ITV has announced the launch of ITVX which the broadcaster is calling the UK’s first integrated advertising and subscription funded (AVOD/SVOD) platform. ITV is replacing the ITV Hub online service with ITVX as it strategises to better serve the changing viewing habits of its audience.
The key features being used to promote ITVX are:
• Exclusive new series launching online every week, including Spy Among Friends featuring Guy Pearce
• The nation’s biggest events streamed live
• An ever-changing library of blockbuster movies
• Exclusive themed channels
• Thousands of box sets
• An upgrade option to a premium ad-free subscription tier, with access to partner content and BritBox – all in one place, in a UK first
ITV will now adopt a digital-first windowing strategy – premiering much of its new content first on ITVX and subsequently months later on ITV linear channels.
The changes at Britain’s biggest commercial TV channels follow on from how other TV broadcasters are grappling with the rise of streaming. There have been significant changes in strategy also recently at Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) and Nine.
Carolyn McCall, ITV’s chief executive said in a statement: “The digital acceleration we are announcing today builds on everything we have achieved in phase one of our More Than TV strategy. ITVX will be a free service supported by adverts, with a compelling subscription proposition. This is fantastic for viewers – it will provide a simplified and seamless experience with thousands of hours of free content made up of both library and original exclusive content. The subscription tier will provide a premium offering and includes all the content ad-free as well as BritBox and future SVOD content partners.
ITVX: A Spy Among Friends. Damian Lewis as Nicholas Elliott
ITVX: Shifting focus to digital-first
“We are supercharging our streaming business, fundamentally shifting our focus to think digital first, as well as optimising our broadcast channels, by continuing to attract unrivalled mass audiences. In doing so we are responding to changing viewing habits, but also the evolving needs from our advertisers. This will enable ITV to continue to be both commercial viewers and advertisers’ first choice.”
Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment added: “Viewing habits are changing rapidly and ITV has exciting plans which we are announcing today to really scale up our streaming ambitions, offering viewers a service with more fresh, free content dropping every week than anywhere else.
“Our broadcast channels are very important to what we do, and we are still focused on delivering what ITV does better than anyone in commercial TV – creating programs that bring audiences together – in-the-moment, in their millions, for that shared viewing, scheduled TV experience.
“However we know we have to deliver our programs to as many people as possible in all the ways they want to watch them, and going forward viewers will now see a wide array of shows premiering first on ITVX, which is the cornerstone of ITV’s digital acceleration.”
Rufus Radcliffe, ITV’s managing director of streaming, said: “2021 was a record year for ITV Hub and BritBox, giving us strong foundations from which to supercharge our streaming strategy. We are investing significantly in new and exclusive programmes which will be free to stream, and also in technology and product design to make the viewer experience and interface a premium one on ITVX.”
ITVX: Confessions of Frannie Langton
ITVX says it will be the first streaming service in the UK to offer viewers the flexibility to access free content with ads and ad-free paid subscription, all in one place.
As well as “streaming first” exclusives, all the drama and comedy ITV commissions will be made available to viewers in one go on ITVX, for free, as soon as the first episode has aired on ITV’s linear channels. The same will be true of most reality series.
Subscribers will also have access to BritBox which showcases the biggest streaming collection of UK series from BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and includes exclusives such as classic Doctor Who. BritBox has recently surpassed 733,000 subscribers.
Until the launch of ITVX later this year, ITV Hub will continue to be the free streaming home of ITV, with ongoing plans to scale up the amount of content on the service in the run-up to ITVX launch. ITV Hub currently has 4,000 hours of content while ITVX will have around 15,000 hours at launch.
The pricing of the subscription tier in ITVX will be announced later this year.
ITVX: The Sex Lives of College Girls
ITVX programming
A wealth of dramas will now stream first and for free on ITVX before arriving six to nine months later on ITV’s broadcast channel, including A Spy Among Friends, starring Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce, Nolly starring Helena Bonham Carter, Confessions of Frannie Langton starring Karla-Simone Spence, Sophie Cookson and Patrick Martins, Lenny Henry’s six-part drama The Little Birds and Litvinenko starring David Tennant with many more to be revealed.
New factual content will include The Case Against Cosby – a premium documentary exposing new truths about accusations against Bill Cosby with exclusive access to survivors, as well as a natural history series, A Year on Planet Earth.
ITVX will also be home to a wide selection of popular US series. In the first of a series of deals to be announced, ITV has concluded a wide ranging content deal with WarnerMedia International Television Distribution for programmes including UK premieres of The Sex Lives of College Girls and All American, as well as The OC, One Tree Hill and select series of The 100, Supernatural and Veronica Mars.