ITV's update on Thursday (2 March) will be the first time the broadcaster has commented on its new streaming service ITVX since announcing a 55% increase in the number of hours watched across its platforms between December and January.
“The performance of ITVX in terms of viewing and capturing advertising spend will […] be an area of keen investor scrutiny,” broker Shore Capital explained, following previous warnings from the FTSE 250-listed broadcaster that revenue streams might be hit this year.
Shore Cap added ITV’s strong share price performance, up 13% this year, suggests investors believe the group, which predicted advertising spend to be down 1-1.5%, was being “overly bearish”.
The bank reiterated its ‘buy’ rating for ITV and predicted revenues to hit £3.6bn on Thursday, alongside pre-tax earnings of £780mln and earnings per share of 13.1p.