ITV has announced a six per cent year-on-year increase in online revenues and a 23 per cent rise in web traffic in a trading update to the City this morning.
The broadcaster said itv.com recorded an average of 5.9 million monthly unique users in the nine months to the end of September – up 23 per cent from 4.8 million in the same period last year.
ITV.com provides a 30-day video catch-up service for a number of programmes, such as current affairs strand Tonight, and ITV News produces several online video news and sport packages each day.
The company claimed that unique users to itv.com in October broke the eight million mark, and said 82 million online video views were recorded last month.
ITV executive chairman Michael Grade said: ‘Online video viewing has increased spectacularly in 2008. We’ve demonstrated our ability to meet that growing demand.
‘Now is the time to integrate our online video sites editorially with our broadcast business as mass-market channels in their own right.”
In its trading update, ITV said revenues from broadcasting fell five per cent year on year in the nine months to the end of September, down from £1.26bn to £1.2bn.
Overall group revenues dipped slightly, from £1.48bn to £1.47bn.
The broadcaster said it was on course to make £40m in cost savings at a regional level from the restructuring of its local news operations.
‘In tough economic conditions, operationally we continue to perform strongly,’Grade added. ‘Trading conditions across ITV are likely to remain challenging in 2009.”
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