Advertising slump rocks STV as 'deteriorating' economic conditions push back TV projects
Shares in the Scottish media firm plunged by about a quarter yesterday following the update.
The firm said it was expecting full-year revenue and adjusted operating profit to be 'materially below' a consensus of analysts.
Nevertheless, it highlighted strong progress within its scripted labels with current projects including for Netflix, Apple, Sky and the BBC.
Rufus Radcliffe, STV's chief executive, said production had finished on 'key titles with international appeal, including high-end drama Amadeus for Sky and a third series of Blue Lights for BBC One'.
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BBC News
13 minutes ago
- BBC News
Tariffs: Trump says India might face up to 25% duties if deal not agreed
India could face tariffs as high as 25% if it fails to finalise a trade deal with the US this week, President Donald Trump has said. "Yeah, I think so," he told reporters on Tuesday when asked whether Delhi would face higher tariffs in the absence of an agreement. The US has set a 1 August deadline for India and several other countries to either reach a trade agreement or face increased and American officials have been negotiating a trade deal for the past few months, but officials have alternated between sounding optimistic and cautious about when it will be announced. When asked about what he expected from a potential deal with India, Trump said: "We're going to see. India has been a good friend, but India has charged basically more tariffs than almost any other country". "But now I'm in charge, and you just can't do that," he BBC has reached out to India's commerce ministry for a are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. The US president has repeatedly taken aim at India's high tariffs, branding it a "tariff king" and a "big abuser" of trade ties. Trump has not yet sent a letter to India setting a new tariff rate - as he has with more than a dozen other trading partners. Back in April, Trump had announced tariffs of up to 27% on Indian goods, which was later then, both sides have been racing to negotiate an agreement, with officials sometimes sounding positive and at other times, measured."We continue to speak with our Indian counterparts. We've always had very constructive discussions with them," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said earlier this also acknowledged that although he had earlier said a deal with India might be "imminent", it needed to be understood that Delhi's trade policy has been "protectionist for a very long time" and has been "premised on strongly protecting their domestic market". Greer added that Trump has been focused on securing deals that substantially open other markets to the and dairy are among the key sticking points for both years, Washington has pushed for greater access to India's farm sector, seeing it as a major untapped market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and the interests of millions of small week, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told CNBC that the agriculture sector is sensitive for India and that it will make sure that farmers' interests are "well protected". Goyal also told news agencies that India remains "optimistic" about striking a deal with Washington to Reuters, he said that India was making "fantastic progress" in talks with the US and that he hoped they were able to "conclude a very consequential partnership". Until recently, the US was India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $190bn in 2024. Trump and Modi have set a target to more than double this figure to $ has already reduced tariffs on a range of goods - including Bourbon whiskey and motorcycles - but the US continues to run a $45bn (£33bn) trade deficit with India, which Trump is keen to BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Daily Mirror
13 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
BBC Destination X stars given strict pooing rule amid bizarre scenes
Thirteen contestants go on the road trip of a lifetime across Europe in BBC's Destination X. But each of them had to abide by a strict rule on their tour bus along the way. Contestants in Destination X embark on an unforgettable bus journey - but producers of the new BBC show told them to abide by a strict rule. In Destination X, Rob Brydon whisks thirteen individuals across Europe and on a black-out bus, acting as both guide and gatekeeper in BBC One 's high-stakes new game show. 'In the first episode, there's a lot of 'we're a team, we're a team,'' he says, 'But give it time.' But it wasn't just emotional tension the production had to manage. Things got extremely tactical. 'No number twos on the bus,' producer Dan Adamson says. 'We had to create a system with a convoy behind the bus. We had a special car with a trailer that had a couple of portaloos on it. We had to find places to pull over, goggles had to go on and producers would chaperone them.' Even the food was disguised from start to finish. 'Everything had to be decanted out of any local containers,' Dan adds, 'We couldn't give them food that felt specific to the country.' And to scramble the clues even further, the team brought in three different pairs of twins. Logistically, the shoot was epic. 'We had a convoy of like 46, 47 vehicles around,' says Dan, 'It was a lot.' But the scale was part of the thrill. 'We had the opportunity to turn Europe into a board game,' Dan says. 'We take over whole castles, we run a train on the public network. We take over Cable Car systems. The scale just goes up and up.' Even downtime required precision - more particularly, camo netting and a lot of resourcefulness to create a small outdoor sanctuary. 'They could sit outside without knowing where they were,' Dan says, 'There was a whole team that made that happen.' A hybrid of The Traitors and Race Across the World, this adrenaline-charged format is based on Belgian hit, Bestemming X. The game is simple: contestants kick off their journey in Baden-Baden, Germany, where they board a coach with blacked-out windows that only clear for seconds at a time and a pair of goggles keeping them in the dark once outside. But they have no idea where they are going. Clues are dropped along the way and at every stop, the players must guess their exact location - or risk getting booted off the bus. Every decision could cost them the £100k prize. Rob's role was clear from the outset, but he still looked to The Traitors' Claudia Winkleman for inspiration. 'I love her lightness of touch, there,' he says. 'I didn't want to get in the way of the show. I wanted to be the bridge between the viewer and the contestants. They are the stars, their personalities really come out over the series.' One of Rob's biggest cheerleaders came from across the pond: The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who fronted the US version of Destination X. 'They shot theirs before we shot ours,' Rob says, 'He sent me a little message because a lot of our team worked on that. But I'm all about ours. I've loved seeing ours come together.' Though thrilled to front the show, Rob quickly discovered the job came with high-pressure challenges - namely, keeping secrets. 'When we are out and about on our travels, they are trying to keep players in the dark, so they aren't allowed to see anything,' he says. 'I remember once we were at a particular location and I knew that in a few days' time we would be at another location. I said to somebody in the production team: 'Oh I can't wait until we get to X' and then I suddenly realised one of the players was close. Luckily, they didn't hear me!' Still, he found subtler ways to communicate. 'There are often clues in what I'm wearing. Sometimes, it's region-appropriate with little flourishes,' he says. Each episode, contestants battle through brain-teasing challenges in pursuit of new clues, before bedding down in bunks aboard a night bus. While Rob wasn't crammed into the same tight quarters, he was never far. 'I did the journey, I wasn't on the bus or sleeping on a bunk,' he says, 'But I would follow them around and greet them at different locations.' It was only after filming that Rob got a full sense of the tension simmering behind the scenes. 'It's fascinating because I had no idea,' he says, 'As an actor, we are used to pretending to be something else. But you could see how uncomfortable that made them.' Despite not being around all the time, Rob still got the gossip. 'Sometimes I arrived the next morning, and we used to get a little printed out report of what had happened on the bus. It was like getting a really juicy newspaper each morning.' While players slowly adapted to the game's tricks and traps, things got personal as the prize loomed. 'Only one person can win the money,' Rob says. 'They started off as a team - but you can't win as a team. And it really takes some turns. There's some interesting behaviour as we get closer to the prize.' From mysterious journeys to the other side of Europe to secret alliances and toilet trailers - Destination X is one wild ride. And Rob Brydon is right in the middle of it.
