ITV tops expectations in 2025 as talks for unit sale to Sky continue

ITV PLC on Thursday said it performed ahead of market expectations last year, while talks over a possible sale of its Media & Entertainment to Comcast Corp-owned Sky continue.

The television broadcaster and content producer reported pretax profit of £338 million for 2025, down 35% from £521 million. Revenue declined 0.5% to £4.12 billion from £4.14 billion.

Total advertising revenue fell 5.3% to £1.72 billion from £1.82 billion. ITV noted its guidance was for a 6% fall.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation declined 1.5% to £534 million from £542 million, an outcome which analysts at Panmure Liberum noted beat consensus of £518 million.

‘ITV delivered a good performance in 2025, ahead of current market expectations and against a challenging market backdrop. With a strong digital platform, we have successfully capitalised on growth opportunities, delivered resilient profits and generated good levels of cash,’ Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said.

‘Our results demonstrate the scale of our transformation as we continue to successfully execute our More Than TV strategy. As part of the strategy, in 2022 we set intentionally ambitious targets and have been adapting as necessary in a rapidly evolving media and entertainment market. These targets are helping us transform ITV - creating a much more entrepreneurial, ambitious culture. Our strategy is yielding clear results, generating strong outcomes across both ITV Studios and M&E.’

ITV’s M&E arm includes the ITVX streaming service and its television channels. The London-based company’s ITV Studios division produces content. ITV Studios revenue rose 4.5% last year to £2.13 billion. M&E revenue was down 5.3% to £1.99 billion.

ITV proposed a 3.3 pence per share final dividend, in line with a year prior. Its total dividend was maintained at 5.0p per share.

Looking ahead, it said: ‘ITV Studios is on track for another year of good growth in total revenue in 2026, ahead of the market, driven by external revenue.’

At ITV Studios, it expects an adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation margin at the lower end of a 13% to 15% range for 2026, compared to 13.9% in 2025. The 2025 margin outcome weakened from 14.7% in 2024.

‘Revenue, margin and profit will be weighted to H2, due to the phasing of scripted deliveries and timing of high-margin licensing deals,’ it added on ITV Studios.

‘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. We will continue to expand our non-advertising digital revenues, building on our progress to date.’

For the first quarter, it expects total advertising revenue to be down 2% on-year, ‘which is better than we expected’, it explained.

‘As is normal, advertisers are holding back budgets in order to spend in Q2 and Q3 around the expanded Men’s Football World Cup. 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,’ ITV said. ‘As part of the continuing cost-saving programme, we will deliver a further £20 million of additional permanent non-content cost savings in 2026 as we continue to create a leaner business. We expect our total content spend to be around £1.225 billion in 2026, as we continue to optimise our content spend to best reflect viewer dynamics.’

ITV said it remains ‘in discussions with Sky regarding a possible sale of the M&E business’.

‘There can be no certainty as to whether a transaction will take place and an update will be made in due course,’ it added.

In November, it confirmed it was in the early stages of talks to sell the division to Sky, in a deal worth £1.6 billion.

ITV’s announcement back in November followed a Financial Times report which stated that Comcast was in talks to buy the unit. Philadelphia-based Comcast sees the potential to combine ITV’s TV business with Sky, which the US group bought in 2018, to create a leading streaming service in the UK, FT sources said.

ITV shares traded 3.5% higher at 80.40p each in London on Thursday morning.

Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.