ITV has launched a further £15m in cost cuts after profits at the broadcaster plummeted by more than 40% in the first half of the year, after struggling to repeat the success of an advertising boom in last year’s men’s European football championships.
Pre-tax profits were down by 44% year-on-year to £99m in the first six months, as total advertising revenues fell by 7% to £824m.
The broadcaster said it struggled to match the very strong advertising period last year driven by the men’s Euros, which had fuelled a 17% rise in ad revenue in the second quarter last year as England reached the tournament finals.
ITV said it had managed the lack of a comparable advertising bonanza well, in results that beat the expectations of City analysts. Shares in the company rose by more than 5% on the London market.
“The Euros effect is budgeted for, we got that right, and have been able to mitigate in a softer market,” said Carolyn McCall, the ITV chief executive.
The broadcaster announced a further £15m in cost savings, taking the total for this year to £45m, which it said would come from a combination of new initiatives and annualised benefits from cuts made last year.
Separately, ITV also said it was trimming programming budget by £20m, from £1.25bn to £1.23bn, “as we further optimise content spend to best reflect viewer dynamics”.
Looking ahead, ITV expects total advertising revenue to be “marginally down” in the third quarter, again due to last year’s Euros.
However, the decline has been softened by England’s nerve-racking and exhilarating run to make the finals of the women’s Euro 2025 tournament.
ITV’s gamble in choosing to have the first pick of the semi-finals in pre-tournament negotiations with the BBC, which in return got live coverage of three of the four quarter-finals, has paid off.
England’s European Championship semi-final win over Italy on Tuesday night gave ITV its highest viewing figures of the year.
A peak audience of 10.2 million watched as England’s Chloe Kelly scored in the final minutes of extra time to set up a final against Spain, which defeated Germany on Wednesday night.
after newsletter promotion
The dramatic semi-final – which ran for an advertising haul-friendly 120 minutes – was ITV’s highest average audience of the year among adults and 16- to 34-year-olds. It also broke streaming records with ITVX recording its biggest day of the year with 17.2m stream views.
Despite the record-setting viewing figures ITV said it was the big tournaments that the England men play in that fuelled much higher ad revenue.
“Nothing compares to a Euros or World Cup for us when England [men] are doing well,” said McCall. “Audiences of 18 million, 21 million, they are double anything else. The women’s game is the highest audience we have had this year, but compared to what we get on big tournaments for the men’s game, they are double.”
ITV said this year’s women’s Euros had been a slow burn with viewers, especially after the loss recorded in the first game, but in the men’s tournaments every game performed well, even when England was not playing.
The broadcaster recorded a 9% year-on-year increase in total digital revenues to £271m in the first half, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on traditional linear TV.
On ITVX, total streaming hours increased by 15% year-on-year to 1.1bn, while monthly active users rose by 9% to 16.4 million.