STV has seen its total advertising revenue fall by 10% year-on-year in the six months to 30 June.

The Scottish broadcaster said the 17% drop in revenue in its second half was impacted by the "strong men’s Euro 2024 driven performance".

The firm added that in its STV Studios division, there had been "significant commission market deterioration" in late H1 and early H2 as the UK macroeconomic drop has worsened.

Despite these results, STV said that since the announcement of its FastFwd to 2030 strategy in May, the progress of key deliverables was underway.

Chief executive officer at STV Group, Rufus Radcliffe, said: "The deteriorating macroeconomic backdrop continues to lower business confidence impacting both markets in which we operate.

"We're making good progress in combining and streamlining our broadcast and digital businesses into a new audience division, and launch plans for the creation of our radio station are going well, with key appointments made and infrastructure plans forging ahead.”

Looking ahead, STV said that as a result of a further deterioration in the commissioning and advertising markets towards the end of H1 and into H2, its revenue and operating profit are expected to be "materially below consensus".

It has also identified £750,000 in incremental cost savings for the full year, bringing its total savings target to £2.5m.

Radcliffe concluded: "We are proactively responding to market conditions through a combination of investing in targeted future growth initiatives aligned with our long-term strategy and identifying efficiency and cost saving opportunities across the business.

"There continues to be strong long-term growth potential within our business despite the short-term challenges, and we remain laser focused on delivering on the strategic plan we outlined earlier this year."

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