ITV saw their ad revenue increase by £195 million in Q2 2021, according to financial results released this morning. The British broadcaster’s ad income rose from £671 million in Q2 2020 to £866 million last quarter, representing 29 percent growth year-on-year.
After a challenging 2020, ITV’s ad revenue has rebounded. Particular bright spots were ITV’s programmatic and video-on-demand (VOD) ad offerings. ITV saw VOD ad revenues rise by 55 percent in H1 2021 compared to the same period last year. Even with the impact of the pandemic, VOD advertising had been an area that had seen double digit growth in the whole year 2020. Despite stable VOD growth in 2020, H1 2021 has seen a 250 percent increase in VOD-only advertisers.
ITV say that Planet V, their programmatic video advertising platform, is now the second biggest in the UK, beaten only by Google. ITV reports that 90 percent of inventory for ITV Hub, the broadcaster’s AVOD service, is now executed through Planet V. Overall, ITV says that 65 percent of all campaigns are now self-served by agencies.
2020 saw ITV blockbuster programming like Euro 2020 and Love Island delayed. In June 2021, both of these programmes returned to screen. This helped June 2021 become the biggest month for ad revenue in ITV’s history. Ad revenue was up 115 percent compared to June 2020.
Overall, ITV saw revenues rise by 27 percent in Q2 2021 compared to the same period last year. External revenue was £1.54 billion up from £1.22 billion in Q2 2020.
Production on many programmes was paused in 2020, impacting ITV’s production arm ITV Studios. In H1 2021 ITV Studios benefitted from a return to production, and saw its revenue climb 26 percent to £798 million. ITV said its production outfit also delivered programmes ahead of schedule.
ITV is pursuing a ‘More Than TV’ strategy as demonstrated by its investments in Planet V as well as in VOD. Britbox is ITV’s joint SVOD venture with the BBC. The service now has 550,000 subscribers, up ten percent. Britbox continues to make venture losses, with ITV predicting that the service will make similar losses in 2021 as it did in 2020, with the losses declining thereafter.
ITV says it has a “strong pipeline” of original content for Britbox in H2 2021 and 2022. Originals like Spitting Image 2, Magpie Murders, and Crime are set to come to the SVOD platform in the next year.
Hub+, the ad-less version of the ITV Hub also saw subscriber growth. It now has 545,000 subscribers, an increase of ten percent.
