Marking the sixth consecutive year of double digit profit growth, ITV’s underlying pre-tax profits were up 18% in 2015 to £865 million, while revenues were up 15% to just under £3 billion.
Despite a -3% decline in audience share, the commercial broadcaster’s latest financial results for the year ended 31 December 2015 saw total ITV studios revenue increase 33% to £1,237 million – with 53% of revenues now coming from outside the UK.
ITV’s Online, Pay and Interactive arm also performed well, with a 23% rise in revenue taking it to £188 million. The broadcaster has attributed this to people spending 42% more time watching ITV online in 2015 compared with the previous year.
Meanwhile, advertising revenues grew 6% to £1,719 million.
“ITV delivered another strong year as we continue to grow and strengthen the business in the UK and internationally,” said chief executive Adam Crozier.
[advert position=”left”]
“We’ll continue to build scale and to capitalise on the strong demand for high quality content that travels, with a particular focus on investing in creative talent and scripted projects, and working with more channels and platforms in the UK and internationally.”
Looking ahead, Crozier said that that ITV will continue to invest in digital media to drive “closer engagement” with online audiences, develop more targeted advertising with new initiatives such as AdSync+ and ITV AdVenutures, and look for new ways to monetise content online as well as pay channels.
Crozier added that the company sees “significant opportunities” for growth across the business both organically and through acquisitions and partnerships.
