ITV has announced plans to refocus the business, establishing a new media and entertainment division with two new business units – Broadcast and On-Demand.
According to ITV, the broadcast unit will continue to deliver its traditional content as seen on its linear channels. The on-demand unit will focus on content that appeals to audiences who already do most or all of their viewing on demand. The unit will include ITV Hub, Hub+ (the ad free version of the Hub), and BritBox.
The process of the restructure has begun and ITV said it expects to complete the process by the end of March 2021.
Kevin Lygo (currently ITV’s director of television) has been appointed MD of the Media and Entertainment Division and he will continue to run the Broadcast business unit. Rufus Radcliffe (currently ITV’s chief marketing officer) will head up On-Demand. As a result of this restructure ITV will be recruiting a new CMO as well as a new chief operations officer for Media and Entertainment. Both of these new roles will report to Kevin Lygo.
Speaking about the plans, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said, “Our new Media and Entertainment Division will enable ITV to continue to deliver mass, live audiences while investing in the future to create the sort of content and viewing experience that younger, and other harder to reach viewers want.
“ITV will continue to broadcast shows which entertain millions of viewers. Most are watched live and that fact together with the scale of these audiences will continue to offer unrivalled opportunities for brands to reach consumers. Linear channels will be around and be profitable for many years but we also need an On-Demand business which will increasingly be the focus of our new investments in content and technology and which will be our growth engine attracting younger and more targeted audiences to ITV.”
The broadcaster also revealed plans to reduce its London office space over the coming years, which is said reflects the changing needs of the business in the context of its digital transformation and the move towards more flexible working as well as taking cost out of the business. “At this stage no decision about exactly what this means for ITV’s current London offices has been made as the company assesses the sort of space needed to support the business in the future,” said ITV.