Yahoo Finance ITV shrugs off Clarkson controversy as studio arm booms
THE reinvention of ITV under Carolyn McCall continued apace today when the group revealed that less than half of revenues now come from the TV channel famed for Coronation Street, Love Island and Stonehouse.
The rest comes from the digital arm and the studios which make shows such as Line of Duty for the BBC and Queer Eye for Netflix.
McCall’s aim is that by 2026 those parts of the company will be two-thirds of sales.
Today it said revenues for last year rose from £3.5 billion to £3.7 billion, but profits were flat at £519 million.
A series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire presented by Jeremy Clarkson has been filmed and will be broadcast later this year.
ITV would not commit to saying there will be another series led by Clarkson, but insist he has not been “cancelled” following a controversial article about Meghan Markle.
It said: "As we have said for several weeks, ITV is contractually committed to a further series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
A decision on Clarkson’s future will be taken later.
McCall, the former Guardian and easyJet supremo, says ITV is now in a position to “take a larger part of the digital advertising market”.
The shares slipped 3p to 85p.
