A clear sign that, for ITV (LSE: ITV), now online is all about telly, online revenue head Gary Cole is leaving in the broadcaster’s new round of 600 redundancies. As Media Week reports, Cole joined from Telegraph Media Group in October 2007 to expand online-specific sales on ITV.com and Friends Reunited.
Last year, ITV set itself the ambitious target of making £150 million per year from online by 2010 – a target it postponed to 2012 as the economy worsened and last week scrapped altogether, following the blocking of Kangaroo, as it announced it would try to sell Friends and Scoot and shut ITV Local. Media Week says ITV, which began integrating online and TV operations in November, will now merge sales facilities for the two – suggesting its web ads focus will be on video ads that may be native to TV. The report quotes an unnamed source: “ITV is now moving towards using its airtime deals as leverage to make online deals. The two will move closer together, especially as it focuses just on ITV.com.”