ITV Ad Revenue Hit By London Games, Suffers 6% Third Quarter Fall

ITV has "reported a 6% year-on-year fall in TV ad revenues in the third quarter of '12 as advertisers held back spend while viewers tuned into the BBC's London Olympics coverage," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. The commercial broadcaster "took a battering during the three months to the end of September thanks to the Games airing on the ad-free BBC." ITV's TV ad revenues "fell 10% year-on-year in July and 9% in August," but the network said a 1% fall in September means across the first nine months the broadcaster remains in "positive territory." With the "crucial, and tough, negotiating season for '13 TV advertising deals set to start, CEO Adam Crozier was keen to point out that ITV's decline has been due to one-off TV events this year." Crozier said, "This has been an extraordinary year for U.K. television with many unique events including the Queen's Jubilee, the London Olympics and the Paralympics" (GUARDIAN, 11/13).