ITV is cutting £25 million from its content budget, a move that will result in more repeat programmes over Christmas as the broadcaster grapples with weakening advertising revenues. The cuts will push new, smaller shows into next year, forcing ITV to air repeats of daytime quiz shows in their place. Major programmes including I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which returned to ITV on Monday, along with the broadcaster's soap operas Coronation Street and Emmerdale and rugby coverage will not be affected by the reductions.
The content cuts come as ITV faces a sharp decline in advertising income. Analysts said ad revenues are set to fall as much as 10 per cent in the current fourth quarter. ITV reported that group-wide revenues in the nine months to the end of September fell 1 per cent to £2.76 billion, with both its media and entertainment division and ITV Studios each declining 1 per cent during that period.
The move underscores why ITV agreed to sell its media and entertainment division to Sky for £1.6 billion, according to analysts. Duncan Ferris at Freetrade said the ad revenue deterioration was greater than previously warned, with weakness over the summer helping explain why ITV wanted to offload its television channels to reduce exposure to the weak television advertising market. Dan Coatsworth at AJ Bell noted that both the broadcaster's television and studios arms suffered from a decline in sales.
The proposed Sky takeover was thrown into doubt last week when Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy ordered investigations by regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority. ITV chief McCall described the regulatory intervention as an expected milestone, saying the company continues to expect the deal to complete in the second half of 2027. Once the takeover completes, ITV will concentrate on its Studios arm, which produced five of the UK's top ten most-watched dramas in summer, including shows for Netflix, the BBC and ITV.
For viewers and businesses relying on ITV advertising, the budget cuts mean less original programming on the channel and potentially fewer opportunities to reach audiences through new content.