ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall sounds alarm over advertising crisis
ITV’s boss has warned the broadcaster could be “dragged down” for the rest of the year due to the current slump in advertising.
Dame Carolyn McCall previously said the company was suffering its worst advertising performance since the financial crisis, but has now suggested this situation could be getting even worse.
Like many other media outlets, ITV has been hit as companies cut advertising spending in the face of the economic crisis.
Agencies such as S4 Capital, run by media veteran Sir Martin Sorrell, have recently said that these cuts were especially hard across the tech industry, which has been trying to keep a tight rein on costs.
At a conference organized by the Royal Television Society in Cambridge yesterday, McCall said: “It’s turning out to be a pretty difficult second half.”
Warning: Dame Carolyn McCall has suggested that the current advertising slump could be getting even worse.
Advertising revenue will be a drag on us, so all of our results will be affected. The UK economy is not doing very well.’
The ITV boss, who ran low-cost airline Easyjet until 2017, also took aim at the Government for a lack of policies to help boost the industry.
“What the Government can do for the creative economy is to start growing the economy,” he said.
‘They talk about growth all the time, but where are the initiatives to properly grow the economy?’
The 62-year-old businesswoman said that “it seems like it’s a waiting game: everyone knows there will be elections.”
In the face of current economic uncertainty, ITV’s studio business has become a particular area of growth.
Earlier this year, the group considered buying All3Media, the production business behind Gogglebox and Call The Midwife, owned by Warner Bros Discovery and Liberty Global.
Although ITV pulled out of talks in July, Liberty boss Mike Fries, speaking at the same conference this week, said an All3Media auction had already begun and ITV was still interested.
ITV Share They have fallen more than 10 percent in the last six months. They rose 2.4 per cent, or 1.76p, to 74.3p yesterday.
