ITV in the black (for now)

2008 was, in no uncertain terms, a flop for ITV, a £2.7 billion flop to be precise; this was the figure of the actual loss ITV made in 2008. 2009 saw profits, £25 million pre tax profits and the start of this year has shown advertising revenues, thanks to UK advertising agencies, grow by 7%, with predictions that this will rise to 15/20% in April. There is a new prosperity within ITV and with thanks to hit show like the X Factor and Dancing on Ice, being in the black for the first time in a while is reassuring. However, hopes are reserved, with many fearing there is along way to go to keep ITV afloat. The network has been criticised for not successfully riding the boom in internet services like their competitors BBC iPlayer and YouTube and because of recent woes the network scrapped its dividends last year. Debts still stand at £612 million.

ITV is still a major force in the UK commercial television industry but viewing audiences have been falling for years and the competition of digital and cable TV have added to the pressure. In a bid to adapt to multi channel television with freeview ITV launched their free to air digital channels ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITVplay. ITV admits that it is no longer in such a dominant position because of the big growth in digital rivals which is led by Sky and realizes that ITV would have to become a very different business over the next five years. With increased internet viewings and free to air TV being threatened by digital media, ITV has a big challenge ahead of them.