ITV RESTRUCTURE BUSINESS TO REFLECT CHANGING VIEWING HABITS

ITV announced today that it is to restructure its broadcast business to reflect changing viewing habits.  It will establish a new Media and Entertainment Division with two new business units - Broadcast and On-Demand.

The On-Demand business unit will be the focus of digital product development and growth for ITV.  It will grow ITV’s online offering by providing new content that appeals to audiences who already do most or all of their viewing on demand and will serve it to them in whatever way they want to access it.  This unit will include Hub, Hub+ (the ad free version of the Hub) and BritBox – the digital video subscription service created by the BBC and ITV which brings together the very best in past, present and future British programming.

Carolyn McCall, ITV’s CEO said: “Our new Media and Entertainment Division will enable ITV to continue to deliver mass, live audiences while investing in the future to create the sort of content and viewing experience that younger, and other harder to reach viewers want...

...ITV will continue to broadcast shows which entertain millions of viewers. Most are watched live and that fact together with the scale of these audiences will continue to offer unrivalled opportunities for brands to reach consumers.  Linear channels will be around and be profitable for many years but we also need an On-Demand business which will increasingly be the focus of our new investments in content and technology and which will be our growth engine attracting younger and more targeted audiences to ITV.”

ITV also plans to reduce its London office space over the coming years to reflect the changing needs of the business in the context of its digital transformation and the move towards more flexible working as well as taking cost out of the business.  Final decisions are yet to be made.