ITV’s profits jumped in 2024 thanks to record earnings at the British broadcaster’s production arm, ITV Studios, as it benefited from hits including Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals and Fool Me Once.
The FTSE 250 company said revenues were down 3% to £4.1bn in 2024 compared with the previous year, but its measure of adjusted profits was up 11% at £542m. Profit before tax more than doubled to £521m, up from £193m a year earlier.
ITV has been seeking to make itself less reliant on the volatile earnings from its UK broadcast TV channels, with investors expecting linear television to wither as the shift to online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ progresses.
Growth in ITV Studios has been key to that aim, outstripping revenues from advertising through traditional TV channels and ITV X, its own online streaming app. The production arm makes shows for ITV and for competitors, and it has benefited from the demand for big-budget dramas on top of commissions such as Line of Duty for the BBC – although 2024 sales were hit by writers’ strikes in the US a year earlier.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s chief executive, said: “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.”
However, McCall has struggled to persuade investors, despite ITV Studios’ growth and a cost-cutting plan that found £60m in permanent savings in 2024. ITV’s share price is down almost 15% since July, despite rallying by 3% to 72p in early trading on Thursday after its results were released, and nearly half from the £1.30 levels reached during the coronavirus pandemic.
That share price decline has comes despite potential bid interest late last year. Interested parties included the private equity company CVC Capital Partners, the French broadcaster TF1, RedBird IMI, which recently acquired the Traitors maker, All3Media, for £1.2bn, and the production group Mediawan, which bought a controlling stake in Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment two years ago.
However, ITV made no mention of either a potential takeover or a breakup in its financial results on Thursday.
The company said its studios arm would “deliver good revenue growth in 2025”, although with profit margins falling. New shows will include the second series of Rivals, made for Disney+, Run Away for Netflix and the second series of the police thriller After the Flood for its main ITV channel.
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Advertising revenues, most of which still come from broadcast channels, may be weaker in 2025 compared with 2024, when companies rushed to advertise at football’s Euro 2024. Restrictions on adverts for less healthy foods will also come in October 2025, potentially denting ad sales.
ITV retained its dividend for 2024 at 5p a share, the same £190m payout to shareholders as in 2023.
