ITV Hub hits 30m registered users as Love Island charms viewers
ITV today announced that its on-demand streaming service ITV Hub has more than 30m registered users as Love Island and the Rugby World Cup helped to attract new viewers.
The figure, which is up from 26m at this time last year, means the broadcaster has beaten its previous target of hitting 30m users by 2021.
Read more: Analysts upgrade ITV and JCDecaux as Brexit advertising campaign kicks off
ITV said its viewing figures were boosted by the continued popularity of hit dating show Love Island, which helped to attract an additional 3.2m registered users in June alone.
The company has also enjoyed popularity for live streaming, with 20m requests so far for the Rugby World Cup. Viewing hit its peak during the England vs Australia match this weekend, which prompted 1.5m requests.
“The Hub is a key part of our ‘more than TV’ strategy and it’s a testament to our investment in technology and programming that we’ve hit our target registered users so far in advance,” said Steve Forde, ITV’s director of digital products.
“The attraction for viewers of being able to watch the most talked about programmes, including Love Island, the Rugby World Cup, dramas such as Deep Water, A Confession and the soaps, whenever, wherever and however they want is clear.”
It comes ahead of the launch of Britbox, a streaming venture jointly owned by ITV and the BBC.
Read more: ITV used Facebook to find Jeremy Kyle Show contestants
ITV will be hoping its online offerings can help to counteract a decline in advertising revenue for traditional TV, with the firm’s ad revenue slipping five per cent in the first half of the year.
Last month analysts at Liberum upgraded ITV, saying the broadcaster was likely to be a main beneficiary of the government’s £100m Brexit advertising campaign.
Main image credit: Getty