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ITV has reported a 14% fall in annual pre-tax profits to £553m as advertising revenues declined by 3%.

The UK's biggest commercial broadcaster said it continued to rebalance and strengthen the business and blamed "wider political and economic uncertainty" for advertising falls.

George Salmon, a Hargreaves Lansdown analyst, said although the slowdown in advertising spending was likely to be a short-term trend given Brexit uncertainty, challenges remained for ITV.

"Longer-term viewing habits are clearly moving towards a more on-demand set up. This brings the group into competition with Amazon and Netflix, two pretty bruising rivals with deep pockets," he said.

"While continuing to provide entertaining content is obviously essential, building a slick online platform could be just as important."

Neil Wilson at ETX Capital said he expected the company to continue moving away from a reliance on advertising.

Source

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