Profits may be down but there are hints that the digital signal is improving at ITV - finally

It's been two years since Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, sent the share price crashing by 27% in a day as she announced a plan to ramp up the broadcaster's adventures in streaming by launching ITVX.

- Nils Pratley

The City saw a large investment bill in the offing, plus definitive proof that the days of easy advertising money from old-style linear television were over, and tuned out. The share price has never seen 100p again and was 56p as recently as last month.

But here - finally - comes a hint of better times. The evidence was not the headline numbers from yesterday's full-year report on 2023, which showed a fall in statutory pre-tax profits of 60% to £193m and a 15% decline in those linear ad revenues. Rather, it was evidence that the shift towards streaming, which was plainly necessary in the age of Netflix and Disney, will deliver what it is supposed to do and cost no more than originally promised. McCall spelled it out: 2023 was the year of "peak investment" in streaming and the group overall is "well placed to grow profits from here".

The critical new development is that the intended compensatory element - advertising and subscription income from ITVXis now genuinely compensating. Digital revenues improved 19% and the key 2026 target of hitting "at least" £750m is intact.