ITV to cut £30M as advertising weakens

ITV plans to cut £30M ($40M) from its networks division after advertisers spent less, the UK broadcaster said in its third-quarter trading update.

Most of that money will come from programmes. Of the £30M, £25M will come from content savings, meaning the shows ITV makes, buys and schedules. The other £5M will come from discretionary non-content spending, the costs the company can choose to trim without touching programmes. ITV's total content budget for 2026 is expected to be around £1.2B, according to Deadline.

The cuts follow a sharp slowdown in advertising. ITV forecasts that total advertising revenue, the money brands pay to run commercials, will fall 5% to 10% in the fourth quarter of 2026, the three months from October to December. For the full year, it expects a drop of 2% to 3%.

Chief executive Carolyn McCall blamed three things. She pointed to macroeconomic uncertainty, meaning doubt about the wider economy that makes companies cautious about spending. She also cited more digital advertising on global streaming platforms. The third was the Less Healthy Food regulations, which restrict advertising of high-fat, high-sugar food and took effect on 1 October 2025.

Not every part of the business shrank. ITV reported total revenue of £2.7B for the first nine months of the year, almost flat on the same period in 2025. Its Media & Entertainment arm, which includes the main channels and ITVX, its streaming service, was virtually flat at £1.4B. ITV Studios, the production arm that makes programmes for ITV and other broadcasters, posted stable revenue of around £1.3B.

Viewing on ITVX rose. Streaming hours rose 29% to more than 2 billion minutes viewed. ITV also guided that ITV Studios' EBITA margin, a profit measure that counts earnings before interest, tax and amortisation as a share of revenue, will sit at the lower end of its 13% to 15% range.

There is also a bigger question hanging over the company. Sky is pursuing a £1.6B acquisition of ITV, meaning a takeover. ITV continues to expect the deal to complete in the second half of 2027.

For viewers, the decision that matters most is the £25M in content savings. Every pound taken from programmes is a pound not spent on a drama, a comedy or a factual series. ITV has not said which shows or projects are affected.