ITV announce 'significant increase' in programming budget

ITV1 have set out their strategy to turn fortunes around and announced their biggest-ever yearly programme budget.
The broadcaster's network programme budget will be £836 million for 2003, the largest in their history. The budget is described by ITV1 as "a significant increase" on 2002’s final programme budget of £775 million.
Once the cost of the 2002 World Cup is taken into account, ITV1 say the budget for 2003 gives them an additional £100 million to spend on original programming next year. However, the increase is still some way short of BBC1, who will see their budget nudge past the landmark £1 billion mark this year.
Recently ITV1’s ratings have improved from their low in the summer, aided in no small part by the injection of an additional £25 million into the season’s commissioning budget.
David Liddiment, ITV Director of Channels, who leaves his post at the end of the year, said: “This significant increase in our programme budget signals the scale of our ambition for next year.”
However, the optimism this budget news will generate in the creative wing will be counter-balanced by the less than buoyant reports suggesting that advertisers are set to renegotiate contracts following ITV1's slip down the ratings.
It was reported on Sunday that the channel would see their viewing hiatus – most recently in Sarah Lancashire's Sunday night two-part thriller 'Rose and Maloney' which fared comparatively poorly compared to BBC1 and Channel 5 offerings – translated into a cool response from big-money advertisers.
B&Q's marketing director, David Roth, told The Independent on Sunday that: "ITV's audiences are declining and its rates are going up. That doesn't shout 'good value' to me. We are looking at what ITV can offer. We are deciding whether to take some of our money out of ITV and place it elsewhere.
"ITV had it so good for so long that they seem to have forgotten who it is that pays their bills."
However, a re-invigorated programme output could turn the tide and ITV1 have seen a return to strong peak-time performances, particularly with the success of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here' which has been sold on to ABC for £10 million.
ITV1 have moved to redress the slide, not only through bolstering programming but also through the pledge of £10 million for their off-air marketing budget for 2003 – over three times higher than for 2002. ITV1 have said that "they will undergo a fundamental re-branding, both on and off-air, later this autumn".
This, however, may not be fully realised while gaps in their management structure remain unplugged.
(GMcG)