ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall took a huge hit to her pay in 2020 after agreeing to reduce her remuneration at the height of the coronavirus crisis. Her earnings were revealed as ITV also disclosed that BAME representation on- and off-screen went in the wrong direction in 2020.
McCall took home a total pay packet of £1.1 million ($1.5M) last year, which was 64% down on her remuneration of £3.1M the year before. The decline was largely because she did not receive a bonus, which in 2019 stood at nearly £1.5M in cash and shares.
Her pay packet was the lowest an ITV CEO has received in a decade, according to the UK broadcaster’s annual report. It’s a far cry from the heady days of 2013, when McCall’s predecessor Adam Crozier pocketed £8.4M.
ITV announced last April that its board and senior management would take a 20% pay cut and forgo their 2020 bonuses in what was a difficult year for the company. ITV’s adjusted EBITA fell 21% to £573M in 2020, while revenue tumbled 16% to £3.3 billion.
Alongside the annual report, ITV published its Social Purpose Impact report, which showed that it marginally increased BAME representation among its UK workforce. Representation rose from 12.1% in 2019 to 12.9% last year, nudging closer to ITV’s 2022 target of 15%.
However, in a year when there was a global reckoning over racial equality, diversity in ITV’s content went into reverse. On-screen representation slid from 21.4% in 2019 to 17.6% last year, while off-screen it dropped 0.2 percentage points to 12.5%. ITV’s 2022 target is 15% in both areas.
This echoes an industry-wide report by the Creative Diversity Network last year, which found that diversity went into reverse in the British television industry.