ITV is bolstering its data-driven advertising proposition by bring together its specialists in market and media research, analytics and data science, as the broadcaster reveals plans to expand its ITVX streaming service.
The new ITV Insights Group will be led by former director of audiences Neil Mortensen, who becomes director of the team. Mortensen first joined the company in 2015, and, prior to that, was director of research and planning at Thinkbox.
The combined department will be tasked with generating audience-centric insights for teams across the business and responding to a greater demand for business intelligence and insight.
With the restructure, ITV is looking to increase the use of insights within its decision-making. By bringing together the data and research teams, it also hopes to boost its insight capabilities, with the aim of improving cross-platform audience understanding and advanced predictive analytics.
As part of the leadership team for the new division, director of data strategy Lara Izlan becomes director of insights, while director of data experimentation Mike Leverington has been appointed as director of insight capability. He is tasked with developing a ‘centre of excellence’ for all data, research and measurement which will power the Insights Group and ITV.
Head of audiences, strategy and channel performances Paul Craigen also takes up a new role as head of central insight.
The ITV Insights Group will report to chief marketing officer Jane Stiller, who said: “In creating the ITV Insights Group, we’re continuing to build on our strong data foundations with a rich tapestry of methodological expertise, spanning diverse disciplines and informed by the latest thinking in the field, to enable informed decision-making across ITV and shape the future of our business.”
The move comes as the broadcaster hails the first anniversary of its streaming service ITVX, which has more than 40 million registered users and has seen over 2.7 billion streams since launch.
Other highlights include the fact that streaming hours for men have increased by over 100 million this year, streaming across sport, drama and film has more than doubled while 88% of viewers who watch a premier go on to watch other content.
In the coming months, the broadcaster says there will be a raft of new commercial initiatives launching on ITVX, including a pause ad format, short form advertising packages, new distribution partners, and more sponsorship opportunities.
ITV managing director of streaming Rufus Radcliffe said: “As we approach the first year milestone of ITVX, it’s important to reflect on the runaway success of the service – and we’re just getting started. 2024 will see us focus on further increased distribution, even more and improved commercial opportunities, an abundance of regional news offerings and of course even more exclusive, fresh and exciting content for free.”
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