ITV To Lose Ad Revenue By Broadcasting Queen Mother Pageant Uninterrupted

ITV will voluntarily lose out on millions of pounds worth of advertising revenue if reports that it has withdrawn all ad breaks from the Queen Mother’s birthday pageant coverage are true.

The military parade and pageant are to be broadcast live and take place between 5pm and 6:30pm, hours which usually represent lucrative advertising slots for the broadcaster. ITV is said to be planning to broadcast the event uninterrupted.

It is believed that ITV will be making every effort to prove it can match the BBC in screening of major events like this, after the Corporation caused controversy by deciding in May that it would not be giving the parade live coverage. ITV is thought to be spending millions on the programme, even before the loss of advertising revenue.

While programming on Channel 3 may achieve success with soap operas like Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and entertainment shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Stars In Their Eyes, it struggles to achieve the gravitas of BBC factual programming, a fact reflected in last year’s ITC report (see ITC Publishes Performance Review For ITV’s Dramatic Year).

Newscasters Trevor MacDonald, Kirsty Young and John Suchet will present the coverage, which comes at a time when the future of public service broadcasting is under discussion ahead of this autumn’s communications white paper (see ITC Publishes Consultation Paper On Public Service Broadcasting).

ITV: 020 7843 8222