Broadcaster ITV said its turnaround plan was on track yesterday as it looked set to outperform the UK advertising market for the first time in eight years.
The group said its net ad revenues were up two per cent in the first
three months of this year. It predicted the key measure would be flat for the company's first half, better than a one per cent dip for the total market.
ITV also said its viewin
g share across its family of channels, which includes flagship ITV1, was up 1.6 per cent at 23.4 per cent.
Executive chairman Michael Grade, who joined the broadcaster at the end of 2006, said: "ITV has made further progress in 2008 and the turnaround plan, outlined in September 2007, remains on track.
"The forecast for the first half shows us outperforming the UK television advertising market – the first time this has happened since 2000."
ITV's total group revenues for the first quarter were up 3 per cent to £492m.
Broadcasting revenues suffered a two per cent dip to £409m for the period, largely due to suspended text and red button voting after a spate of phone-in scandals relating to programmes such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and Soapstar Superstar.
Last week ITV was fined a total of £5.67m by regulator Ofcom as a result of the broadcaster's "serious editorial issues" which saw swathes of viewer votes ignored by programmers.
The big driver in ITV's revenues growth was global content sales, up 41 per cent to £58m during the quarter. Deals include a US version of reality TV cooking show Hell's Kitchen starring Marco Pierre White, and Dancing On Ice which has been sold on to countries like Australia, Belgium and Slovakia.
A Chinese version of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway has also proved a success and now attracts 55 million viewers, the broadcaster said.
Shares in ITV have halved in the past year as the difficult advertising market took its toll.
Mr Grade said the sector was holding up despite the wider economic problems in the UK. He said: "Given the wider economic context, the television advertising market has held up relatively well in year to date."
Mr Grade added that this year and next year's programming budgets for ITV1 – whose flagship programmes include Britain's Got Talent, Lewis and Wild At Heart – will be maintained at the 2007 level through "procurement efficiencies and other savings".
He said: "We continue to drive hard for efficiency savings across the business and demonstrate tight financial discipline consistent with our self-funding strategic plan."
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