and resolutely focused.
"At the most senior level in RTÉ, trust that had been placed in us as a board was apparently taken for granted.
“We know we need to rebuild the needed trust, and we will.
“RTÉ has no future if the public we are here to serve does not trust the organisation.”
Director general Kevin Bakhurst referenced a number of RTE’s achievements in 2023, including money raised for charity from the Late Late Toy Show.
But he admitted these are “easy to overlook” in a year “defined by damaging revelations".