Paul McNally, Media Week, 09 December 2005, 08:36am

SMG bucks the trend with ongoing TV and radio success

The Scottish Media Group, owner of Virgin Radio and Scottish TV, says its performance this year will be broadly in line with expectations, despite difficult times in the advertising industry.

In its latest trading report to investors, the Scottish broadcaster said it believed revenues and audience figures at Scottish TV and Grampian TV would outperform the rest of the ITV Network during the year.

The company's flagship national radio station, Virgin Radio continues to increase its yearly revenue from advertising and sponsorship.

The Virgin brand has recently been extended to a group of spin-off digital stations, Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Groove. SMG management said the fledgling stations had achieved a "strong initial performance".

SMG's cinema advertising division, Pearl and Dean, is expecting a strong performance this quarter thanks largely to high cinema turnout for blockbusters such as Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire.

The company has signed a two-year extension to its contract with Vue Cinemas, which will see Pearl and Dean managing the cinema chain's on-screen advertising until the end of 2010.