UPDATE 2-French broadcaster M6 ad revenue rises in Q2

* H1 revenue 742.1 mln eur vs consensus 735 mln eur

* Q2 ad revenue at M6 channel up 12.3 pct to 190.9 mln eur

* CEO sees positive trend for advertising in Q3

* CEO looking for acquisitions, no deals immediate (Adds details from CEO interview)

PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) - France's second-largest broadcast group M6 (MMTP.PA) posted higher first-half revenue and profit on Tuesday, helped by a recent pickup in advertising on its key TV channel and an uptick in its digital business.

The recovery in advertising that started in the first quarter was confirmed in the second quarter as revenue at M6's main channel climbed 12.3 percent to 190.9 million euros ($246 million).

M6, which competes with France's biggest broadcaster TF1 (TFFP.PA) and state-backed France Televisions, made 742.1 million euros in revenue and 132.5 million in earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) in the first half.

Chief Executive Nicolas de Tavernost told Reuters in an interview he was optimistic about advertising prospects in the third quarter, though he cautioned that the industry had to get used to having less visibility than before the economic crisis.

"The trend for the third quarter is positive," he said. "We are not worried about next quarter although we must remain careful and will not give guidance."

Asked whether the ad trends in the third quarter would improve as much as they did in the second, he said such an increase would "perhaps be a bit too much" to expect as of now.

M6, which has about 10 percent audience share, suffered a bit in the second quarter from the fact that its larger rival TF1 (TFFP.PA) broadcast most games of the World Cup soccer competition this summer.

M6 said first-half net profit was up 5.5 percent to 84.4 million euros.

The results were slightly ahead of analyst expectations of 735 million euros in revenue, 122 million in EBITA and 81 million in net income, according to a Reuters poll of seven analysts.

LOOKING FOR DEALS

In the interview, De Tavernost said he expected M6 to spend about 5 percent more this year on programming costs as it tries to woo more viewers to its youth-oriented channel. Last year it spent 303.5 million euros on programming.

"We are not in cost reduction mode for our programs," he explained. "We are more in a mode of trying to win market share."

The CEO also said that M6 was looking for acquisition opportunities, although nothing was immediately in the offing. He mentioned several areas of interest including Internet, content production, and on-line commerce.

"After paying out the one-time dividend in May, we have a cash position of some 250 million euros that allows us to think about acquisitions," he said.

Shares in M6 are down about 1.5 percent this year, compared with a 2.5 percent decline for TF1 and a drop of 6.8 percent for the French blue-chip CAC 40 .FCHI index.

Shares in M6 closed at 17.65 euros per share before the publication of results. ($1=.7746 Euro) (Reporting by Leila Abboud and Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by James Regan and Erica Billingham)