winning formula: ITV blockbusters help it to bigger share of the market

The popularity of The X Factor, Doc Martin and rugby’s World Cup tournament helped boost broadcaster ITV’s third quarter revenues.

Advertising revenues rose by one per cent in the three months to September 30, defying expectations of a fall, while the improvement in its ITV Studios business continued after it sold new shows including Prime Suspect overseas.

But the group remained cautious about its prospects in 2012 and expects advertising revenues to decline by 10 per cent in December as it comes up against tough comparatives with the previous year.

Its on-screen performance in the final quarter of 2011 has been boosted by I’m A Celebrity, Downton Abbey and The Jury.

ITV’s overall share of the TV market for the first nine months of 2011 is up two per cent to 23 per cent, driven by its digital channels and online, while it is on course to outperform the television advertising market as a whole in 2011. The group, which is also home to Coronation Street, is one year into a five-year transformation plan, which has seen it focus on “re-energising” the creative pipeline of its ITV Studios business.