The network said that there was also a rise of about 20 per cent in the number of new sponsors and advertisers, including Castrol, DHL and Nokia.
ESS regional managing director Rik Dovey, said: "There have been encouraging signs of recovery (which are) reflected in the strong advertising growth across our network." Citing research by TN Sofres Infosys, ESS also claimed that sports was drawing more people to watch its channel, compared with other programming genres.
According to Peoplemeter data, 51 per cent of all cable individuals watched SportsCenter, a daily half-hour sports bulletin.
