ITV to launch streaming unit and cut London office space in restructuring plan
ITV is set to launch a new business division focused on streaming and reduce its London office space as part of a restructuring plan aimed at overhauling its business for the on-demand age.
The public service broadcaster will establish a new on-demand unit dedicated to ITV Hub and Britbox, its joint streaming service with the BBC.
ITV will also reduce its office space in the capital over the coming years in a bid to cut costs and respond to an increase in home working.
The company said the restructuring would “drive improvements in efficiency and reduce cost”, but declined to comment on how many jobs would be cut.
The new structure, which is set to be in place by March next year, marks ITV’s efforts to update its business model to reflect fierce competition from streaming rivals such as Netflix and Amazon.
An ITV insider told City PM the company was upping its focus on streaming as this was “obviously where the public are going”.
“We felt there was more we could do to change our structure to support that,” the source added.
While traditional linear programming remains ITV’s main source of revenue, the broadcaster said its on-demand unit will be the main area of growth.
ITV Hub, the company’s online streaming platform, now has 32m subscribers, while Britbox has grown rapidly since its UK launch in November last year.
“ITV will continue to broadcast shows which entertain millions of viewers,” said ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall.
“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 overhaul will see ITV establish a new media and entertainment division, which in turn will be split into a broadcast unit and an on-demand unit.
The company said these divisions would be “supported by leaner central support services”, allowing it to cut costs.
Kevin Lygo, currently ITV’s director of television, will head up the new media and entertainment division and continue to run the broadcast unit. Chief marketing officer Rufus Radcliffe will lead the on-demand unit.
As a result, ITV said it will now recruit for a new chief marketing officer, as well as a chief operating officer for media and entertainment.
The broadcaster, which has sites at Holborn, Gray’s Inn Road and Wood Lane, said no decisions had been taken about how it will reduce its office space.