'Lack of innovation' highlighted as ITV profits fall

New ITV boss Michael Grade highlighted a “lack of innovation” in programming today after the broadcaster announced a sharp fall in annual profits.

Two months into his role as executive chairman, Mr Grade said he had developed more positive impressions than negative ones about ITV, adding that most of the problems were within the control of the company to remedy.

In annual results published today, ITV said net advertising revenues fell 8% during the year to £1.49bn (€2.2bn), with the figure for flagship channel ITV1 £181m (€266m) lower at £1.28bn (€1.9bn).

Strong growth from the broadcaster’s digital channels helped offset some of the weakness at ITV1.

Underlying earnings for the year were down to £375m (€552m) from £460 (€677m), with bottom-line pre-tax profits off by £23m (€33.8m) at £288m (€424m).