ITV has reported flat total revenue growth in 2025 to £4.1bn, as 10% growth in digital revenues and 5% growth in ITV Studios revenues were offset by declines in its linear advertising business.
The broadcaster’s full-year 2025 financial report states that total advertising revenue fell 5% year on year to £1.7bn, and it is predicting a “better than expected” further 2% decline in ad revenues in 2026.
Notably, ITV’s external revenues grew 1% year-on-year to £3.5bn, suggesting a growing business despite the drag from its advertising business.
“As is normal, advertisers are holding back budgets in order to spend in Q2 and Q3 around the expanded Men’s Football World Cup,” the financial statement reads. “We are showing 19 more matches than in 2022, and with more matches at peak time. We are confident that the football will deliver a strong advertising performance.”
Adjusted Ebitda, the group’s measure of profit, declined 1% year on year in 2025, thanks in large part to “tight cost management” which was able to offset last year’s decline in ad revenue.
The broadcaster registered £63m in “permanent non-content cost savings” in 2025 and expects to deliver a further £20m in such cost savings in 2026 as it creates a “leaner business”. Since the start of 2019, ITV has reduced its costs by £253m.
Will M&E go into M&A?
All eyes remain on ITV’s Media & Entertainment (M&E) business, which includes streaming service ITVX, after the broadcaster confirmed last November it had entered into “preliminary discussions” to sell the segment to Comcast’s Sky.
ITV said it remains “in discussions with Sky regarding a possible sale of the M&E business” but that “there can be no certainty as to whether a transaction will take place”. An update, the broadcaster shared, “will be made in due course”.
For 2025, M&E registered a 5% year-on-year decline in total revenue, driven by a 5% decline in total ad revenue.
There were green shoots in its streaming model, however: ITVX viewing grew 16% year on year and broke its own streaming records in January (383m streams) and February (377m streams) this year. Digital ad revenues have grown in line with audience growth on the platform (+12% year-on-year).
“We expect M&E to continue to generate strong, profitable digital advertising revenue growth driven by the success of ITVX, which has already recouped its entire investment, four years earlier than expected,” the financial report reads.
The broadcaster further signalled it would look to expand its non-advertising digital revenues, which fell 5% in 2025 to £268m.
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