Total revenues at ITV grew by four percent to £1,573m, driven by growth in online and on demand video (which rose by 23 percent to £321 million across all platforms) and content produced by ITV Studios, which is trading strongly with total revenues up 20% to £498m (2011: £416m). ITV’s TV advertising revenue dropped by six percent in the third quarter, due mainly to the BBC’s extensive Olympics coverage. The UK broadcaster expects the TV advertising side of the advertising business to be flat over the entire year, which it says will outperform the rest of the TV advertising industry.
ITV’s areas of growth seem to conform roughly with the ‘Transformation Plan‘ it created in August 2010, which set out to prepare the company for changing patterns of consumer behaviour and the influx of new online market entrants, while also aiming to protect existing revenue streams. The four over-arching themes outlined in the plan were:
1. Create a lean, creatively dynamic and fit-for-purpose organisation.
2. Maximize audience and revenue share from existing free-to-air broadcast business.
3. Drive new revenue streams by exploiting our content across multiple platforms, free and pay.
4. Build a strong international content business.
In a statement, Adam Crozier, ITV plc Chief Executive, said: “We have made further progress in reshaping and rebalancing ITV to ensure the business is more robust both commercially and creatively. The momentum we are building in our non-NAR revenues has helped grow group revenues up 4% to £1,573m in difficult economic conditions and with a broadly flat television advertising market.
