ITV has blamed the knock-on effects of the US actors and writers’ strike for hurting its revenue, but expects the Euro 2024 soccer tournament to contribute to a recovery later this year.
Britain’s biggest free-to-air broadcaster said last year’s Hollywood strike had hurt the performance of its ITV studio division, which has produced shows such as “Love Island” and “Mr Bates vs. the Post Office.”
ITV said its revenue in the first three months of the year fell 16% to £382m as the industry continued to recover from the US strike, as the start of new projects suffered a series of delays. ITV previously said the Hollywood strike would boost its income by around £80m in 2024-25.
Studio revenue is expected to be roughly flat year over year, but the decline in the first quarter is due to a promising pipeline of new shows, including Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen US and Amazon Prime Video’s The Better Sister and Lazarus. canceled out.
ITV revealed last month that it had lost £1m on the agenda-setting drama about the Horizon IT scandal, despite drawing big viewers for Mr Bates v Post Office.
The television and film production industry faces multiple headwinds, including the U.S. strike, as well as companies struggling due to a weak advertising market and slumping fees. Many film and television producers have had to make the “heartbreaking” decision to retrain.
However, ITV shares rose about 2% after the broadcaster reported that advertising had begun to recover in the second quarter. The paper said the recovery was fueled by improved consumer confidence, as well as advertisers securing airtime for June’s UEFA Euro 2024 football championship.
ITV’s total revenue for the first quarter fell 7% to £887m as higher total advertising revenue was offset by lower revenue from its studio division.
Total advertising revenue increased 3% in the first quarter and is expected to increase approximately 12% in the second quarter.
The recovery of advertising revenue will be important for ITV, which was hit hard by last year’s significant drop, with linear TV advertising set to fall by 15% in 2023. The company’s chief executive, Carolyn McCall, said in July last year that ITV was facing a dire situation. The advertising crisis has been ongoing since the 2008 financial crisis caused an advertising recession.
After newsletter promotion
McCall said Thursday: “For the full year, we expect ITV Studios revenue to be broadly flat. We have a strong pipeline of programs and are increasingly diversifying our customer base for our streamers, with delivery phasing in the second half of the year. Because of our focus, there is a high demand for high-quality content.”
ITV has already announced a cost-cutting program and believes it will save £40m this year through operational efficiencies and new technology.
