ITV Studios scores report income regardless of strikes hitting revenues
- Adjusted earnings before nasties at ITV Studios grew by 5% to £299m last year
- Fool Me Once and Rivals were among ITV’s most successful TV productions
ITV’s production arm enjoyed record profits last year despite turnover falling following the Hollywood strikes.
Adjusted earnings before nasties at ITV Studios grew by 5 per cent to £299million in 2024 due to £25million of cost savings and high-margin catalogue sales.
Among the division’s successful shows were the thriller series Fool Me Once, starring Michelle Keegan, the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s novel Rivals, and Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the UK’s most-watched TV drama of 2024.
Its revenues still fell 6 per cent to around £2billion due to weaker demand from European free-to-air broadcasters, the phasing of high-value scripted productions, and the US entertainment strikes of the prior year.
Actors and screenwriters belonging to the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA unions walked out during the summer of 2023 in a dispute over pay from streaming services and artificial intelligence’s impact on jobs.
This led to many TV programmes and movies shutting down for more than six months and ITV delaying about £80million of turnover into 2025.
Popular: Mr Bates vs the Post Office, starring Toby Jones (pictured), was the UK’s most-watched TV drama of 2024
While the firm’s media and entertainment revenues tipped up 1 per cent to £2.1billion thanks to increasing ad sales on streaming platform ITVX, its total turnover dropped by 3 per cent to £4.1billion.
However, overall earnings before nasties rose by 12 per cent to £549million while its statutory operating profits climbed by over a third to £318million.
ITV shares were 6 per cent higher at 73.75p on Thursday morning, making them one of the top FTSE 250 performers and taking their gains to around 21 per cent over the past year.
Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, said: ‘Today’s results show our significant progress and success in navigating the rapidly changing media industry.’
She added: ‘Our significant competitive advantages give us confidence that we will continue to deliver good growth in both ITV Studios and digital revenues, underpinned by the powerful reach and strong cash generation of broadcast.
‘And we are becoming a more resilient business with content production and digital now accounting for close to two-thirds of our revenue.’
ITV has a large pipeline of programmes over the coming year, such as the Rob Brydon-hosted gameshow Destination X, travel documentary comedy The Reluctant Traveller, and Run Away, starring James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones.
The company expects its content costs to total around £1.25billion, slightly less than last year, owing to lower spending on sports following the UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament.
But it warned that ad revenues this year will be hit by difficult comparatives against the Euros and the introduction of restrictions on marketing less healthy food and drink in October.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said ad sales were ‘vitally important for ITV’s transition away from the declining audiences that traditional broadcast attracts.
‘But keep in mind that it’s a very competitive space, and the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have substantially deeper pockets to throw at growing market share.’
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