Second Half Forecasts Put ITV Revenue Down 1.4% In 2002
ITV’s advertising revenues are looking set to be up by 6.0% in August, better than Merrill Lynch analysts’ expectations, which had put the growth at 3.0%.
Early figures for September show ITV up 0.5% in a strong TV market which will be up by 7.0% to 9.0%. ITV says that it had very few cancellations following 11 September last year and so the comparisons are not artificially generous. Nevertheless, September 2001 was down by 18.0%.
Indications for October are of 4.0% to 5.0% growth in a market up 10%; October 2001 was down by 15.6%.
Merrill Lynch is forecasting that November will be up 3.0% and December up 1.5%. If this is the case, ITV would show a full year decline of 1.4% in 2002.
