ITV is set to celebrate its highest advertising revenue in history thanks to the Euros and post-pandemic recovery.
Revenue for the first nine months of the year is up 30% to £1.3bn. The group said total advertising revenue for the full year is expected to jump 24% to reach an all time high.
Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, said: “By any standards ITV has had an outstanding nine months. Both our Studios and Media & Entertainment (M&E) businesses have performed very strongly. Revenue from each business over the nine months is up both on last year and on 2019. This drove total external revenue up 28% compared to 2020 and 8% higher than 2019.
“We are becoming an increasingly scaled digital business. Our online viewing was up 39% in the nine months which, together with the roll out of Planet V, helped our video on demand advertising (AVOD) revenue to climb 54%. Our monthly active users now stand at 9.6 million, a 22% increase year on year.”
“With the combination of Broadcast and ITV Hub’s mass simultaneous reach, our brand safe addressable advertising product and the strong economy, 2021 looks set to have the highest advertising revenue in ITV’s history, despite the lockdown in Q1.”
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould commented: “There was always going to be plenty of growth for ITV in 2021 given the comparison with a pandemic disrupted 2020 but for the business to be on course for the highest advertising revenue in its history is an impressive achievement.”
“It underlines the continued relevance of television as a medium to advertisers given its reach and its arguably greater degree of safety compared with digital advertising.”