U.K. TV giantITVon Thursday reported record earnings for its ITV Studios production unit and a 2 percent advertising revenue increase for the full year 2024,compared with 2023.

ITV, led by CEO Carolyn McCall, said its total external revenue in the latest full year fell, while adjusted profit before tax for the year rose.

The company previously forecast that advertising revenue would be down around 6-7 percent in the fourth quarter and to end 2024 up around 2.5 percent amid continued strong growth in digital advertising revenues. Total revenue at its production arm ITV Studios dropped by 6 percent in 2024. The studio arms adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) hit a record of 299 million though, up 5 percent from the previous record of 286 million set a year earlier.

For the third quarter, ITV had previously reported a 20 percent revenue drop for ITV Studios, saying it was impacted by the phasing of deliveries and the 2023 U.S. writers and actors strike.

Early in 2024, ITV unveiled a strategic restructuring and efficiency program to reshape the cost base, enhance profitability, and support the growth drivers of Studios and streaming. By the end of 2024 we expect the program to have delivered incremental annualized gross savings of at least 50 million ($64 million) per year, giving a 30 million ($38 million) a year gross benefit in 2024, McCall said at the time. The ongoing program is designed to deliver further material incremental savings over a number of years.

In November, ITV provided an update on its cost reduction initiatives, unveiling it would reach an additional 20 million ($26 million) of net cost savings in 2024, 10 million ($13 million) of which is a reduction in content costs and 10 million ($13 million) of which is the early delivery of non-content savings (originally) planned for 2025. That and overall trends continue to give us the confidence that we will deliver an increase in group profit this year, the firm said.

Three years ago we announced the second phase of our More than TV strategy and todays results show our significant progress and success in navigating the rapidly changing media industry, McCall said. ITV Studios has delivered record profits this year, despite the one-off impact of the writers and actors strike and a softer demand from free-to-air broadcasters, which reflects the strength, scale, diversification and creativity of ITV Studios production companies across the world.

She added: ITVX has been the UKs fastest growing streaming platform over the last two years and coupled with our programmatic advertising platform, Planet V, has delivered significant growth in both digital viewing and revenues and is providing attractive returns. Our efficiency program has delivered savings which have funded growth investments, offset inflation and improved our margins. The programme is ongoing and will continue to be viewer led driving efficiencies and prioritising our investment to best reflect viewer dynamics and attract both mass reach audiences on linear and targetable audiences on ITVX.

Concluded the CEO: Our significant competitive advantages give us confidence that we will continue to deliver good growth in both ITV Studios and digital revenues, underpinned by the powerful reach and strong cash generation of broadcast.