Telegraph
13 minutes ago
- Telegraph
BBC risks exodus as older viewers flock to YouTube
The BBC is at risk of a fresh exodus of viewers as older audiences increasingly turn to YouTube over traditional television channels. The streaming giant accounted for 14pc of all viewing time in UK households last year, overtaking ITV for the first time to become the second most-watched service in Britain. It means YouTube is now closing in on the BBC, which remains Britain's most-watched service with a 19pc share of viewing time. ITV now holds a 12pc share, according to the findings published by Ofcom. The trend is being driven by younger audiences, with adults aged between 16 and 34 watching 18 minutes of YouTube a day on their television sets. One in five children aged between four and 15 head straight to the app as soon as they turn the TV on. But Ofcom found that the flood of viewers to YouTube is not confined to Gen Z, with over-55s nearly doubling the amount of YouTube content they watch on TVs to 11 minutes per day. While the most popular types of video vary greatly by age, adults are most likely to use YouTube for music or to watch 'how to' videos, such as recipes and DIY. YouTube's surging popularity among older Britons also comes amid the rapid growth of video podcasts, with shows such as The Rest is History racking up huge audiences for their filmed episodes. The radical shift in viewing habits presents a further threat to traditional broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, which are already grappling with competition posed by streaming platforms. The research found that YouTube now poses a direct threat to traditional TV viewing by older audiences, with 42pc of all viewing of the platform among over-55s taking place on a television set. Moreover, audiences are increasingly watching longer-form videos on YouTube that more closely resemble traditional programming. Half of the platform's top-trending videos last year were longer shows, including interviews and quiz shows. Ofcom found that the BBC's average weekly reach remained stable in 2024 following a 5pc decline the previous year. Higher demand for iPlayer, thanks largely to the Euro 2024 football tournament and Olympic Games, meant overall viewing of BBC videos even increased slightly last year. But overall, people spent 4pc less time watching broadcast TV in 2024 than the previous year, with average viewing time dropping to 2 hours 24 minutes a day. The growing threat from YouTube has prompted Ofcom to urge public service broadcasters to make more programming for the platform or risk fading into irrelevance among an entire generation of viewers. ITV and Channel 4 have already struck deals to put their programmes on YouTube and other streaming services, while Tim Davie, the BBC director general, has said the corporation will start making news programming specifically for streaming platforms and social media apps. One industry source accused Ofcom of conflating the content with the platform, arguing that broadcasters attracted large audiences on YouTube. However, figures released by the regulator last week showed that only about a fifth of the time Britons spend on YouTube is done so watching content made in the UK, while North America accounts for more than half. While Ofcom has encouraged broadcasters to strike commercial deals with YouTube, it also suggested that ministers could intervene to force the US company to boost British TV programming on the platform. 'Alien to younger viewers' Ed Leighton, Ofcom's interim head of strategy and research, said: 'Scheduled TV is increasingly alien to younger viewers, with YouTube the first port of call for many when they pick up the TV remote. But we're also seeing signs that older adults are turning to the platform as part of their daily media diet too. 'Public service broadcasters are recognising this shift – moving to meet audiences in the online spaces where they increasingly spend their time. But we need to see even more ambition in this respect to ensure that public service media that audiences value survives long into the future.' The continued relevance of the BBC to British audiences will be a key negotiating point in discussions with the Government over the future of the corporation's funding. Samir Shah, the BBC chairman, has said the corporation is looking at a potential overhaul of the licence fee model after a further 300,000 stopped paying the levy last year. A BBC spokesman said: 'We welcome Ofcom's recognition of the role of the BBC in bringing people together – with three of the most-viewed programmes of last year on the BBC. 'Despite ever-increasing competition, the report finds that reach of BBC channels across all age groups remained stable year-on-year, maintaining the BBC's role as the most-watched broadcaster or service. While BBC iPlayer was the UK's fastest-growing long-form video-on-demand service in 2024/25, we know that audience needs are rapidly changing, and so we continue to transform what we do on digital platforms. 'We remain focused on delivering value for all audiences and being the place where people come together for unforgettable moments.'
