Hong Kong broadcaster TVB sees losses widen in 2019 as protests hit advertising revenue, warns worse to come as coronavirus takes toll

Hong Kong’s dominant broadcaster, TVB, saw its losses widen dramatically last year as advertising revenue plunged amid the protests that battered the city’s economy.

The free-to-air broadcaster posted a net loss of HK$295 million (US$38 million) for 2019, compared with HK$199 million the previous year, and said worse is to come as the coronavirus pandemic brings further misery.

“With unrest continuing, the market is still far from returning to normality. The recent outbreak of the coronavirus further curtailed economic recovery and is bringing a slowdown on a global scale,” said the free-to-air broadcaster in the a filing on Wednesday night to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

“Our business took a sharp turn during the second half of the year as we are heavily reliant on advertising which weakened along with the broader economy.”

Television Broadcasts (TVB), whose parent is the film production company Shaw Brothers, said its advertising income plunged 22 per cent to HK$1.9 billion in 2019, mainly because of a sharp decline in the second half when the city was gripped by social unrest.

Revenue dropped 18 per cent year-on-year to HK$3.6 billion.