ITV confident of increasing TV ad income as it reports 9% revenue growth
ITV saw its net advertising revenue grow by 2 per cent for 2013' making 1,542m while it's non-advertising revenue increased by £175m to £1,211m helping it achieve external revenues growth of 9 per cent to £2,389m.
The commercial broadcaster has released its preliminary results for last year, having fallen slightly behind the rate of growth of the TV advertising market at 3 per cent, although its broadcast performance helped drive 3 per cent growth in broadcast and online revenues to £1,896m.
ITV's EBITA ahead of exceptional items also increased by 21 per cent (£107m) to £620m.
For 2014, the company also forecast that ITV Family NAR was expected to be up by between 5 per cent or 6 per cent in the first four months of the year, while the launch of new channel ITV Encore is expected to help its Online, Pay and Interactive figures once again deliver double digital growth.
Adam Crozier, CEO of ITV, said the company had taken "another significant step forward" in achieving its revenue growth of 9 per cent.
"All parts of the business are progressing well as we continue to rebalance ITV. Total non-advertising revenues again grew strongly up £175m driven by good performances in ITV Studios and Online, Pay and Interactive," he continued.
"The investment we have made in content has driven significant revenue and profit growth in ITV Studios - up 20 per cent and 24 per cent respectively - both organically and through the selective acquisitions we have made in the UK and the US.
"Broadcast and Online performed well. We delivered further strong growth in Online, Pay and Interactive up 16 per cent as we again improved the quality and availability of ITV Player and ITV Family NAR was up 2 per cent as the TV advertising market returned to growth.
"Onscreen we've had our best year on year performance for ten years with share of viewing for ITV Family up 4 per cent driven by our continued investment in our high quality schedules," he continued.
Crozier however underlined the company's 'relentless' focus on cost.
"We delivered £28m of cost savings, our group margin has increased by three percentage points and our profit to cash conversion remains high. The strength of our underlying cash flow means that, even after significant investment across the business and increasing returns to our shareholders, we ended the year with £164m of net cash, a similar level to 2012."
The company has also claimed that the TV advertising marketing was showing signs of improvement, with NAR for ITV Family expected to grow by up to 6 per cent during the first quarter of the year, where it is expected to outperform the market.
It also claimed that ahead of screening part of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it was in a 'good position' judging by the advertising deals already completed.