ITV Advertising Revenues Down 5 Percent

LONDON, August 8: ITV has posted a 5-percent fall in advertising revenues for the first half of this year to £717 million, with total revenues down 7 percent to £1,004 million, resulting in a 31-percent fall in net profit to £84 million.

Ad revenues on the flagship ITV1 fell 9 percent to £595 million. However, revenues for ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, CITV and Men & Motors rose 36 percent to £95 million. GMTV’s revenues fell 4 percent to £27 million.

ITV’s non-advertising revenues were down 12 percent to £287 million, as a result of a £21 million fall in call-TV and premium-rate telephone service revenues, a £12 million reduction in external production sales and a £4 million decrease in Carlton Screen Advertising revenues.

For the third quarter, ITV is expecting a 4-percent increase in ad revenues.

Commenting on the results Michael Grade, the executive chairman of ITV, said: “I’m very pleased with progress in ITV1’s schedule performance and the outlook for revenue in Q3 is encouraging. The launch of the autumn schedule was well received with a number of returning hit series and major events including the Rugby World Cup. Our in-house production team has collected an unprecedented number of nominations and awards for their programs, both in the U.K. and internationally. Our family of digital channels continues to grow, increasing revenue and viewers, and the launch of ITV.com has opened a valuable opportunity for us to compete effectively for online revenues for the first time.”

Grade continued: “ITV has been affected by the incidence of editorial and compliance failures which have affected the television sector. Deloitte are moving towards completion of their review of our PRTS activity and in October we will publish the findings of that review and an explanation of remedial actions. We are co-operating closely with Ofcom and ICSTIS during this process.”