ITV online users up, but revenues still dropping

A growing online audience is not resulting in increased revenues for commercial broadcaster ITV. The corporation today announced that its revenues dropped by 14 per cent during the first three months of this year. As a result the London based company will increase its cost reduction programme over the next two years. Revenues for the ITV online division remained steady for the first quarter and traffic increased by 70 per cent to 11 million visitors and use of its video catch up service increased by 300 per cent as 25m users logged on. With revenues declining by 14 per cent, the broadcaster announced it is to pursue further cost reduction plans, with costs to be cut by £40m next year and £285m in 2011. In a statement to investors ITV said it was “making good progress towards delivering the previously announced savings of £155m for 2009”. Advertising sales for the first quarter of 2009 dropped by 15 per cent. Chief executive of ITV Michael Grade will step down at the end of this year to take a non-executive role with the broadcaster. ITV CIO Richard Cross told CIO UK earlier this year how he is using off-the-shelf IT to reduce the costs and technology involved in broadcasting. Standard applications and networks have reduced the broadcaster’s reliance on bespoke media technology. Cross began a new restructuring programme in March, “The key thing is to find growth through more efficiency: as IT, we are part of both, we drive efficiency through IT and we drive revenue through technology.”