ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall sounds the alarm over advertising downturn

ITV’s boss has warned that the broadcaster could be ‘dragged down’ for the rest of the year because of the ongoing advertising slump.

Dame Carolyn McCall has previously said the company was suffering the worst ad performance since the financial crisis – but has now suggested this situation could be getting even worse.

Like many other media outlets, ITV has been battered as firms cut back advertising spending in the face of economic turmoil.

Agencies such as S4 Capital – run by media veteran Sir Martin Sorrell – have recently said these cuts were especially strong across the tech industry, which has been trying to keep a tight lid on costs.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Royal Television Society in Cambridge yesterday, McCall said: ‘It’s proving to be quite a hard second half. 

Advertising revenue will be a drag for us so all our results will be dragged down. The UK economy is not doing very well.’ 

The ITV boss, who headed budget airline Easyjet until 2017, also took aim at the Government for a lack of policies to help boost the industry. 

‘The thing that the Government can do for the creative economy is to start growing the economy,’ she said. 

‘They talk about growth all the time but where are the initiatives to properly grow the economy?’

The 62-year-old businesswoman said it ‘feels like it’s a waiting game – everyone knows there will be an election’.

In the face of ongoing economic uncertainty, ITV’s studios business has become a particular area of growth.

Earlier this year the group considered buying up All3Media, the production business behind Gogglebox and Call The Midwife owned by Warner Bros Discovery and Liberty Global.

Although ITV pulled out of talks in July, the boss of Liberty Mike Fries, who was speaking at the same conference this week, said that an auction of All3Media had now begun and that ITV was still interested.

ITV shares have slumped over 10 per cent in the past six months. They rose 2.4 per cent, or 1.76p, to 74.3p yesterday.