ITV Brand Must Unite On The Web, Says Richard Eyre

Richard Eyre blamed the competing members of the ITV network for its failure to create a stong net brand at MediaTel’s Media Question Time event. He said that ITV’s online presence is currently in its infancy because each franchise wants to develop its own voice on the internet.

In response to a question from the floor on the future of television as the internet threatens audience shares, the former chief executive of the ITV network said that in his former role he had attempted to unite the competing arenas. “The ITV shareholders claim ownership of programmes, so instead of an ITV.com we have Carlton.com or G-Wizz or Lineone…To me, this is less good than ITV.com,” he said.

Questioned on his efforts to persuade shareholders to unite, he said: “One of the shareholders said to me, “We are all building train sets and now is the wrong time to tell us to share”. It’s disappointing but honest and commercial.”

Other panel members were also sceptical of ITV’s moves into new media. Mandy Pooler, chief executive of MindShare, said, “ITV was woefully late to the digital party. Their vested interest might be in their short term interest but not in the long term interest of ITV. The sooner we get one ITV the better.”