If Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson is sacked from the BBC for a fracas with his producer, as reports suggest, a beneficiary could be ITV according to City analysts.
Liberum believes Clarkson’s most likely destination if he leaves would be ITV, and even though the Top Gear name would be unlikely to go with him, this could still give a boost to the independent broadcaster. The broker said Clarkson would prove very attractive to advertisers:
Two ways [his arrival at ITV] would help if he can develop a Top Gear-style programme on ITV: (1) audience share with such a popular programme; (2) advertising - given the Top Gear demographic, it is likely to be relatively attractive to advertisers and (3) Worldwide sales - press reports suggested Top Gear earns £50m per annum for the BBC globally: while it is unclear on what would happen with the Top Gear brand, a Clarkson-fronted motor show is likely to replicate this success.
So far ITV’s shares are taking this speculation with a pinch of salt, up just 0.2p at 259.5p.
