ITV Studios revenue drops 16% due to Hollywood strikes

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office (Source: ITV)

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has posted a Q1 revenue drop of 7%, down to £887m ($1.1bn) from £952m in the previous year, with its studios business hit by the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

While the company saw a recovery in the ad market, leading to a 3% revenue gain in the first quarter, this was offset by a 16% drop at ITV Studios.

ITV said that this was due to “the phasing of deliveries which are heavily weighted to the second half and the expected impact from both the 2023 U.S. writers and actors strikes and the weaker demand from free-to-air broadcasters in Europe.”

The broadcaster said that these buyers have been “holding back spend until they see more certainty in the advertising market.”

Total revenue at Mr Bates Vs The Post Office and The Red King producer ITV Studios was £382m, down on the $457m posted in Q1 2023.

“Over the full year, we expect ITV Studios revenues to be broadly flat,” said ITV CEO Carolyn McCall, with the company expecting to see “good underlying growth” that will offset the impact of the strikes in the months ahead, though with a delay of around £80m of revenue from 2024 until 2025.