ITV is looking to ramp up commissions of youth-skewing scripted and factual, with plans to premiere some content on-demand first on the ITV Hub.<\/p>\n
Paul Mortimer, ITV\u2019s head of digital channels and acquisitions, revealed his strategy in an address at the Creative Cities Convention. Mortimer leads the commissioning strategy for ITV Hub and the younger-skewing brands ITV2, ITVBe and CITV.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pandemic has fast-tracked the behavior of audiences, more people want content on their own terms and at their own convenience, and younger audiences always get there first with these behaviors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Much of the content commissioned and acquired for ITV2, ITVBe and CITV “will land on ITV Hub first,” Mortimer noted. “It\u2019s all about shifting the windowing pattern, making it more convenient for audiences. The channels aren\u2019t going anywhere, by the way, they will still be around, and there will be exceptions to on-demand first, for example with shows like Love Island<\/em>, which is a daily update show and one that is strong on both linear TV and Hub, or other entertainment shows, which don’t lend themselves to box-setting.<\/p>\n “But more generally, once you are freed of the constraints of scheduling and programming a linear channel, it becomes really exciting in terms of the possibilities of the different genres we might venture into\u2014such as factual programs.”<\/p>\n On the expansion into youth-skewing factual, Mortimer said, “You don\u2019t need to have a lineup of programs that all share the same DNA, because the experience of going into a space like ITV Hub is one of exploration for the viewer\u2014so you go in and search, it’s not down to what the scheduler thinks you should be watching. We\u2019re doing it because we have the creative freedom to, but also in catering to the audiences\u2019 current tastes. We know that what the streamers have been providing, what YouTube provides, is a bit of everything, and in that, the trick for us will be to also offer factual programming that deals with subjects that include and appeal to a younger audience.”<\/p>\n Mortimer is working with Sue Murphy, head of factual entertainment at ITV, and her team to develop the new commissioning strategy. “It’s an exciting time to be commissioning brand-new, younger-skewing factual for ITV2 and Hub,” Murphy said. “[It’s] a great opportunity for us and for producers to find compelling stories that really matter to younger, light audiences. We want to encourage bold and innovative approaches to factual storytelling to satisfy the appetite for dramatic and visceral documentary.”<\/p>\n In the works for the fall is a true-crime anthology series spotlighting online crimes. ITV2 is also gearing up to announce its first new drama commission in nearly a decade, which will be targeted to teenagers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ITV is looking to ramp up commissions of youth-skewing scripted and factual, with plans to premiere some content on-demand first on the ITV Hub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":10935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[146,2645,2646],"class_list":["post-10934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-itv","tag-itv-hub","tag-paul-mortimer"],"yoast_head":"\n