ITV Bosses Plimsoll and Ben Stephenson Discuss Their Deal: “Tick the Box on Genre and Geography”

ITV bosses referred to the Plimsoll Productions and Ben Stephenson deals as “genre and geography highlights,” detailing how the upcoming ITVX broadcaster will appeal to a wider audience.

In recent weeks, ITV Studios has made major deals to acquire a majority stake. an enemy planet Y small world It was produced by Plimsoll for £103m ($126m) and created a transatlantic talent label in the production department for Stevenson, former Bad Robot executive and BBC drama controller.

Speaking to the media after ITV’s semi-annual results were announced, CEO Carolyn McCall said the landmark pair of deals “checked a box in genre and geography” and allowed the production/distribution team to move into a new field, natural history and natural history. It helps to create high-level script hours and work more regularly with US streaming platforms.

He praised Plimsoll for “a rare asset in the manufacturing world, doing something specific and doing it cleverly”.

McCall added that the deal pair, one with the acquisition of a company with “its own very strong infrastructure” and the creation of an individual label, show “two very different lines of our strategy.”

In the broadcast, McCall expressed concerns that problems with Netflix and others will affect ITV Studios’ ability to create content for them, noting that there are “many great shows”.

ITV Studios aims to double its share of total SvoD revenue in the next four years, and today’s semi-annual report showed progress with revenue growing between 3% and 19%. The number of hours he wrote has almost doubled compared to the same period last year. Results showed a slight 3% decrease in EBITA, but revenue rose 9% to £1.9 billion ($2.3 billion).

McCall and head of content Kevin Ligo talked about the upcoming ITVX streamer gearing up for its Q4 launch, which will see its exclusive premiere months ago.

Lygo says this strategy “will be exciting for producers because more people will watch their shows.”

Their program will be on the air for a year,” he said. “We can premiere something on ITVX and six months later we can put it on a channel where it’s being watched by a different audience, and we can give ITVX another twist. We believe it is a complete and virtuous cycle.”

Targeting 15,000 hours of content for ITVX, the network signed a deal with CBS Reality and Anime LTD earlier this week for 400 hours of animated and true crime content.

Lygo also wondered if ITV would consider complaints to the regulator. love island But he said the series would only be “reviewed” after it ended on Monday, noting its regular overnight viewing figures of 5 million. Complaints have subsided so far last year.

“This year is the best we’ve had in years,” said Ligo. We should always look for ways to improve what we’re doing, but I’m happy with the work so far.”