The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has urged
ITV to protect its programming budgets as ITV shareholders face dual
pressures from a downturn in advertising revenues and the spiralling
costs of ITV Digital.
ISBA director of media and advertising affairs Bob Wootton said that
despite the pressures ITV was facing in the different areas of its
business, there must be no cuts to the £747m programming
budget.
"ITV must protect its core brand, ITV1. If the downturn in revenues
continues it will have to decide how to deploy revenues. But it must
protect the programming budget rather than throwing money at ITV
Digital."
The warning follows comments at the launch of ITV's autumn schedule by
former ITV marketing and commercial director John Hardie. He said that
while there would be no reduction in the budget for 2002, longer term
investment in programming could be affected by falling revenues.
Since July, ITV's revenues have continued to slide and are expected to
be down 15%, or £297m, for the year.
Feature, page 26.
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