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		</div><p>ITV has said demand for advertising plunged 42% in April as marketing spend ground to a halt amid the coronavirus crisis.</p>
<p>The broadcasting giant said it saw a “significant” hit to ad spend across most categories last month, with the slide in revenues far worse than the 10% tumble it had initially expected.</p>
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<p>It also confirmed ITV Studios has had to pause most of its productions due to lockdowns worldwide and the group has furloughed around 800 staff – 15% of its UK workforce – mostly within its production arm.</p>
<p>But the group is resuming production on some programmes, with Loose Women starting filming this week and the first of the new Isolation Stories dramas aired on ITV since Monday.</p>
<p>It has also resumed production in some international markets, announcing that filming will begin again on The Chase and The Voice in Australia and The Chase in Germany.</p>
<blockquote><p>We are now very focused on emerging from this crisis in a strong position</p></blockquote>
<p>ITV said it was finalising details with others in the industry on how to return to production and is in talks with the Government on the plans.</p>
<p>It is also planning a phased approach to office re-entry in consultation with external medical advisers for when the lockdown is eased.</p>
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<p>The group laid bare the scale of the sudden drop-off in ad spend, with April’s plunge in total ad revenues coming after they rose 8% in February and remained flat in March.</p>
<p>ITV said it cannot give any guidance for May or June, given the uncertainty of the coronavirus situation.</p>
<p>The group has launched plans to save around £60 million (€68.7m) this year to help offset the impact, with a further £30 million announced in its latest trading update.</p>
<p>Carolyn McCall, ITV chief executive, said: “ITV has taken swift and decisive action to manage and mitigate the impact of Covid-19 by focusing on our people and their safety, and by continuing to reduce costs.</p>
<p>“We are now very focused on emerging from this crisis in a strong position, continuing to offer advertisers effective marketing opportunities and making preparations to restart productions safely.”</p>
<p>Results for the first quarter to the end of March showed total external revenues fell 7% to £694 million, (€795m) while turnover in its production arm ITV Studios was down 11% at £342 million (€392m) as social distancing restrictions came into force.</p>
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<p>Total advertising for the four months to the end of April was down 9%.</p>
<p>But it said there have been some positives from the crisis as Britons have been forced to stay home amid the lockdown, with good growth in take-up of free trial starts and subscriptions for its BritBox streaming service tie-up with the BBC.</p>
<p>The group said it was also seeing good demand for ITV Studios’ library content of programmes internationally.</p>
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