ITV CEO Carolyn McCall discusses the launch of ITV’s new streaming service ITVX, where it fits into her vision to digitally transform the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, and what’s next for ad-funded television as Netflix and Disney+ enter the arena.We discussed who came up with the name ITVX, why they’ve decided to go for a model where a lot of the new shows and films they’re commissioning will go out on streaming first and traditional broadcast TV second—which is of course the opposite of what broadcasters currently do—and what will be different for consumers and advertisers.In a candid interview, McCall acknowledged that perhaps ITV’s existing streaming service ITV Hub has been guilty of having too high of an ad load and the new ITVX, which will launch just before the World Cup kicks off, will mitigate load by having more content.McCall was also bullish about the prospect of Netflix launching a cheaper option with advertising soon, suggesting that joining BARB’s measurement platform in the UK might not be enough to satisfy advertisers and their media agencies.She even responded quite positively towards the end when The Media Leader suggested that the UK’s biggest broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Sky could actually make TV ad buying easier by collaborating and having some sort of joint sales offer.This interview was recorded at The Future of Media, Mediatel’s flagship conference, in London on 13 October.
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