ITV has reported a 4% fall in advertising revenues in the third quarter of 2017, an improvement on the 8% fall in the first half of the year.
The broadcaster is now expecting a full-year decline of around 5%, better than the wider TV ad market and in line with its earlier forecasts.
In the nine months to the end of September, total external revenue was down 1% to £2.1bn.
While broadcast and online revenues dropped 4% to £1.45bn, online, pay and interactive revenues jumped eight per cent. ITV Hub now has over 21m users, including 75% of 16 to 24 year olds.
Revenue at ITV Studios, meanwhile, was up 9% to just over £1bn.
Sir Peter Bazalgette, ITV’s chairman who is running the group until new chief executive Carolyn McCall arrives in January, said: “ITV’s performance in the first nine months of 2017 is very much as we anticipated. We’ve seen improving trends in all our key revenue lines in the quarter and we’re on track to deliver on the commitments we set out at the start of the year.
“We will enter 2018 in good shape with a strong operating performance, underpinned by a robust balance sheet, and we look forward to the arrival of our new CEO, Carolyn McCall, early in the New Year.”
