At the top of Kennedy’s agenda this year is the autumn launch of BBC collaboration Britbox.

The UK-based Netflix rival confirmed in February that it will offer a streaming service, including original series and boxsets, to British audiences.

Kennedy says: “We need to take advantage of our customer’s willingness to engage in our content and ITV and to be able to generate revenue directly from consumers is very advantageous.

“The way people want to consume content is obviously changing and we need to be part of that.”

Speaking to IBC365 during the Northern Waves TV technology conference, he points to a connection between popular technology trends and its successful adoption to an integrated aspect of ITV’s business strategy.

He adds: “We need to make sure we are maximising the revenue from the various streams.

“Linear is obviously very important but we need to be able to take advantage of our creative strengths and the commercial position we have to make sure we are making the most out of it.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are currently being researched and developed within Kennedy’s team along with how they can be harnessed within workflows.

Kennedy says: “It has been interesting and we haven’t quite got to a point where we can practically introduce something into the workflow but I am sure it is an area which is constantly improving.”

Innovate and collaborate
Kennedy highlights opportunities in the role of data to inform decisions around audience interest and subsequently direct the broadcaster in the right direction to collaborate.

“Within our own organisation we need to break down some of those internal silos, external to ITV is us, understanding how we can mutually benefit from what we are trying to achieve and Britbox is a good example of two different broadcasters coming together to do that.”

On the collaboration between OTT and linear schedules, Kennedy says “we are in a good position,” however noted more work needed to be done. 

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