Advertisers have to share some blame for ITV's poor performance, Charles Allen said yesterday as the UK broadcaster's outgoing chief executive predicted a further 14 per cent fall in net advertising revenues for the three months to September.

The forecast confirmed the weakness across the UK advertising market which had accelerated Mr Allen's departure, announced on Tuesday.

But Mr Allen also made it clear that ITV felt advertisers had not met their side of the bargain.

"The model didn't work [in recent months], in the sense that we need to partner with advertisers and say, if we invest in programming, you'll invest [in advertising]," he said.

Referring to the fact that its World Cup football broadcasts failed to bring in the expected boost to revenues, he added: "With the World Cup, we invested exactly what they said they wanted but the clients weren't investing."

Mr Allen blamed "weakness in the advertising market over this summer" and the Contract Rights Renewal formula agreed with regulators at the company's creation, which has weighed on its advertising revenues as its share of ratings has fallen.

The expected third-quarter fall in advertising would lead to an 8 per cent drop in net advertising revenue for the nine months to September, ITV predicted.

Mr Allen did not give a full-year forecast, saying there was "still very limited visibility".

Mr Allen said the interim results showed ITV's strategy for developing beyond the core ITV1 channel was working. Revenues from outside ITV1 grew 25 per cent to £423 million (€627 million), helping offset an 8 per cent decline in ITV1's net advertising revenues to £654 million. A £17 million exceptional gain on the sale of non-core businesses lifted pre-tax profits by 12 per cent, from £154 million to £173 million, as revenues advanced from £1.05 billion to £1.08 billion - (Financial Times)