Imedi TV suffers losses despite receiving maximum advertisements: TI Georgia

Tbilisi: The opposition’s claimed- “pro-government” channel Imedi TV received the majority of the advertising last year, but it also incurred the highest losses, according to a report on television station revenues and the advertising market released on Tuesday by Transparency International Georgia.

According to the organization, the corporation earned 31.1 million GEL in 2021 (or 37.4% of the advertising market), while suffering a loss of 74.4 million GEL. The analysis found that none of the five biggest television stations in the nation turned out to be profitable in the previous calendar year.

In Georgia, there were 116 television stations, according to the reports, but the top five accounted for 81% of the state’s whole advertising market.

The top TV network Rustavi 2 reportedly experienced the “largest advertising decrease” in recent years, which coincides with a shift in ownership, according to TI Georgia. Its advertising revenues fell by 19.3 million GEL (63.4%) in 2021 compared to 2018, totalling 11.1 million GEL., stated the company.

The pro-opposition, Mtavari channel, which was established in 2019, came in second in terms of income with 11.9 million GEL.

In terms of total private television revenues, another opposition-leaning FormulaTV came in first with 37.5 million GEL, of which 31.6 million GEL came from “non-broadcast income,” loan from its owner, wanted ex-defence minister Davit Kezerashvili. The overall revenue of private TV stations increased by 1.3 million GEL (1%) in 2021 to reach 139.8 million GEL.