UK’s ITV to cut 200 jobs as advertising downturn bites

Mr Bates Vs The Post Office (Source: ITV)

UK commercial broadcaster ITV is to cut 200 jobs as a consequence of the downturn in advertising market.

ITV CEO Carolyn McCall informed staff about the redundances in an internal email yesterday, which she said were part of a restructuring programme aimed at saving the company £50m ($64m) a year.

The broadcaster will give staff the chance to take voluntary redundancies, though some of the layoffs will be compulsory. A hiring freeze, which had been expected to lift during the summer, will now also be extended until the end of the year.

Around 200 roles are expected to be cut, though staff at its studios business, which is behind titles such as Mr Bates V The Post Office and Squid Game: The Challenge, are not expected to be impacted.

The cuts, first reported by Broadcast, will instead be focused on ITV’s media and entertainment division, including its streaming and broadcasting operations.

The news comes following ITV’s Q1 financial results earlier this month, which saw an overall revenue drop of 7% to £887m from £952m in the previous year.

The company had reported a recovery in the ad market in these results, but the damage has already been done, with McCall previously describing the downturn as the worst since the financial crisis.

ITV Studios, meanwhile, saw revenues drop by 16% over the past year, while in March ITV saw pre-tax profits take a 61% nosedive.