Vienna (OTS) – In the plenary meeting of the ORF Foundation Board chaired by Mag. Lothar Lockl, ORF General Director Mag. Roland Weißmann informed the committee on Thursday, March 7, 2024, about the positive audience acceptance and the positive economic development of the company in the past few months. “The ORF is on a good track both programmatically and economically,” said the ORF general director. The key points of the new ORF Code of Ethics, which was drawn up by an international commission of renowned experts under the chairmanship of the former head of the EBU General Directorate, Ingrid Deltenre, were also presented at the meeting and were widely accepted by the Board of Trustees became. “The draft of the new ORF Code of Ethics presented today is a pact with the audience to further strengthen the acceptance, trust and credibility of the ORF!” said ORF General Director Weißmann.
ORF code of ethics to ensure objectivity, impartiality and independence
“The public’s perception is crucial for the acceptance of the ORF and its content. Objectivity, impartiality and independence are the ORF’s constitutionally enshrined principles. The audience trusts that these principles will be adhered to and that the ORF and its employees will act free of personal, political and economic interests. The framework conditions for this are set out in our new code of ethics,” emphasized Roland Weißmann. “It’s about rights and obligations that have now been re-regulated as service instructions with the new code of ethics. I would like to thank the commission for its comprehensive and valuable work.”
With the new editorial statute, the ORF strengthened the position of its journalistic employees at the beginning of the management period. As a further measure to ensure audience trust in the ORF, last year the ORF Director General set up an ethics commission consisting of international media experts and representatives of the ORF Ethics Council, which is responsible for protecting the objectivity, impartiality and independence of the ORF ORF has employed. The focus was on the areas of side hustles, social media appearances, anti-corruption and political activities. Based on the corresponding recommendations, the ORF Code of Ethics was developed over several months of intensive work, which will be finalized in the coming weeks and then put into effect.
Start of the new TV year with almost 40% market share
ORF television started the new year with a market share of almost 40%: in January alone, ORF achieved a 38.7% market share on television. ORF 1 delivered the best market share since 2013 with 15.5%. February was also strong with a 36% market share and achieved the best market shares among boys (12-29) since 2008 with event series such as “Biester”. At the same time, it is growing Streaming usage is increasing rapidly:
With 17.1 million net views, ORF’s streaming offerings recorded an increase of 44% compared to January 2023. ORF ON, ORF’s new live and VoD platform, will soon be launching.
ORF has a positive balance sheet for 2023
The ORF’s economic development was also positive despite the difficult conditions: by continuing the rigorous savings and restructuring program and numerous additional measures during the year, based on the preliminary annual financial statements, the ORF will have a positive EBT of 4.0 million euros in 2023.