UTV said today its Irish radio stations are seeing strong growth in advertising but television is struggling in an increasingly competitive market.
The group which owns a number of local radio stations in Ireland including Q102 and LMFM said advertising revenue is expected to rise by 16 per cent during the second half of 2005.
The group's UK operations which include the Talksport franchise reported more modest revenue growth of 5 per cent but this will still outperform its rivals.
John McCann, UTV's chief executive, said: 'We are very pleased with the performance of UTV Radio, especially talkSPORT where revenues are well ahead of last year. With the football World Cup in 2006, we anticipate continued growth at UTV Radio and we look forward to the launch of Talk 107 in Edinburgh on 14 February.'
Advertising in the Irish market is also likely to get a boost from advertisers looking to capture a chunk of the SSIA funds the first of which will mature next year.
Television revenues are likely to be down by 3.5 per cent during the second half of the year as competition from digital television fragments audiences.
But the group added that its expects strong revenue growth of at least 50 per cent in its new media division as the uptake of broadband increases.