[Spencer]

Easy to dismiss the importance now of the Channel 3 licence but at the very least it's probably covering its cost in the free promotion ITVX gets from it. Also think we've seen with Mr Bayes vS The Post Office this week how linear can still drive a conversation in perhaps a way streaming can't.

I agree to an extent. But I actually think the impact of the linear broadcast of Mr Bates has been amplified by all episodes being available straight away on ITVX.

It meant a lot of people were saying how good the whole mini-series was before all episodes had gone out on ITV1, which certainly influenced my decision to watch it.

I think this simultaneous approach is more powerful in terms of drawing in viewers than releasing something on ITVX and then months later putting it on ITV1.

I think it’s a good example of when linear and steaming can complement each other well.