ITV said its Q1 studio revenue was hurt by writers' strikes in Hollywood, though the company remained confident in its guidance for the full year. The London-based television broadcaster and content producer said studio revenue in the three months to March 31 fell by 16% to GBP382 million from GBP457 million the year before. This was driven by the phasing of deliveries and the expected impact of the US writers' and actors' strike, ITV said.
“ITV continues to execute its strategy successfully. Over the full year, we expect ITV Studios' revenues to be broadly flat. We have a strong pipeline of programs, good demand for our quality content as we increasingly diversify our customer base towards streamers, and the phasing of deliveries is heavily weighted to the second half of the year, including 'Hells Kitchen US,' 'The Better Sister,' 'A.C.A.B,' 'Showtrial,' and 'Ludwig.' ITVX continued to build on its strong first year and delivered double-digit growth in both digital viewing and digital advertising revenues in Q1 and we expect continued strong growth in both throughout the year. Total advertising revenue grew 3% in Q1, in line with guidance, with good momentum continuing into Q2 benefitting from the Euros in June. H1 TAR is expected to be up around 8%. Our group cost savings programs are on course to deliver £40 million of savings this year as previously guided. Overall, we expect to continue to make good strategic progress, and we remain on track to achieve our KPI targets for 2026,” Carolyn McCall, ITV Chief Executive, said.
ITV continues to make good progress and remains on track to deliver its 2026 KPI targets. Total ITV Studios Q1 revenue was down 16%, reflecting the phasing of deliveries and the expected impact of the US writers’ and actors’ strike, while total ITV Studios revenue for FY24 is expected to be broadly flat, with a strong pipeline of programs heavily weighted to H2. ITVX continued to perform strongly, with a 16% growth in streaming hours and a 14% growth in digital advertising revenues in Q1. Total advertising revenue is up 3% in Q1, with strong momentum into Q2, expected to be up around 12%; H1 is expected to be up around 8%. ITV Pension scheme in surplus following latest triennial valuation; removes a significant historic drag on free cash
With the continued strong strategic progress we are making, ITV remains on track to deliver its 2026 KPI targets. As previously guided, we expect to deliver a total of £40 million of cost savings in 2024 - made up of £10 million from our 2019 to 2025 cost savings program and £30 million of additional in-year savings as part of our strategic restructuring and efficiency program which we announced as part of the 2023 full-year results and are already executing upon.
ITV Studios expects total revenues to be broadly flat over the full year 2024 with good underlying growth offsetting the impact of the US writers and actors strikes, which, as previously guided, will delay around £80 million of revenue from 2024 to 2025. Q2 will also see revenue decline year on year, but ITV have a strong pipeline of programs with deliveries heavily weighted to H2, including "Hells Kitchen US" for Fox, "A.C.A.B" for Netflix, "The Better Sister" and "Lazarus" for Amazon Prime Video, "Ludwig" and "Showtrial" for BBC, "Sentinelles" for OCS and Canal+, "Love Island" in the UK, US and Australia, and "The Voice" in Australia and Germany.
ITV Studios remains on track to deliver total organic revenue growth of 5% on average per annum from 2021 to 2026 - ahead of the market and at a margin of 13 to 15%. ITS is confident to continue to grow our market share to 2026, driven by its scale, diversification by customer, geography, and genre, a strong track record of high-quality content, a strong slate for 2024 and beyond, and its leading creative talent.