ITV has reported a 1% decline in total revenue for the first quarter to £875m, although the broadcaster added that this was in line with expectations.

A 3% revenue drop in the company’s media and entertainment division was partially offset by a 1% improvement in ITV Studios revenue, which grew to £386m in the three months to 31 March.

The group said that ITV Studios returned to growth in the quarter following the impact of the US strikes and added that it remains on course to achieve “good growth” in total revenues over the full year, weighted towards H2 as ITV has previously guided.

Despite declining revenue in its media and entertainment, ITV was confident about the performance of its ITVX streaming platform. The broadcaster said the platform’s “impressive” performance continued in Q1, with total streaming hours up 12%, and monthly active users continuing to grow in line with its expectations.

“Our Q1 performance was in line with our expectations, demonstrating the continued successful implementation of our strategic priorities,” said ITV chief executive, Carolyn McCall.

“We are continuing to make good progress in implementing our cost and efficiency programme and are on track to deliver significant non-content cost savings while optimising our content spend to best reflect viewer dynamics.”

However, ITV did also report that its total advertising revenue (TAR) was down 2% in Q1 as well as flat over the four-month period to the end of April.

The company is expecting TAR to be down by around 14% in Q2 and down by 8% across the first half of 2025, after this revenue stream had benefited from the men’s Euro 2024 football tournament in the comparative period last year.

McCall added: “While the macroeconomic environment is uncertain, we remain confident that our strategic initiatives, our focus on financial and cost discipline and our diversified revenue and customer base will enable us to successfully navigate an evolving market landscape and deliver long-term value to our shareholders.”

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