ITV has reported adjusted profit before tax of £235M ($364M) in the first six months of '12, up 15% from last year, according to Maisie McCabe of MEDIA WEEK. ITV's increase in revenue comes after its production arm "had a strong half year" and Euro 2012 helped net ad revenues grow 3%. Despite a strong first half, ITV's outlook "remains cautious" for the rest of the year. The broadcaster said that it expects its TV ad revenue to decline by 10% in July and 11% in August, and to be "between flat and down" 5% in September. ITV CEO Adam Crozier said that broadcasting the Euro 2012 football tournament helped ITV's figures. Crozier said, "Clearly, the brands that have been up year on year will have been aimed at male audiences again, as you might expect. A lot of our outperformance came in the last half of May and June [during the tournament]. Categories like cars and finance have been strong." Crozier dismissed the suggestion that ITV had not benefited from Olympic advertising, and he said that sponsors "started to promote their association with the Games on TV much earlier in the year." Crozier: "If you have been watching ITV you will have seen Olympic advertising running since February. Since March most of P&G’s advertising has been Olympic copy. It’s not as simple as looking at the Olympic period" (MEDIAWEEK.co.uk, 7/26).
