More adverts are coming to ITVX, and people aren't going to be happy about it

a screenshot of itvx with exclusive show a spy among friends on-screen with a big x brand in the background

ITVX is a few days from its first anniversary, with the broadcaster revealing some key statistics from the past year and plans for the next, including a new placement for advertisements on the streamer

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Aaron Brown

By Aaron Brown


Published: 05/12/2023

- 15:31

As the first anniversary of ITV's rebooted streamer approaches, it has revealed new plans for 2024

  • ITVX officially replaced ITV Hub on December 8, 2022
  • In the last year, it's gained 40m registered users and 1bn streaming hours
  • A new type of advert will begin to appear next year

ITVX is only as few days away from celebrating its first anniversary. To mark this milestone, ITV's Managing Director of Streaming Rufus Radcliffe revealed some impressive statistics for the new streamer and announced plans to introduce more advertising for viewers.

Yes, given the number of complaints from ITVX viewers already circulating on X, formerly Twitter, about the number of advertisements packed into the free-to-watch streaming service, the change is unlikely to go down well with a good portion of its 40 million registered users.

The new adverts will be shown whenever you pause the episode or film you're currently watching. All4, the catch-up service from Channel 4, uses a similar concept.

It's less intrusive than an ad break that you can't skip since the advert will vanish whenever you resume watching. But for those who have become accustomed to an ad-free experience once they've passed the defined ad breaks and started watching their favourite show on ITVX ...it could be a disruptive change.

And it's unlikely to go down well with viewers who have already flooded social media to complain about the current level of advertising.

Yes, there is a barrage of comments from ITVX viewers tuning in to watch some of the biggest exclusive broadcasts on the platform (Rugby World Cup, Big Brother, Love Island, I'm A Celebrity ...Get Me Out Of Here!, and Coronation Street) who cannot stand the number of adverts already baked into the service.

There's no release window for the so-called "pause advert" yet, but ITV exec Rufus Radcliffe said it would arrive sometime next year. ITV already offers a paid-for subscription, called ITVX Premium, that costs £5.99 per month or £59.99 annually.

This removes advertisements from shows and films on the service and enables a few extra features, like the ability to download content to watch offline. It also unlocks exclusive content from BritBox, which is no longer available as a standalone streamer.

ITVX soft-launched on November 17, 2022 but officially replaced ITV Hub on December 8, 2022. In the year since its launch, ITV says that one billion streaming hours have been clocked up on the service – an all-time record for ITV, beating even the best efforts of ITV Hub.

The latest series of I'm A Celebrity ...Get Me Out Of Here, which stars Nigel Farage, was streamed over 20.5 million times on ITVX within the first week of its return, which represents a 17% increase on the same period for the hit reality show last year.

ITVX will also be the exclusive home of the Oscars award ceremony, starting next year. The platform offers live and on-demand content.

New films coming to the platform this month include The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men, Wes Anderson’s take on Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Jackie Chan action-comedy The Tuxedo, romantic comedy Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman, Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts, and Almost Famous starring Kate Hudson. Rounding out the list of new arrivals for December are 80s thriller Fatal Attraction, starring Glenn Close and 90s cult-classic Pulp Fiction with Samual L. Jackson.

Kickstarting the new year, ITV has already shared a list of the blockbusters coming to ITVX. In January 2024, you'll be able to watch action thriller trilogy The Expendables starring Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham and more, and Watchmen (2009), the superhero satire starring Malin Åkerman and Billy Crudup.

The award-winning Monster’s Ball, starring Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton will also be available to stream, as will The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, and cult drama Indecent Proposal starring Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson. Musical fans will also find a lot to love as Chicago starring Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Flashdance with Jennifer Beals hit the streamer.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Even if you reach for the remote and switch off ITVX, you can expect to see more adverts during your favourite shows. The move towards adverts can be seen across the industry at the moment.

Amazon is expected to bring adverts to its Prime Video streaming service, which costs £5.99 per month as a standalone service and is bundled as one of the perks with a Prime membership for £7.99 per month, in the coming months. The US retailer already operates a separate streamer, called Freevee, that only offers free ad-supported streaming. Fellow Netflix competitor Disney+ recently introduced a more affordable advert-supported tier for subscribers looking to cut costs.

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