TVB (00511.HK) announced on July 22nd that during the three-month period ending on June 30, 2024 ('this quarter'), the group's advertising revenue on Hong Kong's ground-free channels continued to grow, achieving double-digit percentage growth in overall revenue from advertising clients compared to the same period last year. Despite the overall softness of Hong Kong's advertising market, the group was able to continue attracting new customers, including leading financial and consumer brands looking to leverage the group's extensive coverage in Hong Kong. In addition, the group's Emerald and Pearl channels in Guangdong province attract over 20 million2 viewers each month, and the new advertising products launched by the group in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong province have achieved initial success. As a result, the group's prime-time TV advertising prices achieved strong double-digit percentage growth in this quarter compared to the three-month periods ending on March 31, 2024 and June 30, 2023.
The group's OTT streaming business continued to grow steadily during this quarter, with myTV Gold paying subscribers remaining stable compared to the three-month period ending on March 31, 2024, and growing by 4% compared to the three-month period ending on June 30, 2023, while the average monthly active user (MAU) for all service levels remained at around 2 million.
In mainland China, following the announcement of a larger-scale custom drama agreement with Youku earlier this year, the group also announced in this quarter that it is expanding its custom drama partnership with Tencent Video. As a result, the group is expected to deliver an additional four drama series to Tencent Video in the next one to two years. These expanded partnerships provide the group with strong co-production revenues from now until 2026. During this quarter, the group has begun filming three co-production dramas: 'Criminal Investigation 12,' 'After the Tower,' and 'Gold Forest.'
Meanwhile, in the group's multi-channel network (MCN) business, the number of e-commerce live streaming events (including the group's cooperation with Taobao and the group's Douyin live streaming store) and audience coverage continued to increase during this quarter compared to the three-month periods ending on March 31, 2024, and June 30, 2023.
Based on the above situation, the group expects to achieve positive EBITDA during the six-month period ending on June 30, 2024, a significant improvement compared to the EBITDA loss in the same period last year. Therefore, the group reiterates its expectation of achieving significant positive EBITDA for the whole of 2024. In addition, based on the current business momentum, the group also expects to achieve positive net income (income attributable to shareholders of the company) for the six-month period ending on December 31, 2024, not considering any special one-time projects, if any.