ITV has paid its chief executive the most it has done in a decade after profit more than doubled in 2024.
Carolyn McCall took home a pay packet worth almost £4.1m for the FTSE 250 group’s latest financial year, up from the £3m she received for 2023.
The latest total is the highest an ITV chief executive has received since Adam Crozier took home more than £4.8m in 2014, according to its annual report.
The remuneration boost comes after ITV’s pre-tax profit jumped from £193m to £531m in 2024 despite its revenue falling by three per cent to £4.2bn.
The group’s bottom line felt the positive impact of ITV Studios’ hits such as Mr Bates vs The Post Office, the Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals and Fool Me Once.
Its ITV Studios division delivered a five per cent rise in earnings, to £299m, despite facing challenges from the US writers’ and actors’ strikes softening demand from broadcasters.
ITVX also continued its strong momentum, with digital viewing up 12 per cent, and digital ad revenue up 15 per cent.
ITV’s share price started 2024 at 62.9p and ended the year at 72.6p after experiencing a sharp rise in March and a significant drop in November.
Writing in the annual report, remuneration chair Sharmila Nebhrajani said: “This has been a challenging year given the tough market context, but one in which significant progress has been made in reshaping the business for the future.
“ITV has continued to strengthen its organisational capabilities whilst retaining its creative edge as it transitions to be ‘More than TV’.
“We continue to drive our ambition to evolve ITV into a more agile, digitally led media and entertainment business.”
She added: “Although the remuneration for each executive director has increased, a significant proportion is delivered as shares with a deferred release, the eventual value reflecting future ITV performance.
“The overall bonus outcome for the executive directors was 93 per cent of maximum, with one-third of the bonus award deferred into shares for three years, releasing in 2028.
“This represents a higher outturn than the 56 per cent achieved by both directors for 2023, primarily reflecting the outstanding financial performance against the challenging set of targets set at the outset of the year.”