Online expansion and better advertising performance helped Germany’s largest commercial TV producer, ProSiebenSat.1 Media, post a 32 percent Q1 profit boost. The company pulled in EUR 40.6 million ($55.05 million) earnings during the quarter, better than expected by analysts.

‘We are confident that our stations’ programming will pick up further strength, while we continue to build up our diversification and online initiatives,” said CEO Guillaume de Posch. (Thomson). The company last year acquired a 30 percent stake in German user-generated video portal MyVideo; it also took a stake in the lokalisten.de social networking site.

But it was its acquisition this February of a majority stake in Solute GmhB, which operates a leading price comparison engine at Billiger.de, that has given it the edge. “The Diversification unit saw growth primarily in its online, pay TV and video-on- demand operations. Apart from organic growth, this unit was further strengthened by its equity investment in the Internet company solute GmbH,” DJ said.

• ProSiebenSat.1 Acquires Solute GmbH; Seeks To Expand Net Presence
• ProSiebenSat1 Takes Stake in Social Networking Site; Starts Using User-Gen Ads For LG
• ProSiebenSat Buys Stake In German Video Sharing Site MyVideo