UK TV giant ITV continues to focus on growing a successful production business, said CEO Carolyn McCall during a profit call with reporters Thursday after posting a record for a full year for its ITV Studio unit as it refused to comment on a market conversation.
“We have a really high quality business. We already have stairs, and we are very diverse,” she said. “There is a lot of speculation, but I think you will expect that speculation. There are (also) speculation about Banijay and Fremantle, and there is speculation about all studios businesses. We will not comment on any speculation. All we would say is that we will continue to build business as we are built.
Agreements have been part of that growth. “We’ve bought really good tags. We have supported the fantastic talent, … and it is really being paid as a strategy, “McCall said.” So really no comment on nothing to do with speculation, but you can see how well the business has done.
In updating Thursday’s profits, McCall said that “ITV Studios has made record profits this year, despite the sole impact of the writers and actors strike and a milder request from free broadcasters in the air, which reflects the strength, scale, diversification and creativity of ITV production companies around the world.” All3Media of Redbird mine.
Asked about the industry consolidation, McCall said consensus, whether in the US, United Kingdom or Europe, is that there will be more. “We’re holding our own,” she added.
Asked about television networks and production labels under the same corporate roof, McCall said in Thursday’s call: “There are merit to be integrated. There is no doubt. You talk to any labels in our ITV studios family, and they all really appreciate the fact that they can break shows in ITV and they become famous with our channels. We in keeping and recruiting talent and attracting people who (are) really high caliber. ”
That said, “Bordo board everywhere should keep all options open, and our board is no different from this,” said ITV CEO. “We review everything, and review it regularly.”
McCall in the update though it demanded diversification of ITV business. “We are becoming a more resilient business with the production of content and digital that now make up close to two -thirds of our income,” she said. “Our continuous transformation ensures that we are an adaptable and agile company, well positioned to give a good lucrative growth, strong money generation and attractive returns for shareholders.”
Increasing the transmission with a focus on profit and sustainability has also been in the focus of ITV. Its ITVX streamer saw digital viewing increases 12 percent to 2024, with income from 15 percent growing digital advertising. In updating its profits, ITV emphasized “attractive returns”, without giving details, and adding that “by the end of 2025, we will have recovered cumulative investment in ITVX much earlier than expected”.
Discussing the transmission inverted, McCall said its team’s concentration is in “lucrative growth” rather than buying subscriber profits or have “unrealistic” growth goals. “Highly is very lucrative,” she concluded in connection with the Premium ITVX, saying the subscriber level has more than 1 million users. But the ITV business approach is to focus on advertising -backed broadcasting, with its premium level without advertising only by being promoted in a very targeted way.
Asked about the perspective on the advertising market, McCall said: “We would all like an answer. … No one knows exactly. I think we have a sustainable perspective.” She then asked “26 percent of our income today is digital advertising, and was 9 percent in 2018, so you can see that we have already diversified” PBB “. So the economy is not “a great risk in the way it may have been in the past”.
The call also asked questions about YouTube and Tiktok. “We have some very clear red lines in ITV Abut how we will be partners,” McCall said. “You will notice that we are not in partnership with Tiktok in the same way as YouTube or any other social channel. The reason for this is that until we made this trade agreement with YouTube last year, they would not share data and would not allow us to sell your inventory. Both of these things are absolutely critical to us.”
Regarding the benefits, she said: “Viewers on YouTube are not viewers in ITV. They are very complementary – much younger, much male. “
Discussing, McCall mentioned benefits such as “automation, efficiency or co-piloting”, adding that “we also need to make sure we constantly maintain contact with viewers’ needs” and respond to them.
On Thursday’s call, McCall joined ITV CFO Chris Kennedy, Julian Bellamy, Managing Director, ITV Studios and Kevin Lygo, Managing Director, Media and Entertainment.
Lygo was asked about the second year of ITV broadcasting the Oscars. He said the same weekend presented Brit Brit Awards and sports content, adding excitement about the Oscars. “It just makes us alive,” Lygo concluded. “Yes, it’s really good for us, getting”