The broadcaster said UK television advertising had suffered its worst year-on-year decline on record, with is own ad revenues falling by 15% or £108m in the first six months of 2008. This compared to an overall drop of 17% in UK television advertising.
ITV said it has delivered £57m of cost savings across programming and off-screen over the first half of the year. This has included programme budget cuts and staff redundancies.
The company is searching for a chief executive after Michael Grade, took an executive chairman role at the beginning of the year. Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV, is thought to be the favourite to take the job.
Online revenues for the company were £18m, up 6%, with itv.com revenues increasing by 100% to £10m. The sale of Friends Reunited, owned by ITV, was confirmed today. It will be sold for £25m after being bought for £170m.
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