ITV Forecasts Q4 Ad Gains

Delivering ITV’s Q3 trading update, Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said there have been “encouraging signs” in its broadcasting and studios divisions, with fourth-quarter ad revenues expected to see a year-on-year increase.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2020, total external revenue was down 16 percent to £1.9 billion ($2.5 billion). ITV Studios’ revenues fell by 19 percent to £902 million ($1.2 billion), while broadcast revenues fell by 13 percent to £1.3 billion ($1.7 billion).

“Advertising trends are improving with Q4 forecast to be slightly up year on year and 85 percent of our productions in the U.K. and internationally that were paused as a result of COVID-19 are back in production or have been delivered,” McCall said. “However, COVID restrictions and further national lockdowns have added production costs and are making it challenging to bring ITV Studios productions back to full capacity.”

McCall concluded, “Looking ahead we will continue to monitor our performance very carefully against a wide range of scenarios given the ongoing uncertainty. We continue to focus on cash and costs and our balance sheet remains robust with good access to liquidity.”