Ten Alps Profits Rise 40 Percent On Multimedia B2B Model

Online TV business Ten Alps is reaping the rewards from building a diverse multimedia B2B and factual media model. Its profits rose 40 percent from last year to £1.4 million in the six months to 30 September. The company says it makes more than a third of its revenue from “online crossover activities”, but revenue dropped 4.6 percent to £35.4 million.

The company, co-founded by Bob Geldof, runs a series of profession-based online VOD portals like Teachers’ TV and is bidding to run at least one of the government’s proposed Independently Funded News Consortia (IFNC) in the North East, in partnership with Trinity Mirror.

In 2010 Ten Alps will launch Accountancy TV and sponsored online science channel Newton HD — being built in partnership with the Open University — and will look to digitise and sell its factual content online. Release (pdf).

— Ten Alps’ Content division – which made 50 documentaries for Channel 4, the BBC and others in the period – made revenue 14.3 percent higher at £9.76 million. Next year the company will digitise more than 500 programmes for “online exploitation”. The company says: “Here the model is evolving, but is likely to be a revenue share model in the style of iTunes.”

— The company’s communications division, which runs Teachers’ TV, made revenue 9.55 percent lower at £25.6 million, due to declines in advertising revenue. It tackled that advertising dip by slashing costs so contributed profits £300,000 higher at £1.7 million. The company expected ad revenue to continue to fall, but it’s still targeting further growth in 2010 as money pressures on the public sector “increases demand for lower cost outsourced communications solutions.” There could be acquisitions in the B2B comms sector that could increase “fee-based activities online“.

— Ten Alps says the online portals run by the communications department – like Kent County Council’s online TV portal – made revenue 70 percent higher at £10 million while profits rose 61 percent to £2.6 million.

— The company boldly declares that “the media industry is no longer divided by clear distribution channels of TV, print or online”. So in 2010 expect more third-party, cross media B2B projects like Teachers’ TV, “mostly on a fee-based model”; “owned communities” like the forthcoming paid-for community surrounding Accountancy TV; niche advertising sponsorship models, like the Newton HD online science channel and “managed communities” like its Link2portal trade listings service

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