Ms Dee Forbes:

The advertisement market is reflected in the moneys we have got from commercial income. This market has reduced significantly in Ireland and around the world since the big recession. In this respect, television has been particularly and seriously affected. Why is this? It is to do with the amount of choice now available to advertisers in the marketplace. As advertising revenues on television have reduced they have increased in the digital arena. For example, there are now a lot more places to advertise, whether on Facebook or on other websites. This is to where a lot of the money has shifted. It is not a traditional place for RTÉ to be in. We are there but we do not have the level of volume that Facebook in particular would have in this area. It is a fact of life in Ireland now that of every euro spent in digital advertising 80 cent goes to the big players.

The market has evolved and it is a challenging place to be in. In terms of our response to this, we have to ensure that we have a very compelling place for Irish advertisers to advertise and we do this by having really strong Irish content. There is demand for it. We hear every day from agencies that they want to have their advertisers surrounded by strong indigenous content. When we do not have as much of that as we would like there is a problem. Coupled with this, we do not have extensive dramas for sale on the external market. It is the golden age of television. Most countries in the world are investing heavily, particularly in drama. Denmark and Israel are seeing big returns in this regard. To benefit from this, one has to have a lot of volume and, obviously, quality. We are not able to go there. That said, we are doing everything we can. We have to look at new revenue streams. For example, sponsorship is a growing area, as is product placement in programming but it is not yet making up for what has been being lost. The market is a very different place. Everybody is being challenged in this area. As I said, our best response is to have the best environment for the advertisers, which allows us to compete. That is our challenge.