U.K. TV giant ITV, led by CEO Carolyn McCall, provided a first-quarter 2026 trading update early in the morning.
“Following our announcement in November 2025, we remain in active discussions with Sky regarding a possible sale of the M&E business,” the company also said. “We will update the market in due course.”
Total ITV Studios revenue rose 4 percent in the first quarter, while media & entertainment (M&E) revenue fell 2 percent, with total advertising revenue (TAR) down 1.5 percent.
In its guidance earlier this year, ITV had said ITV Studios was “on track for another year of good growth in total revenue in 2026, ahead of the market, driven by external revenue.” But it also highlighted that revenue, margins and profits would be “weighted to the second half [of the year], due to the phasing of scripted deliveries and timing of high-margin licensing deals.”
On Thursday, the firm highlighted that the first-quarter gain was “driven by strong external revenue growth up 8 percent, primarily reflecting the phasing of deliveries to global streaming platforms, including Skyscraper Live for Netflix, Rivals season 2 for Disney+, and Love Island U.S.: Beyond the Villa season 2 for Peacock. Internal revenue declined by 7 percent, as expected, due to the lower volume of soaps and daytime content following the previously announced strategic scheduling and production changes.”
It had also said about ad trends: “First-quarter TAR is forecast to be down around 2 percent, which is better than we expected. As is normal, advertisers are holding back budgets in order to spend in the second and third quarters around the expanded Men’s [soccer] World Cup. We are showing 19 more matches than in 2022, and with more matches at peak time. We are confident that the football will deliver a strong advertising performance.”
In its Thursday ad outlook, ITV noted: “We expect TAR to be up around 10 percent in the second quarter and a strong July, driven by significant demand from advertisers around the men’s football World Cup. While we are monitoring the ongoing difficult geopolitical environment, we are focused on what we can control and remain on track to deliver our full year guidance of good revenue growth in ITV Studios and strong profitable digital revenue growth in M&E.”
Said McCall: “Our strategic priorities of expanding ITV Studios and supercharging our digital Media & Entertainment business continue to deliver clear and positive results.”
