When Michael Grade announced this week that ITV would increase its online revenues fivefold by 2012, the broadcaster's executive chairman provided both an aggressive growth target and a reminder that, in revenue terms, programming over the internet would remain a niche business for some time.

The £150m ITV hopes to be making online within five years is equivalent to just 7 per cent of its revenues last year. Of that, much will come from Friends Reunited, ITV's social network, rather than from the new ITV.com.