The British U.K. TV powerhouse, led by CEO Carolyn McCall, provided an update on its revenue and outlook.
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She added: “All of this provides a solid foundation for ITVX – our free, ad-funded streaming service – which is on track for launch in the fourth quarter, and we remain confident that we will deliver at least £750 million of digital revenue by 2026.” ITV had earlier in the year predicted a first-quarter ad revenue of around 16 percent, as reported, saying at the time that demand had “remained strong.” On Wednesday, the firm said that the first quarter benefited from “good demand across the majority of advertising sectors,” with January ad revenue growing 15 percent over the year-ago period, February ending up 20 percent and March up 15 percent. “Within this, digital advertising revenue remains very strong, up 27 percent,” ITV said.
In March, ITV also unveiled plans to “supercharge” its streaming business with a “digital first” content strategy. As part of that, it announced ITVX, which it touted as the U.K.’s first AVOD/SVOD platform, which is set to launch in the fourth quarter.