News
UK commercial broadcaster ITV has revealed an acceleration of its digital strategy which will see the launch in Q4 2022 of ITVX , which it says is the first integrated AVoD / SVoD platform in the UK .
“ The successful execution of the first phase of our More Than TV strategy puts us in a strong financial and creative position , from which to launch the next phase - ITV ’ s Digital Acceleration , to supercharge our streaming business ,” stated Carolyn McCall , ITV chief executive .
“ With the success of ITV Hub , ITV Hub +, Planet V and BritBox we see an exciting opportunity to at least double our digital revenues to £ 750 million by 2026 ,” said McCall . “ At its heart will be ITVX - the first integrated AVoD / SVoD streaming platform in the UK . It will be a seamless viewer experience with a digital first content and windowing strategy and significant content investment providing weekly premieres and over 15,000 hours of content at launch . This will enable ITV to double streaming viewing , double monthly active users , double subscribers and deliver valuable addressable advertising inventory at scale . “ We are confident that we will become a leader in UK streaming and an expanding global force in content .”
ITV ‘ digital-first ’ strategy
Full year figures from ITV reveal streaming viewing hours up 22 %, with monthly active users ( MAUs ) up 19 % to 9.6m . SVoD service BritBox UK continues to grow well , with around 733,000 subscriptions , up over 45 %
“ We are confident that we will become a leader in UK streaming and an expanding global force in content .” year on year . BritBox International is now in four countries and delivered strong growth with over 2.4m subscriptions , up over 50 %. It will launch in the Nordics in the first half of 2022 , with further roll out planned . By 2030 , ITV aims to have 10m to 12m international subscribers . AVoD service Hub + has around 513,000 subscribers , up 19 %.
Key to this is the launch ITVX in Q4 2022 . ITVX will be an AVoD-led platform , with a compelling SVoD offering ; provide a simplified and seamless consumer experience ; have an impressive content line up including weekly exclusive series , FAST channels , content partnerships and 15,000 hours of content at launch ; include a powerful upsell into SVoD , which will be ad-free and include BritBox ’ s 6,000 hours of British content and future premium content partnerships ; deliver valuable addressable audiences for advertisers at scale and ITV ’ s established data and analytics capabilities will drive highervalue data driven pricing models . “ We will continue to optimise our USP as the largest commercial PSB in the UK and grow linear addressable advertising ,” it says
In terms of outlook , ITV has a clear ambition and strategy to be a leading streamer in the UK and an expanding global force in content . “ The success of ITVX will be key to delivering our target of at least doubling digital revenues to £ 750 million and enabling us to double streaming viewing , double MAUs and double subscribers by 2026 ,” it states .
The City took a cautious view of ITVX , nervous of the additional costs and marked ITV shares down , despite its much improved advertising performance .
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Orange , MásMóvil confirm merger plan
Telcos Orange and MásMóvil
have confirmed they are
in exclusive discussions to
combine their businesses in
Spain
The merger would take
the form of a 50-50 Joint
Venture , without combining
operations . The agreement
between the parties includes
( i ) a right to trigger an IPO
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under certain conditions for both parties and ( ii ) a pathto-control right for Orange to consolidate the combined entity in the case of an IPO . Orange would neither be forced to exit nor to exercise these options .
The parties claim the Joint Venture would bring together the assets , capabilities and teams of the two companies building on highly complementary business models as well as an existing
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successful collaboration , to serve 7m fixed customers 19m mobile customers and close to 1.5m TV customers .
The Joint Venture would own network assets that provide it with a competitive edge in the market including :
• A state-of-the-art , nationwide FTTH network reaching over 16m homes ;
• A leading-edge mobile network with full national coverage , serving large volumes of traffic in the Spanish market . The combined entity would become a stronger market player with revenues of over € 7.5 billion , EBITDA over € 2.2 billion and would gain the necessary scale and efficiency to :
• undertake an ambitious and sustainable expansion of its FTTH and 5G networks and
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• contribute to Spain maintaining and further developing a competitive telecom infrastructure . With a comprehensive and complementary portfolio of brands , the Joint Venture would provide Spanish consumers and businesses with competitive and differentiated value propositions to serve the needs of all market segments , with high quality connectivity , an excellent customer experience and a comprehensive portfolio of innovative services in the challenging digital landscape .
This Joint Venture is expected to generate relevant synergies of € 450m from the third year post closing onwards . The transaction is expected to be signed by the second quarter of 2022 and should close by Q2 2023 .
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