U.K. broadcaster ITV increased external revenues by 2% in the quarter ending March 31, 2021, according to financial results released on Wednesday. Total external revenue was up 2% at £709 million ($985 million) compared to 2020's £694 million, despite the COVID-19 restrictions in place throughout the period, unlike the same quarter in 2020 which only had a limited impact, the broadcaster noted.The "Love Island" broadcaster also said that revenues for ITV Studios were up 9% at £372 million, compared to...
ITV
Carolyn
McCall
CEO
McCall has had to put all the management skills of a long career to use as COVID-19 has battered the business model of ITV, driving its share price to multi-year lows amid a 17% dip in broadcast and production revenues. However, McCall ensured that the U.K. broadcaster-producer-distributor behind programs including “The Voice” and “Bodyguard” played to its public-service strengths, earning plaudits for live news coverage during the pandemic. The company’s productions are resuming with advertisers returning, but ITV in October revealed a massive restructuring effort set to complete by March 2021 that will better consolidate VOD operations under a newly created media and entertainment division for on-demand and broadcast content. This will see further investment in overall digital development as well as ITV’s catch-up service Hub and its BBC-partnered streaming service BritBox.