REG - ITV PLC - ITV plc Q1 Trading Update
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RNS Number : 2299E ITV PLC 14 May 2026
ITV plc Q1 Trading Update for the three months to 31 March 2026
Carolyn McCall, ITV Chief Executive, said:
"ITV maintained good momentum in the first quarter of 2026, delivering results
in line with market expectations.
"Our strategic priorities of expanding ITV Studios and supercharging our
digital Media & Entertainment business continue to deliver clear and
positive results. Total external revenue grew 1% with Studios and Digital
revenue growth more than offsetting the decline in linear advertising. Total
advertising revenue declined 1.5% in Q1, better than guidance. We expect TAR
to be up around 10% in Q2 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."
Q1 2026 Highlights: Financial performance as expected
Group total external revenue was up 1% and Group total revenue was flat year
on year.
ITV Studios delivered total revenue growth of 4%, driven by strong external
revenue growth up 8%, primarily reflecting the phasing of deliveries to
global streaming platforms, including Skyscraper Live for Netflix, Rivals S2
for Disney+, and Love Island US: Beyond the Villa S2 for Peacock. Internal
revenue declined by 7%, as expected, due to the lower volume of Soaps and
Daytime content following the previously announced strategic scheduling and
production changes.
Media & Entertainment (M&E) revenue was down 2% in Q1, with 12% growth
in digital revenue largely offsetting the decline in linear advertising
revenue. Digital advertising revenue grew 14%, supported by a
record-breaking start to the year for ITVX, with total streaming hours up 13%
-driven by content such as the drama Gone, Love Island: All Stars, and the Six
Nations Championship. M&E non-advertising revenues were down 8% as
expected.
Following our announcement in November 2025, we remain in active discussions
with Sky regarding a possible sale of the M&E business. We will update the
market in due course.
Outlook: On track for the full year with no change to guidance
ITV Studios: We expect to deliver good revenue growth over the full year,
ahead of the market, with a margin at the lower end of the 13% to 15% range,
reflecting the revenue mix in the year. Revenue, margin and profit will be
weighted to H2, reflecting the phasing of large, scripted deliveries and
high-margin licensing deals.
M&E: We expect to continue to deliver strong profitable digital revenue
growth, driven by ITVX and Planet V. Compared to the same period in 2025, we
expect ITV TAR to be up around 10% in Q2 2026, up around 4% in H1 2026 and a
strong July driven by the Men's Football World Cup.
Notes to editors
1. Unless otherwise stated, all financial and operating figures refer to
the three months ended 31 March 2026, with growth compared to the same period
in 2025.
2. Group financial performance
Revenue for three months to 31 March 2026 2025 Change Change
£m £m £m %
Media and Entertainment 477 489 (12) (2)
ITV Studios(1) 400 386 14 4
Total revenue 877 875 2 -
Internal revenue(2) (111) (119) 8 7
Total external revenue 766 756 10 1
Revenue for three months to 31 March 2026 2025 Change Change
£m £m £m %
Total advertising revenue(3) 416 423 (7) (2)
Non-advertising revenue 461 452 9 2
Internal revenue(2) (111) (119) 8 7
Total external revenue 766 756 10 1
1. Total ITV Studios revenue includes £12 million (2025: £11 million) of
intra-segment revenue derived from trading between Global Partnerships and ITV
Studios productions
2. Internal revenue originates mainly in the UK and includes trading between
ITV Studios and M&E, and Global Partnerships and ITV Studios productions
3. Total advertising revenue includes ITV Family net advertising revenue
(NAR), digital advertising and sponsorship
3. Key performance indicators
Three months to 31 March 2026 2025 Change
ITV Studios total organic revenue growth/(decline) 3% (1)% 4% pts
Total digital revenue £149m £133m 12%
Total streaming hours (hrs) 692m 614m 13%
Share of commercial viewing 31.8% 34.0% (2.2)% pts
Share of top 1,000 commercial broadcast TV programmes 90% 91% (1)% pt
● Our definition of total organic revenue excludes the impact of
any acquisitions made during the current or prior period and the year-on-year
movement in foreign exchange. In the three months to the end of March 2026,
the unfavourable translation impact of foreign exchange on total revenue was
£4 million.
● Total digital revenue includes digital advertising revenue and
subscription revenue, as well as linear addressable revenue, digital
sponsorship and partnership revenue, revenue from our competitions website ITV
Win, commission from STV for ITV selling their video-on demand inventory,
social media advertising revenue, and any other revenues from digital business
ventures which qualify under the definition. Given the nature of digital
revenue, it will evolve over time
● Total streaming hours measure the total number of hours viewers
spent watching ITV across all streaming platforms at a device level. This
figure includes both ad-funded and subscription streaming. Given the nature of
the market and our strategy to grow digital revenues, we will include viewing
hours from platforms and services where we serve ITV content, where we can
reliably and robustly measure and de-duplicate such hours. In Q1 2026,
streaming hours also include users accessing our IP-delivered content, for
which data is now available. It also includes an estimate for third-party
data, which will be updated once the final data is received. The prior year
figure has been restated to include both IP delivered hours and final
third-party data for the comparative period; it was previously reported as 507
million.
● Share of commercial viewing is the total viewing of audiences
over the period achieved by ITV's family of channels as a proportion of all
commercial broadcast TV viewing in the UK, from transmission and seven days
post transmission on catch-up. ITV Family includes ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITV
Quiz (previously ITVBe), and associated "HD" and "+1" channels.
● Share of top 1,000 commercial broadcast TV programmes includes
TV viewing from transmission and seven days post-transmission on catch-up, as
well as six weeks prior to the transmission window. It excludes programmes
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