ITV has reported online revenue growth of £6m for 2009 on the back of an overall profit of £25m last year. The news comes as a welcome relief to the broadcaster, which made a staggering loss loss of 2.55 billion pounds in 2008. ITV attributed much of the growth to cost cutting and increasing its share of a declining TV advertising market.
The broadcaster increased its online revenues to £24m, excluding Friends Reunited, in 2009. Video views across itv.com reached 215m, up from 85m in 2008, and monthly unique users grew by 33% to 8.7m.
04/03/2010
However, ITV said it “trails key competitors in terms of online viewing and online revenues remain limited in relation to the market opportunity”.
Going forward, ITV said advertising sales may rise 15 percent to 20 percent in April after an increase of 7 percent in the first quarter.
“We took decisive action to improve our operational performance, deliver substantial cost savings and strengthen our balance sheet,” interim Chief Executive Officer John Cresswell said in the statement. “Whilst ITV advertising revenues are up 7 percent in the first quarter, this is against the unprecedented declines of the previous year and, over the medium term, we remain cautious.”
The company’s overall revenues for 2009 totalled £1.88bn, down 7% from £2.03bn in 2008. However, the broadcaster said it had achieved cost savings of £169m during the year, as it streamlined its operations, and also reduced its spending on programme-making.
