Ad sales drive ITV growth

BROADCASTER ITV, which has a large production base in Salford, saw revenues rise by 8% in the first nine months of the year on the back of resurgent advertising sales.

But the business also benefitted from a sharp increase in revenues from online, pay and interactive.

Overall the group has reported income of £1.8m, up from £1.66m.

Revenues included a 9% rise in non-advertising revenue to £886m and a 24% lift from online, pay and interactive. The ITV Studios arm, which makes shows such as Coronation Street and Jeremy Kyle at Salford Quays, increased revenues by 10%.

Chief executive Adam Crozier said: “We’ve made further strong progress in growing all parts of ITV and we’re on track to deliver another year of double digit profit growth. Our broadcast business has performed strongly with advertising revenues up 6% in the first nine months. We expect to be up around 5% over the full year, well ahead of the UK television advertising market and our best outperformance of the market for five years.”