Speaking at its annual general meeting yesterday, Grade said ITV was "eight months into a five-year plan".
The group, which yesterday reported a 3% year-on-year rise in first quarter revenue to £492m, said it expected trading in the first half of the year to outperform the rest of the UK television market for the first time since 2000.
Almost 98% of the ITV shareholders who voted at the AGM approved the broadcaster's remuneration report, which confirmed that Grade's £1.93m pay packet last year included a £967,000 performance-related bonus.
Some investors are reported to have expressed concern about the timing of the bonus, when shares in ITV have almost halved in the past 12 months from a 52-week high of 120p to around 63p today.
But according to the Financial Times, Grade told shareholders at the AGM that he had reinvested his bonus in ITV shares, and said the company expected to see earnings grow in 2009.
Grade told investors: "We have a new team in place, and we want to see this company restored to growth.
"Turning a company around like this in such a difficult regulatory market is a huge job."
ITV shares were trading early this morning at 62.2p -- up 0.3% on last night's closing price. The group last year posted a pre-tax profit of £188m -- down more than a third on the previous year.
One potential new source of revenue could come from the contract to sell online advertising around the .
John Cresswell, ITV's chief operating officer, has confirmed that the broadcaster is bidding for the contract, with Channel 4 and online agency Ad2One also understood to be in the running.
Cresswell told the Daily Telegraph: "We are pitching hard for it. The BBC doesn't have an airtime sales house so it needs to find the best person to do it."
The service, which is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, is expected to launch later this year, overseen by Ashley Highfield, the outgoing BBC director of future media and technology.
The BBC's involvement in the project, through its commercial arm BBC Worldwide, is subject to approval by the BBC Trust.
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