London — The World Cup and reality show Love Island boosted on-air and online performance at British broadcaster ITV as it reported an 8% rise in first-half revenue. CEO Carolyn McCall, who joined in January, said the commercially run ITV’s share of viewing rose 9% to a 10-year high and its studios production arm increased revenue and profits. Under the leadership of her predecessor, ITV reduced its reliance on advertising by buying production companies. Revenue from its studios, which make The Voice, rose 16% to £803m, about half of its total, it said on Wednesday. Overall revenue rose to £1.59bn. McCall said ITV had been right to shift focus and its next step would be in the subscription video-on-demand territory staked out by Netflix. She said ITV had seen a jump in demand for its ad-free ITV Hub+, driven by holiday makers in Europe who wanted to see World Cup games or Love Island, but it could go further. "We see an opportunity to create a subscriber video-on-demand service on t...
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