ITV shared results for the first half of 2026, which were described as "solid" but not very exciting.They saw a 2% increase in revenue across their main areas that make money.The total money the company made stayed the same at £1.9 billion, which is about $2.5 billion.
This is the first time they've shared results since it was announced that ITV is selling their media and entertainment part to Sky, which is owned by Comcast.
ITV Studios, which is the part that makes TV shows, will become an independent company that is listed on the stock market.
ITV's adjusted EBITA, which is a measure of how much profit they made after paying for costs like interest, taxes, and amortization, stayed the same at £145 million.
That's a small increase of 2% from the previous year's £142 million. However, this is much lower than the £212 million reported in the first half of 2024.At that time, they said the success was because of the Euros soccer tournament. It seems the World Cup didn’t have the same impact.
One reason for the difference might be how the England soccer team performed in the two tournaments.
They made it to the finals in the Euros and kept the interest going.But in the World Cup, they were knocked out in the quarter finals, which led to less interest from viewers in the UK.
Still, ITV said their total advertising revenue went up by 8% compared to the previous year.
They attributed this to the World Cup, which brought in a lot of advertising and sponsorship deals.
ITV Studios didn't do as well.
Even though their revenue stayed about the same with a 2% increase, their EBITA dropped by 9% to £97 million from last year's £107 million.This is a big drop from the previous year as well.The company has some big projects like Love Island, Rivals for Disney+, and The Gentlemen for Netflix, but ITV said the reason for the lower EBITA was because some of those projects were delayed and only came in later in the year.
They also mentioned that in the first half of 2025, they had a lot of big projects sent to streaming platforms, like One Piece and The Better Sister.
Those big projects weren't repeated to the same level in the first half of 2026.
One of ITV's successes is their streaming platform, ITVX.
This platform is thought to be a big reason why Sky wants to buy ITV.ITVX continued to grow, with a 27% increase in viewership in the first half of the year.Their advertising revenue also went up by 13%, but it took a £20 million hit from new government rules that banned junk food ads, which came into effect in October 2025.ITV is working closely with advertisers to deal with the impact of these changes.
ITV also warned that advertising revenue could drop by 5% in the next quarter due to economic challenges.
This means that by the end of the nine months, their results will be flat.
Carolyn McCall, the CEO, said in a statement that ITV delivered a solid first half and is still on track to meet its full-year goals.
She mentioned that they have good revenue growth in ITV Studios and strong, profitable digital growth in Media & Entertainment.She also said that even though economic challenges remain, they are focused on making sure both parts of the business do well, and they have a solid plan for the second half of the year.
Shareholders also got a bonus with the announcement of an interim dividend of 1.7p and a £100 million share buyback.
McCall also confirmed that the process for the Sky/ITV acquisition is moving forward and that the culture minister will be watching it closely.
