11th Nov 2026 11:38
(Alliance News) - ITV PLC on Wednesday said it was cutting costs by GBP30 million after reporting lower-than-forecast advertising sales in its third quarter.
Shares in the London-based television broadcaster and content producer were down 4.3% at 63.90 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
In a trading statement, ITV said group revenue was down 1.4% to GBP2.76 billion in the first nine months of 2026 from GBP2.80 billion a year prior.
Within this, Media & Entertainment revenue declined 1.4% to GBP1.43 billion from GBP1.45 billion, and ITV Studios revenue by 1.5% to GBP1.33 billion from GBP1.35 billion.
In M&E, 7% growth in digital revenue was offset by a decline in linear advertising. Digital advertising revenue grew 6% with continued momentum on ITVX, which delivered record viewing during the period. But total advertising revenue was down 1% year-on-year for the nine-month period, which ITV blamed on "macroeconomic uncertainty".
Third-quarter total advertising revenue was down 8%, below guidance provided in July for a 5% decline. For the nine months, total advertising revenue slipped 0.8% to GBP1.24 billion from GBP1.25 billion a year before.
At ITV Studios, internal revenue grew 4%, driven by the delivery of new and returning scripted and unscripted programmes for ITV M&E, which offset the revenue impact from previously announced scheduling changes to soaps and daytime production. External revenue declined 4%, reflecting the expected phasing of production deliveries and licensing deals, which are heavily weighted to the fourth quarter, ITV said.
ITV said it continues to expect ITV Studios to deliver good revenue growth over the full year, ahead of the market, driven by external revenue. As previously guided, it said, the earnings before interest, tax and amortisation margin will be at the lower end of the 13% to 15% range, reflecting the revenue mix in the year.
"Revenue, margin and profit are heavily weighted to Q4, reflecting the phasing of productions with a strong pipeline of deliveries," it added.
In M&E, ITV said it is on track for continued profitable digital revenue growth. But for the fourth quarter, it expects total advertising revenue to be down around 5% to 10% and down around 2% to 3% for 2026 as a whole when compared to 2025.
To align costs with advertiser demand, ITV has identified GBP30 million of additional temporary savings in M&E in the quarter, comprising GBP25 million of content savings and GBP5 million of discretionary non-content savings. The total content budget for 2026 is expected to be around GBP1.2 billion.
ITV back in July agreed to sell the M&E business to Sky, part of Comcast Corp, for up to GBP1.6 billion. On Wednesday, Sky said the sale is "progressing as planned" for completion in the second half of 2027. The disposal will leave ITV Studios as a stand-alone content business.
ITV Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said demand for advertising in the second half of 2026 has weakened.
"This is due to continuing broader macroeconomic uncertainty, increased digital advertising on global streaming platforms and the impact of Less Healthy Food regulations which came into effect on October 1," she explained.
The latter includes a ban on advertising identifiable less-healthy food and drink products on TV and on-demand programme services between 5:30 GMT and 21:00 GMT.
"We are taking decisive action, aligning our investment with advertiser demand to deliver additional temporary content and discretionary non-content cost savings in Q4," McCall said.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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