ITV to Cut £30m in Costs as Advertising Slides and Sky Deal Faces Probe

ITV plans to cut £30m in costs this year, the broadcaster announced on Wednesday, as it braces for advertising revenue to fall between 5% and 10% in the crucial final quarter — a period that normally includes the Christmas advertising surge.

The figures came alongside a wider warning: advertising sales across the full year are expected to drop between 2% and 3%. The company described the savings as "temporary", splitting them as £25m in content and £5m elsewhere in the business. Content cuts will fall mostly on small external commissions, which are being pushed into 2027.

What is behind the advertising decline?

ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall attributed the weakening demand to "continuing broader macroeconomic uncertainty" and "increased digital advertising on global streaming platforms". She also cited new rules introduced this year that imposed a 9pm watershed on television advertising for less healthy food.

Investors reacted quickly. ITV shares, listed on London's FTSE 250, dropped by as much as 5% in early trading on Wednesday. The company has lost roughly a fifth of its market value since the start of the year.

The pressure is structural as well as cyclical. ITV has struggled in recent years to compete with deep-pocketed rivals such as Netflix and YouTube, which have taken audiences and commercial revenue from traditional media. The pain is sector-wide: the BBC intends to shed as many as 2,000 jobs, and Channel 4 is planning layoffs. ITV indicated its proposed savings would not involve staff cuts.

What happens to the Sky sale?

McCall has argued that the £1.6bn sale of ITV's television and streaming business to Sky is the company's route to survival. That deal now faces regulatory scrutiny. Last week, culture secretary Lisa Nandy issued a public interest intervention notice, triggering investigations by Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Nandy raised concerns that the combined broadcasters would account for about 86% of linear news and current affairs viewing in Britain. She also flagged potential US political influence on editorial independence — Sky is owned by the US broadcaster Comcast.

ITV said on Wednesday the deal was "progressing as planned" and still expected to complete in the second half of 2027. That timetable now depends on two regulators whose findings have not been scheduled.

What does ITV keep after the sale?

The sale would leave ITV with its studios business, which produces shows for ITV itself and for other broadcasters and streamers. On Wednesday the company told investors that studios revenue was down 1% in the first nine months of the year. It also pointed to a stronger claim: ITV Studios made five of the UK's top 10 most-watched dramas in the third quarter of 2026, including The Gentlemen for Netflix and The Blame for ITV.

That production slate is the company's argument for life after the sale — though a 1% revenue decline shows it is not immune to the pressures hitting the rest of the business. Whether the studios division can carry ITV through a two-year regulatory wait, falling ad income and a shrinking commission pipeline is the question the next set of results will have to answer.