Meanwhile, production and sales arm ITV Studios’ total revenue was up 26% at £798 million compared to 2020’s £632 million, with most programs, including flagship show “Love Island,” back in production and also benefitting from a number of programs and licences being delivered earlier than expected. In its half-year earning report in late July, ITV revealed that it had grown external revenues by 27% in the half year ending June 30 to £1.54 billion ($2.14 billion), compared to COVID-impacted 2020’s £1.21 billion. It matters for all of us that it’s focused on Britain and British culture.” While Lygo did not address ITV’s interest directly, he did note that, “What’s important for Channel 4 is its remit, not who owns it. ITV is believed to be among the interested bidders for the network, alongside Sky, ViacomCBS and Discovery. Lygo also addressed the consultation around a potential privatization of its competitor, Channel 4. The broadcaster is still trying out a “range” of potential co-hosts to join Susanna Reid.
“I think it’s about making a lively intelligent alternative to the BBC, which I think most of the time is.” “I’m not sure we would ever get more views, that’s not the purpose of that,” said Lygo. The executive said it “wasn’t quite our aim to beat the. “Love Island” wrapped its fifth season on Monday, drawing 2.8 million viewers to ITV2. Including the 400,000 viewers who watched the episode on ITV Hub, the audience totalled 3.2 million viewers.Įlsewhere in the session, Lygo discussed Piers Morgan’s exit from “Good Morning Britain,” noting that the divisive presenter put a “magnificent spin” on the show. Lygo did, however, point out that gay couples and a blind contestant had featured on ITV winter competition show “Dancing on Ice” while a disabled participant was also featured in “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here” last year. It’s about boys and girls coupling up, so if you want to do it as a gay version or you want to widen it, it is discussed and we haven’t yet found a way that would make it suitable for that show.”
The executive also dug his heels in around the topic of inviting gay contestants on to “Love Island,” which has yet to be tackled on the popular show despite annual calls for their inclusion. “People do shout at other people, but as long as it’s not physically threatening and it’s not inflammatory, it’s okay, but for some people they might just go a step too far,” said Lygo. “With ‘Love Island,’ it’s very easy to take one episode and go, ‘Oh, that’s too much,’ but… it’s a longer term thing that we should be concerned about and, honestly, I think improvements across the board have been made.”Īsked whether the complaints reflect a growing aversion by audiences to conflict-centric television, Lygo said it’s an area “where you’ve got to take an editorial judgement.” “I’m not so worried about how many complaints as opposed to what are actually thinking about, have they got points and did we overstep the mark or did we not, whether it’s 10 people complaining or 10,000 people complaining,” he said. Lygo also swatted off the thousands of complaints that ITV shows such as “Britain’s Got Talent” and “Good Morning Britain” have received in the last year, noting that “every week there’s a new complaint about our shows.”