ITV’s CEO called 2022 “a year of significant strategic progress” in which “ITV delivered a robust set of financial results.”
ITV’s group revenue rose 7% to £4,345m in 2022 with their studios business doing all of the heavy lifting. ITV’s studio business revenue grew 19% to £2,096m while Media & Entertainment revenue slipped 1% to £2,249m due to lower advertising spending.
However, the risk of ‘jam tomorrow’ saw shares slip as the company’s continued investment in their media and entertainment business caused EBITDA to fall 12% to £717m. ITV said the lower EBITDA was a result of investment in new content and ITVX.
ITV shares were 3% weaker at the time of writing.
“ITV continues to put in robust performance in the face of a challenging economic backdrop and ultra-competitive market,” said Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“The Studios business, ITV’s content creation powerhouse, remains the golden goose putting in a record fourth quarter and delivering all the group’s top-line growth for the year. Strong content demand from streaming platforms means ITV’s expecting to see a bigger portion of sales from those customers over the medium term, expected to equate to around 30% of Studios revenue by 2026.”
ITV Studios is the creative studios behind productions enjoyed in over 13 countries and is increasingly producing content for streaming services such as Physical for AppleTV+ and Ten Year Old Tom for HBO Max.