ITV stated it has put the worst of the coronavirus pandemic behind it, after the Euro 2020 soccer match and the easing of lockdown restrictions fuelled the biggest June promoting revenues in its 66-year historical past.
The broadcaster stated promoting income in June rose by 115% in contrast with the identical month a yr earlier as total group revenues elevated by 1 / 4 for the primary six months of 2021 to £1.8bn.
Broadcast revenues have been hit onerous at the beginning of the pandemic as massive firms reined of their spending. Nevertheless, the prospect of companies reopening from lockdown has meant advertisers are jostling for place amid a speedy financial restoration.
England’s run to the ultimate of the delayed Euro 2020 match additionally helped the agency. ITV broadcast England’s semi-final victory over Denmark in Euro 2020 to a peak of 27.6 million folks this month. The defeat within the last by Italy was watched by 31 million, making it one of the watched occasions in UK tv historical past. Though nearly all of viewers have been on the BBC, ITV nonetheless reported 6 million viewers tuning in for its protection, plus an extra 4.2m on-line streaming requests.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s chief government, stated June was “a incredible month” and added it had been the broadcaster’s greatest ever match. The Love Island actuality TV programme additionally carried out effectively up in opposition to each the soccer and Wimbledon tennis, she added.
Nevertheless, she warned of great uncertainty forward, with a seamless excessive prevalence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus within the UK regardless of a fall in case numbers up to now week. The broadcaster had managed to deal with the rising variety of folks requested to self-isolate by their NHS Covid-19 app, she stated.
McCall stated the outcomes for the primary half of the yr “display that ITV is rising from the worst results of the pandemic”.
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ITV stated its monetary efficiency within the second half of 2021 may turn into much less flattering due to comparisons with the summer season of 2020 when England eased pandemic restrictions and revenues have been greater. ITV expects promoting in July to be up by 68% yr on yr however August will probably be up solely by 17%, to twenty%. There’s “uncertainty” over September, it stated.
Income earlier than tax rose to £133m for the primary half of 2021, up from solely £15m within the 2020 interval, though nonetheless in need of the £222m income it made in 2019.
In opposition to an bettering income backdrop, ITV pledged to reinstate full-year dividend funds, saying it might pay 3.3p a share for the complete yr of 2021 “assuming the economic system continues to get well”. It had cancelled its dividend at the beginning of the pandemic.
McCall confirmed that ITV had been requested by the federal government to reply to a session on the way forward for Channel 4, after ministers introduced plans to privatise the rival broadcaster final month. She declined to touch upon whether or not ITV could be involved in buying it.
She stated ITV was not involved in shopping for a stake in BT Sport, after the telecoms firm successfully stated it might put the sports activities channels up on the market. Nevertheless, ITV could be keen to cooperate with BT Sport, she added.
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