Google 'to overtake TV in UK ad revenue'

Google is set to overtake British television channels as the largest recipient of advertising revenue, according to reports today.

Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4, told The Times that Google would earn about £900m (€1.3m) in revenues this year compared with £800m (€1.2bn) at the C4 group, and he warned that measures need to be taken to protect broadcasting.

The search engine generated £373m (€557m) in revenues in the fist six months of this year and is on track to generate £824m (€1.2bn) for the year.

“People need to wake up and realise that this is not just a cyclical issue - there is deep structural change, rather like global warming,” Mr Duncan told the paper.

“If we want to protect the fantastic legacy of UK broadcasting, we need to wake up to this sooner or later.”

Channel 4 is concerned it may not be able to generate enough money to invest in high-quality programming.

The UK's largest commercial broadcaster ITV has seen advertising revenues dwindle at its flagship channel

ITV1 – home to Coronation Street and Love Island – accounts for about 90% of the company’s total advertising revenues but in August the broadcaster said revenues at the channel fell 8% in the first six months of the year.

It warned that further falls were inevitable in the face of competition from the growing number of digital channels and the internet.