ITV Studios on track for £100m profit in 2012

ITV Studios, the content arm of UK commercial broadcaster ITV, will report a profit of over £100 million this year and grow further in 2013, ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said this morning.

ITV Studios-distributed drama series Mr Selfridge

For the nine months to end-September, the programming and distribution arm of ITV reported revenues of £498 million, a 20% increase year-on-year.

Crozier has pinpointed growth at ITV Studios, which is run by Kevin Lygo, as a key part in his ongoing transformation plan.

“ITV Studios has performed strongly as our strategy of investing in the creative pipeline and talent again shows through in our results,” Crozier said in an interim results statement today. “We expect ITV Studios to report over £100 million of profit in 2012, and the number of new commissions and recommissions already secured for 2013 gives us confidence that there will continue to be good underlying growth in the Studios business.”

Total revenue for the nine months to end-September increased 4% year-on-year, taking the total to £1.6 billion.

However, the strong ITV Studios performance came as the wider group suffered the effects of not broadcasting the Summer Olympics.

Advertising revenue declined 10% in July and 9% in August. The decline continued in August and ITV said it expects October and November to be in negative territory and December flat. Full year ad revenues will also be broadly flat, the company said.