WRAPUP 3-European media firms flag gloomy ad outlook

* RTL sees profit "considerably lower" in 2009

* Telecinco Q1 profit down 64 percent, beats forecasts

* Sanoma Q1 EBIT down 64 percent, unveils further cost cuts

* Telecinco shares up 1.3 pct, Sanoma down 0.9 pct

* UBM says trading resilient in exteremely challenging times

(Adds Telecinco CEO comment in paragraph 7)

By Elisabeth O'Leary and Nicola Leske

MADRID/FRANKFURT, May 7 (Reuters) - European media firms signalled a gloomy 2009 outlook on Thursday, with economic weakness sapping advertising revenues and forcing cost clampdowns.

RTL AUDK.LU, majority held by Germany's Bertelsmann [BERT.UL], said it expected profitability this year to be "considerably lower" than last year and that it would cut costs across its European TV and radio businesses. [ID:nL7976884]

The Luxembourg-based broadcaster downgraded its profits expectations after saying in March that profitability would be lower than the previous year's level.

It cited a broad-based fall in profit and restructuring costs.

Spain's Telecinco (TL5.MC), controlled by Italy's Mediaset (MS.MI), said its first-quarter profit fell 64 percent to 29.26 million euros ($38.98 million), hit by lower advertising revenues.

Although the result beat analyst forecasts in a Reuters poll [ID:nL7525915], shares closed down 5.1 percent at 7.41 euros after Telecinco executives expressed caution on the advertising outlook during a conference call.

Chief Executive Giuseppe Tringali later told Reuters that based on its audience outlook, it would stretch its lead as Spain's largest TV company by revenues in the second quarter. [ID:nMDT006357]

Media firms have been grappling with a sharp fall in advertising, their main revenue source, as the recession and rising unemployment across Europe keeps wallets closed and advertising budgets tight.

"The situation of the (Spanish) TV ad market has been very negative. According to our estimates it has dropped by almost 27-28 percent in the first quarter," Massimo Musolino, Telecinco's general manager, told a conference call.

"In the same period (overall) ad prices have fallen more than 20 percent," he added.

That decline is sharper than a fall of 15 percent which RTL, 90 percent-owned by Bertelsmann, has forecast for the European TV ad market this year.

Separately Sanoma (SAA1V.HE) also announced further cost cutting because of weaker publicity sales in publications. [ID:nL7939622]

The Finnish media group reported a bigger-than-expected drop in first-quarter operating profit and said full-year 2009 underlying earnings would be lower than last year.

"Sales of advertising in the newspapers and magazines have decreased rapidly in the first quarter so we must adjust our operations further," Sanoma's Chief Executive Hannu Syrjanen said, adding the company would focus on cost cuts.

Meanwhile, British publishing and exhibitions group United Business Media (UBM) (UBM.L) said overall trading remained resilient and broadly in line with its expectations despite extremely challenging economic times.[ID:nL6984213]

UBM said its balance sheet remained strong and, since September, it had increased its long-term available liquidity by 150 million pounds ($227 million) by extending existing loan facilities and arranging new ones. It currently has around 250 million pounds in cash and uncommitted facilities.

The company said it was still experiencing revenue shortfalls in some print directory products and online banner advertising, expected to be about 5 million pounds to 10 million out of total revenue of more than 250 million.

UBM said bookings for key events scheduled for 2009 and 2010 continued to be good although some clients were slowing the booking approval process. ($1 = 0.7506 euros) ($1 = 0.6597 pounds) (Additional reporting by Robert Hetz in Madrid; John Acher in Helsinki; Kate Holton in London; Editing by Jason Neely and Mike Nesbit)