2020 Revenues at ITV Down 16 Percent

Total external revenues at ITV fell by 16 percent to £2.8 billion ($3.9 billion) in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with ad revenues down 11 percent and ITV Studios revenues falling 25 percent.

“Throughout this last year, we have all been dealing with the effects of the pandemic,” said Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV. “While total revenues and profits were down our financial performance was ahead of expectations driven by a strong end to Q4 and our firm control over costs.”

McCall also pointed to progress made in the group’s strategic priorities with the rollout of the programmatic addressable advertising platform Planet V, the transformation of the ITV Hub and gains at BritBox. The SVOD service has topped 500,000 subs in the U.K. and increased subs by 50 percent in the U.S. McCall said that ITV now has 2.6 million subscriptions globally across its SVOD services.

“We are encouraged by the roadmap out of lockdown,” McCall continued. “We are seeing more positive trends in the advertising market in March and April and the majority of our programs are now back in production. However, there remains uncertainty in all markets around the world with the potential risk of lockdowns, which if they materialize will affect revenues. We are committed to taking further cost out of the business while further investing to accelerate the delivery of our strategy and digital transformation. We have restructured the Broadcast business to create the Media and Entertainment Division to better respond to changing viewing habits. ITV Studios is well-positioned to take advantage of the continued strong growth in the demand for quality content internationally.”

ITV Studios reported revenues of £1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2020, a 25 percent reduction on 2019 as the pandemic hit the division’s production schedule. Ad revenues were £1.6 billion ($2.2 billion) in the year, an 11 percent reduction, as broadcast, sponsorship and creative partnership ad revenues declined, while online revenues were up 17 percent. Group adjusted EBITA in 2020 was £573 million ($797 million), a 21 percent decline.