Over the last two years, ITV has been working to embed AI across its production workflows, the UK broadcaster said on its full-year earnings call this morning, in order to help reduce production costs at ITV Studios.
Total Studios costs fell by 5 percent YoY in 2025, with content costs and non-content costs down by 5 and 6 percent, respectively. ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said AI is now integrated across R&D, pre-production, post-production, production planning and marketing, in order to deliver both efficiency gains and productivity gains. McCall said this strategy was helping to offset rising production costs, while also increasing the number of shows the studio division can produce.
“We are leveraging AI to deliver content more effectively and efficiently, for example using it for subtitling, content selection and curation,” said McCall.
Chris Kennedy, Group COO and CFO at ITV, added that the technology was boosting productivity as “the same number of people can do more” using AI tools. Meanwhile on the efficiency side, AI is reportedly helping the business in its long-term cost-saving programme. “We’ve taken out a huge amount of cost over the last six years,” he said. “We’ll continue to do that. It’s a multi-year programme, and within that AI will obviously help with the next leg of that programme.”
Targeting sports
Overall revenues were up 5 percent across the full year, with 5 percent growth in the Studios business offsetting a 5 percent decline in ad revenues. But digital ad revenues were up 12 percent, and now make up 31 percent of total ad revenues, as ITV seeks to ease its reliance on the declining linear TV market. Two-thirds of the company’s total revenue now comes from Studios and the digital business, which McCall called “a key strategic target” for the commercial broadcaster.
But linear TV remains an important part of ITV’s strategy due to its sports line-up still attracting large audiences. McCall said its total sports viewership in 2025 was 46.2 million people, which the broadcaster expects to exceed this year thanks to the upcoming FIFA World Cup and the new rugby Nations Championship. “It’s an unprecedented year for sport for us,” said McCall.
And while ITV expects another 2 percent fall in ad revenues for the current quarter, the company forecasts the World Cup and the rugby to boost ad revenue from Q2 onwards.
The commercial division has also been developing new ad products with advertisers to enable targeted advertising in live TV, according to ITV. At the end of 2025, 30 percent of its linear inventory was capable of running targeted ads, and ITV aims to increase this to 50 percent by the end of this year. But Kennedy noted that ITV would not run targeted ads in the World Cup, “because that is the only place an advertiser can get the huge audiences that we attract.”
Emphasis on outcomes
But the execs were also asked about the risk of advertisers deprioritising TV, in growing cases where agencies provide clients with AI platforms that enable them to instantly buy across Google and Meta. Kennedy responded that the company has worked to demonstrate the value of TV to advertisers, which should translate into ad investment. “If those models are rational, TV should benefit, because we have the highest ROI of any media,” he said.
However, this has not necessarily been the case over the last few years, as TV revenues have declined despite plenty of evidence for its long-term benefits. But ITV is aiming to meet the renewed focus on shorter-term results and outcomes measurement in order to prove the channel’s effectiveness. The broadcaster is working with Channel 4 and Sky on Lantern, an outcomes measurement initiative for TV advertising, as well as Universal Ads, a self-serve ad platform designed to bring new brands to TV.
“We’re removing barriers to entry for TV advertising, simplifying the buying process, and leveraging AI to produce cost-effective advertising,” said McCall.
The CEO added that the ads business would also benefit from ITV’s distribution strategy, which includes partnerships with YouTube, TikTok and Disney+. “Our strategy is to be in as many places as possible on the right commercial terms, which then allows us to benefit from their reach and our inventory,” she said. The move to distribute content on YouTube is working to reach younger audiences, according to the broadcaster, with over 40 percent of ITV’s YouTube viewing coming from under-35s.
Yet the future of ITV remains uncertain, as the broadcaster is still in talks with Sky over the sale of its M&E business. The deal was referenced only once at the top of the call, when McCall said that negotiations were ongoing. “We are actively engaged with Sky, and we will provide an update to you when we can.”
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