ITV is pinning its hopes on an advertising boom at the 2024 football Euro, as it continues to recover from last year’s Hollywood strikes.
The broadcaster, whose recent hits include Mr Bates vs The Post Office starring Toby Jones, said revenue fell 7 per cent in the first three months of the year to £887m.
It came as the group continues to deal with the fallout from the strike in the US, which virtually shut down film and television production for nearly four months in 2023.
This meant that new productions could not be filmed, which affected this year’s programming.
ITV’s studio revenue fell 16 per cent to £382m.
Depression: ITV, whose recent hits include Mr Bates vs The Post Office starring Toby Jones (pictured), said revenue fell 7% in the first three months of the year.
Looking ahead, CEO Carolyn McCall expects studio revenue to remain “virtually flat” this year.
He has said the writers and actors strike would generate £80m in revenue from 2024 to 2025.
But even better, advertising revenue reached £432m during the quarter, up 3 per cent on the previous year.
McCall last year lamented the “worst advertising recession since the financial crisis.”
The company behind I’m A Celebrity and Love Island now has its hopes pinned on Euro 2024, which starts next month. ITV expects its advertising revenue to increase by around 12 per cent in the current quarter.
“We have a strong portfolio of shows and good demand for our quality content as we increasingly diversify our customer base into streamers,” McCall said.
The shares rose 3 per cent, or 2.25 pence, to 76.6 pence. Adam Vettese, analyst at investment platform eToro, said: “It seems the message is not to panic, as most releases are weighted for the second half of the year and the euros are rising, which will give a much-needed boost to the coffers.” in terms of number of viewers and, in turn, advertising revenue.
The company said it was on track to achieve savings of £40m this year as it looks to increase profitability.
In March, ITV sold its 50 per cent stake in BritBox, a subscription streaming service, to BBC Studios for £255m.