ITV shares dented by weakness in US media stocks

Shares in broadcaster ITV fell sharply on read-across from US peers, after Viacom, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox suffered heavy losses on Thursday.

Viacom tumbled on Thursday after its third-quarter earnings fell short of consensus expectations, hit by lower advertising revenue from its US cable TV business. Walt Disney dropped for a second day after its chief executive Robert Iger noted subscriber losses at ESPN late on Tuesday, while 21st Century Fox fell as the fourth-quarter revenue it reported on Wednesday missed expectations as losses in entertainment offset gains in sports advertising.

Atif Latif, director of trading Guardian Stockbrokers, said there were concerns that consumer trends are starting to slowly shift away from historical TV-based revenue streams as more people use the internet for viewing as opposed to TV.

“The earnings cycle has arguably topped out for the moment in the space and we see scope for some downward revisions to earnings per share estimates,” he said.

However, Latif said that UK names look better placed than their US counterparts as upcoming sporting events and advertising revenue models still look manageable.

At 10:12, ITV shares were down 4.3% at 260.30p.