Media growth could boost ITV

A bullish analyst report from Goldman Sachs about the UK’s media industry has seen ITV’s shares hit a 12-month high.

The media sector report upgrades Goldman Sachs’ forecast for TV ad revenue growth to 10% year-on-year. It said the UK TV ad market is recovering better than expected and that ITV showed “the most positive surprises”.

It noted: “The free TV companies may face some long-term structural threat from online, although we believe this will remain unclear for two to three years. In the meantime, some companies, particularly ITV, should see benefits from the end of multichannel fragmentation, competitor issues and regulatory changes.”

Goldman Sachs expects the TV ad market to be up more than 20% year-on-year in the second quarter.