ITV revenues likely to fall by one-fifth in April

ITV’s ad revenue for April is set to plummet by somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent compared with the same month last year.

One TV buyer says: “The April numbers are horrendous. ITV is now staring down a barrel. I have never seen it scramble around for money like this. The ad revenue is about 17 per cent down in April year on year.”

The slump follows hard on the heels of figures for February and March, which the buyer claims show a fall of seven per cent and ten per cent on the same months last year.

Most media buyers commit money two months in advance to ITV and the process is now closing for May. But there is always money that comes into the market late on and the ad revenue estimates for April could change.

Another TV buyer, who claims that ITV will see its April ad revenue figures drop between 15 and 20 per cent on last year, says: “The dot-coms have had an impact. That money is no longer in the market right now and ITV did well out of that last year.”

According to the same source, the national channels Channel 4, Channel 5, satellite and GMTV have all seen revenue drop but none to the same extent as ITV.

He adds: ” Going into the year, people were predicating that total TV ad revenue would be up by five per cent and now people may look at revising these figures.”