Media agency Notorious warns ITV cuts are ‘double whammy’ for UK

Love Island is one of ITV’s biggest global entertainment formats

Media agency Notorious Communications has called UK commercial broadcaster ITV’s latest content spending cuts a “double whammy” for the country’s struggling TV market.

ITV yesterday revealed it plans to make £30m (US$40m) in “temporary” savings at its Media & Entertainment (M&E) business, including taking £25m out of the content budget and a further £5m elsewhere in the business. The total content budget for 2026 is expected to be £1.2bn.

The broadcaster said the move was intended to help it align costs with advertiser demand, as ad revenue continues to decline with viewers increasingly moving away from linear TV.

At M&E, the Love Island broadcaster forecasts continued profitable digital revenue growth but a 2-3% decline in total ad revenue year-on-year, with a 5-10% drop in the fourth quarter.

Nik Wheatley, co-founder of Notorious Communications, said: “A struggling TV market is bad news for everyone. So further cuts at ITV provide a double whammy – at a time when brands will already inevitably be finding themselves drawn towards low-pay, short-term ad options on other platforms and channels.”

Noting ITV’s upcoming sale of its M&E business to pay TV broadcaster Sky, Wheatley added: “We’re about to go through a fundamental change in the commercial TV market and Sky’s acquisition of ITV plays a major part in that.

“In that way, maybe it doesn’t matter what cuts [ITV CEO Carolyn] McCall makes, but unfortunately it reads as short-term decision making to calm shareholders at a time when the TV market needs leadership in the face of adversity.”

Dan Gee, co-founder and chief strategy officer at media agency MFM, called the move “another clear example of ad money flowing to digital platforms and underfunding of original creative work.”

He also said it shows the expansion of “US soft power” through consolidated media and entertainment ownership but pointed out that the cuts could provide an opportunity for advertisers who are new to TV “who can benefit from broadcasters making significant efforts to attract new business.”

Last year, ITV announced more than 220 job losses and changes to the scheduling and production of its daytime shows, with savings set to fund additional investment in genres such as drama, entertainment and reality. Shows like Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women are now produced by one team sharing resources and operations in Central London.

Meanwhile, McCall yesterday said Sky’s deal for its broadcast assets remains on course despite UK media regulator Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority’s review into the takeover.