ITV Sees ‘Solid’ Results in First Half of 2026, Reports $26 Million Loss Due to Fast Food Advertising Regulations

ITV has unveiled “solid” if underwhelming results for the first half of 2026, with a 2% uplift across its major profit centers. Total group revenue stayed steady at £1.9 billion ($2.5 billion).

These are the first results published since it was revealed ITV are selling their media and entertainment arm to Comcast-owned Sky. Production outfit ITV Studios will be spun off as an independent listed company.

ITV’s group adjusted EBITA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization) also held steady at £145 million, marginally up (by 2%) from £142 million in 2025.

That figure is still a significant drop from the £212 million reported in the first six months of 2024. At the time, ITV put this down to the Euros soccer tournament delivering a massive boost, but it doesn’t appear the World Cup has had a similar impact.

The disparity could be because of the variation in the England soccer team’s performance across the two tournaments: while they made it through to the finals of the Euros, sustaining and building interest throughout the tournament, the team were knocked out of the World Cup in the quarter finals, which led to a drop in viewing figures in the U.K.

Still, ITV said its total advertising revenue grew by 8% year-on-year, which they put down to the World Cup, saying it had attracted “strong advertising and sponsorship demand.”

The news at ITV Studios was less sunny, particularly given the company is set to be spun-off, making it an acquisition target. Total revenue again held steady with a 2% uplift but EBITA dropped by 9% to £97 million from last year’s £107 million (itself a 20% drop on the previous year). That’s despite a number of high-profile titles including “Love Island, “Rivals” for Disney+ and “The Gentlemen” for Netflix. ITV said the figure was due to the “phasing of deliveries,” a number of which were backloaded to the second half of the year.

But the media conglomerate admitted that the first half of 2025 saw a number of “large deliveries to streaming platforms” – including “One Piece” and “The Better Sister” – which were “not repeated to the same scale” in the first half of 2026.

One of ITV’s success stories is its streaming platform ITVX – believed to be the main driver of the Sky acquisition – which continued to deliver record viewing, growing by 27% in the first half the year. Advertising revenue also rose by 13% year-on-year although it took a £20 million ($26 million) hit from the introduction of the government’s regulations on junk food commercials, which were introduced in Oct. 2025. ITV said it is working “closely with advertisers to mitigate the impact.”

ITV also warned that advertising is like to drop by 5% in the next quarter, “reflecting the current macroeconomic headwinds” meaning that by the nine-months mark results will be flat.

“ITV delivered a solid H1 performance and we remain on track to deliver our full-year guidance, including good revenue growth in ITV Studios and strong, profitable digital revenue growth within Media & Entertainment,” said CEO Carolyn McCall in a statement. “Macro-economic headwinds remain, but we are focused on the performance of both businesses, with continued momentum, disciplined execution of our strategic priorities and a strong second half delivery schedule in ITV Studios.”

Meanwhile shareholders were granted a windfall with McCall announcing an interim dividend of 1.7p as well as a £100 million share buyback.

McCall also confirmed the regulatory process is underway on the Sky/ITV acquisition and the culture minister is expected to watch it closely.