ITV sees revenues climb 7% to $5.3 billion

U.K. commercial broadcaster ITV’s annual results for 2022 were revealed Thursday and the picture is robust.

Total group revenue was up 7% to £4.3 billion ($5.3 billion) and total external revenue was up 8% to £3.7 billion. ITV Studios total revenues grew 19% to £2 billion.

The “Love Island” broadcaster said that the strong revenue growth and the adjusted interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) margin of 12.4% for ITV Studios was driven by a 58% increase in high-end scripted hours produced, with 19 formats sold in three or more countries. The percentage of total ITV Studios’ revenue from streaming platforms grew from 13% to 22%, flowing from commissions or development deals with most of the major streamers. Given this success ITV is increasing its target for 2026 from 25% to 30%.

Statutory operating profit was £519 million, the same as the corresponding period in 2021.

Adjusted EBITA for the group was down by 12% at £717 million, compared to £813 million in 2021. This was “largely reflecting the planned investment in M&E to drive future growth, which was partly funded by £23 million of cost savings. This takes total savings delivered since 2018 to £106 million,” ITV said in a statement. Net debt increased from £414 million in 2021 to £623 million in 2022.

At ITV’s media and entertainment division, while the volume of content available for streaming grew from 4,000 hours in 2021 to 19,000 hours in 2022, adjusted group EBITA was down 22% at £464 million, “largely reflecting the planned investment in content and ITVX to drive future growth,” ITV said.

Total digital revenues were up 18% to £411 million. Total streaming hours were up 9% and, within that, total monetizable streaming hours up 18%. Monthly active users were up 6% and U.K. subscribers up 17% to 1.4 million. BritBox International subscribers are up 25% to 3 million.

Carolyn McCall, ITV chief executive, said: “2022 was a year of significant strategic progress and ITV delivered a robust set of financial results. The successful execution and delivery of ITVX in Q4 was a major digital milestone. The platform has received a very positive reception from viewers and advertisers alike, with its newly expanded range of original content and a superior user experience engaging more viewers, and lighter viewers, and encouraging them to spend more time with ITV. The user experience and personalisation elements will continue to improve throughout 2023.

“Our total external revenue growth of 8% was driven by double-digit increases from our growth drivers, ITV Studios and our digital businesses in M&E. Our mass reach linear advertising business has also performed well and ITV total advertising revenue (TAR) was down only 1%, delivering the second highest TAR in ITV’s history.

“As a result of ITV’s deliberate strategic actions and strong execution, ITV has a scaled and expanding global production business, a rapidly growing targeted digital advertising business, a resilient linear TV advertising business and a unique vertically integrated producer broadcaster and streamer model. This means that ITV is now a demonstrably more balanced business which is ideally placed to take advantage of the growing demand for quality content from viewers, broadcasters and streamers and take a larger share of the digital advertising market.

“We enter 2023 with strong momentum and are on track to deliver all our 2026 KPI [Key Performance Indicator] targets despite a continuing uncertain macro environment. ITV’s balance sheet is robust enabling us to continue to invest to support our strategy and deliver returns to shareholders.” Variety