ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall has blamed the government and its lack of initiatives to revive the economy as the reason the TV network’s advertising sales have plunged in recent months.
McCall spoke at the Royal Television Society conference in Cambridge, saying that the state of the economy is directly affecting advertising revenue, as businesses are cutting back on their marketing expenses.
ITV’s profits before tax fell by nearly 80% to £45 million in the first six months of the year, with advertising revenue down 11% to £811 million from £910 million the year before.
Despite ITV having high-profile shows scheduled – such as Big Brother and Rugby World Cup Games, McCall argued that advertising revenue was still crucial to the channel’s success.
“It is not about programmes. Advertising revenue is tied to the economy, and the UK is not doing very well. The government talks about growth all the time but it has been very, very quiet,” said McCall.
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The chief executive said she was confident TV ad revenue would bounce back because “it always does eventually . . . but the uncertainty means it is hard to forecast when that will be”.
McCall added that she was not optimistic for the next election, claiming she could not differentiate between Labour and the Conservatives when it came to their strategies for “what is going to get us out of what is quite a stagnant and gloomy place”.
“It is frustrating because we are doing worse than every single European country – except for Germany.”
The ITV chief’s comments followa the network publishing a public statement earlier this year to counter reports that it was “actively exploring” a bid for the TV producer All3Media, which is being put up for sale by its owners, Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery.
When questioned about the potential of a merger, McCall said ITV was “still monitoring it but we are not actively exploring it”.
