ITV’s digital business is starting to build. The UK network’s revenue from the segment was up £24M ($30.2M) to £106M in the first quarter of 2022 on a year-on-year comparison, a 49% uptick.
Streaming hours were also up 128 million following the move to switch its main digital service from ITV Hub to ITVX, which has launched a slate of original such as Nolly and A Spy Among Friends.
However, the Love Island and Malpractice broadcaster saw its overall revenues dip 7% from £834M a year ago to £776M this quarter. Within that, Media and Entertainment was down £50M to £495M and ITV Studios was basically flat at £457M.
The M&E division houses the ITV network, which remains reliant on the volatile TV ad market, while ITV Studios key deliveries for the quarter included Nolly, Django for Sky, Big Beasts for AppleTV+ and Queer Eye for Netflix.
In a trading update, ITV CEO Carolyn MCCall said the network “continued to make significant strategic progress in the quarter and all parts of the business performed in line with expectations.”
“ITVX has sustained its strong launch, with a 49% increase in streaming hours and a 29% growth in digital revenue in the quarter. Exclusives such as Nolly and The Twelve attracted new viewers, 80% of whom went on to explore other content on ITVX.
“In addition, live simulcast viewing of our biggest shows and sports events, including Love Island and the FA Cup attracted large streaming audiences.
“ITV Studios continues to demonstrate significant strategic momentum. With a strong pipeline of content and committed revenues, it is on track to deliver mid-single digit revenue growth over the full year, ahead of the market. This follows record revenues in Q4 2022 and with the phasing of deliveries expected to be weighted to the second half of 2023.
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