British broadcaster ITV said today that its advertising and viewing performance had improved in 2007, with net ad revenue down 0.6% for the year compared with an 8.4% fall in 2006.
For the main ITV1 channel, its share of viewers who watched commercial TV was down 3.3%, compared with a decline of over 10% in 2006. The broadcaster also said it was on track to deliver £40m sterling of efficiency savings by 2008.
'ITV plc has made measurable progress during the course of 2007,' CEO Michael Grade said in a statement. 'On-screen ITV1's performance has been much improved; we have assembled a formidable senior management team; and we've seen real growth in the whole television advertising market over the second half of the year,' he said.
'Our focus for 2008 is on implementing the turnaround plan set out in September and maintaining the positive momentum in ITV1's viewing performance,' he added.
The group said it was finishing 2007 strongly. Net advertising revenue (NAR) in November was up 2% year-on-year and estimates for December continued to improve.
ITV said it estimated that the total UK advertising market was up over 6% across the second half of 2007 and up 3% over the full year.
The broadcaster said that its 2007 programme investment was maintained at approximately £1 billion.
