England’s World Cup Progress Boosts ITV Ad Revenue
England’s progress in the World Cup finals has given ITV’s advertising revenues for June and July an unexpected boost.
According to internal ITV forecasts, June’s ad income is expected to be up 10% year on year, ahead of the previously anticipated 6% rise. The network is also predicting that July’s revenue will be around 6% higher than last year.
ITV claims that since the tournament began, commercial impacts, which define the price of advertising slots, have risen 40% year on year for adults during daytime hours and 100% for men. Commercial impacts for ABC1 men are up 120%, as are those for 16-35 year-olds.
According to a spokeswoman for the network, car, beer and entertainment brands are spending more heavily than anticipated. She said: “England’s World Cup progress has lifted advertising revenues higher than expected. May was the first month in over a year that the network saw an increase in revenues and things have carried on from there.”
Speculation suggests that the ongoing dispute between Carlton and Granada and the Football League could lead to ITV’s World Cup revenue growth being short lived. The Football League, which is owed around £180m by the ITV partners (see Football League Kicks Off Action Against ITV Digital Owners), is calling on football fans to boycott Friday’s broadcast of the England versus Brazil game on ITV1 in protest at the companies’ decision to close ITV Digital (see Administrators Confirm ITV Digital Sale).
However, a ITV spokeswoman was confident that such action would not a significantly affect revenues, saying: “This is not something that we very concerned about. Revenue for the tournament has been great so far and things are still looking positive.”
Analysts are now forecasting that ITV’s revenues will show positive growth of 4% during the fourth quarter of this year; the previous forecast had been for a 5% decline. However, much will depend on September’s figures, say brokers.
ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.co.uk
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