Latest news with #CarolynMcCall
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
UK's ITV half-year comes in ahead on advertising beat, shares rise
British broadcaster ITV said its first-half performance beat forecasts, boosted by better-than-expected total advertising revenue, and strong content demand at its Studios business, pushing its shares higher. ITV is Britain's biggest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, with two divisions, Media and Entertainment, which includes its broadcast channels and streaming service ITVX, while Studios makes content such as 'The Devil's Hour' for Amazon Prime Video, and 'Run Away' for Netflix. Shares in ITV traded up 9% in early deals, hitting their highest for a year, after it said it was on track to meet targets, and had outperformed in a tough advertising market, given the comparison against the same period last year when the Men's Euros soccer tournament sent revenues soaring. "We've been able to mitigate a softer market," CEO Carolyn McCall told reporters on Thursday. ITV was also positive on the cost outlook, saying it had found an additional 15 million pounds ($20.4 million) of permanent non-content cost savings for this year, and added it would spend 1.23 billion pounds on content in total in 2025, lower than the 1.25 billion pounds previously guided. ITV has for some time been the subject of takeover speculation. In April, reports said it could sell its Studios business or merge it with a rival. "We won't comment on any of the speculation that has been going on for, I don't know, years," McCall said. "This whole sector, everyone talks to everyone, and everyone is talking to everyone. And you know that the board will keep all options under review." The group posted total advertising revenue (TAR) down 7% for the first six months, beating a consensus forecast for a fall of 8%. At ITV Studios, where profits will be weighted to the second half due to the timing of high-margin sales such as Rivals season 2 for Disney+, the company said its outlook was unchanged after revenues grew 3% in the first-half.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
AI is used to cast Love Island
Artificial intelligence has been used to help casting in Love Island, it has been revealed. Dame Carolyn McCall, ITV 's chief executive, has suggested that use of the technology will increase as it has helped 'productivity gains' in the television industry. Speaking as the company announced its half-year results, she said: 'We will use AI in any way we can to make what we do more efficient. 'And a great example of that for me from [ITV] Studios is they're using a tool where it's a smart editing assistance and it's about speed and quality. 'And they used it for Love Island and casting this year,' she added. The popular reality dating series, launched in 2015, sees around 100,000 applications from members of the public for every season. It follows a group of contestants – known as the Islanders – who have to try and find love in the villa while avoiding elimination. It has become a ratings juggernaut for ITV since its launch. A spokesman for the company later explained that generative AI does not make any Love Island casting decisions, but is used to edit hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels for members of the team to then watch. Dame Carolyn told members of the media that this 'productivity gain means that they can go and do other things, which is really, really good'. A spokesman for ITV added that AI 'simply assists with the editing of audition tapes during the casting period'. They explained: 'We get thousands and thousands of applications every year and we hold face to face auditions. 'When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels. 'It means that the casting team can then spend more time researching and finding more prospective Islanders.' 'Latest round of cost-cutting' Announcing its latest results on Thursday, ITV said it had stepped up cost-cutting plans again following a slump in half-year profits. The broadcaster said it was slashing costs by another £15 million, on top of £30 million previously announced, with spend on content being trimmed. The group flagged using technology among efforts to drive the latest round of cost-cutting. It comes a week after Netflix said it had used the controversial technology in the production of one of its TV shows for the first time. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's co-chief executive, said visual effects were created by generative AI, which produces videos and images based on human-inputted prompts, in one of its original series titled The Eternaut. It was used to create a scene of a building collapsing in the Argentine science-fiction show. Mr Sarandos explained the technology had allowed the show's production to finish the scenes at a lower cost and 10 times faster than if they had used traditional special effects tools. The use of generative AI remains controversial in the entertainment world, however, with politicians and creatives fighting to protect artists' copyright amid concerns that AI will create content using others' work without their consent.
South Wales Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
AI used to aid Love Island casting process, ITV boss says
Speaking as ITV announced its half-year results, Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster uses AI in many ways. 'We will use AI in any way we can to make what we do more efficient,' she told members of the media. 'And a great example of that for me from (ITV) Studios is they're using a tool where it's a smart editing assistance and it's about speed and quality. 'And they used it for Love Island and casting this year. 'So that productivity gain means that they can go and do other things, which is really, really good.' Love Island has been a huge ratings hit for ITV since its launch in 2015, with each series receiving around 100,000 applications from members of the public. A spokeswoman for ITV later explained that generative AI does not make any decisions during the Love Island casting process, but is used to edit hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels for members of the team to then watch. 'It simply assists with the editing of audition tapes during the casting period,' she said. 'We get thousands and thousands of applications every year and we hold face to face auditions. 'When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software (Quickture along with an Adobe editing programme) to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels. 'It means that the casting team can then spend more time researching and finding more prospective Islanders.' Announcing its latest results on Thursday, ITV said it had stepped up cost-cutting plans again following a slump in half-year profits. The broadcaster said it was slashing costs by another £15 million, on top of £30 million previously announced, with spend on content being trimmed. The group flagged using technology among efforts to drive the latest round of cost-cutting.
Leader Live
6 days ago
- Business
- Leader Live
AI used to aid Love Island casting process, ITV boss says
Speaking as ITV announced its half-year results, Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster uses AI in many ways. 'We will use AI in any way we can to make what we do more efficient,' she told members of the media. 'And a great example of that for me from (ITV) Studios is they're using a tool where it's a smart editing assistance and it's about speed and quality. 'And they used it for Love Island and casting this year. 'So that productivity gain means that they can go and do other things, which is really, really good.' Love Island has been a huge ratings hit for ITV since its launch in 2015, with each series receiving around 100,000 applications from members of the public. A spokeswoman for ITV later explained that generative AI does not make any decisions during the Love Island casting process, but is used to edit hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels for members of the team to then watch. 'It simply assists with the editing of audition tapes during the casting period,' she said. 'We get thousands and thousands of applications every year and we hold face to face auditions. 'When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software (Quickture along with an Adobe editing programme) to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels. 'It means that the casting team can then spend more time researching and finding more prospective Islanders.' Announcing its latest results on Thursday, ITV said it had stepped up cost-cutting plans again following a slump in half-year profits. The broadcaster said it was slashing costs by another £15 million, on top of £30 million previously announced, with spend on content being trimmed. The group flagged using technology among efforts to drive the latest round of cost-cutting.
Rhyl Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- Rhyl Journal
AI used to aid Love Island casting process, ITV boss says
Speaking as ITV announced its half-year results, Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster uses AI in many ways. 'We will use AI in any way we can to make what we do more efficient,' she told members of the media. 'And a great example of that for me from (ITV) Studios is they're using a tool where it's a smart editing assistance and it's about speed and quality. 'And they used it for Love Island and casting this year. 'So that productivity gain means that they can go and do other things, which is really, really good.' Love Island has been a huge ratings hit for ITV since its launch in 2015, with each series receiving around 100,000 applications from members of the public. A spokeswoman for ITV later explained that generative AI does not make any decisions during the Love Island casting process, but is used to edit hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels for members of the team to then watch. 'It simply assists with the editing of audition tapes during the casting period,' she said. 'We get thousands and thousands of applications every year and we hold face to face auditions. 'When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software (Quickture along with an Adobe editing programme) to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels. 'It means that the casting team can then spend more time researching and finding more prospective Islanders.' Announcing its latest results on Thursday, ITV said it had stepped up cost-cutting plans again following a slump in half-year profits. The broadcaster said it was slashing costs by another £15 million, on top of £30 million previously announced, with spend on content being trimmed. The group flagged using technology among efforts to drive the latest round of cost-cutting.
