ITV’s coverage of England’s World Cup quarter final victory over Norway attracted a peak audience of 18m, underlining the sports advertising value included in Sky’s proposed acquisition of the broadcaster’s media business.
The audience was the largest recorded by any UK television channel or streaming platform this year and the biggest since the Euro 2024 final. ITV also reached 25m television viewers across a day that included World Cup football, rugby and horseracing.
The figures were released one week after ITV agreed to sell its media and entertainment division to Sky for up to £1.6bn. The transaction includes ITV’s free to air channels and the ITVX streaming platform, but excludes ITV Studios, and remains subject to regulatory approval. Completion is expected during the second half of 2027.
For betting operators, the proposed combination would bring together mass free-to-air audiences, subscription sport and advertising funded streaming within one media group.
ITVX recorded 468m streams and 21m users during June, its strongest month to date, with live World Cup football providing much of the growth. Sixteen of the platform’s 20 largest live streaming audiences of 2026 came from tournament matches.
The performance shows why free-to-air sport remains important to sportsbook acquisition. Major tournaments reach casual and occasional bettors beyond the audiences available through subscription sports services, while streaming provides greater scope for targeting, frequency control and campaign measurement.
A combined Sky and ITV could therefore offer betting brands advertising across linear television, connected television, streaming and premium sports programming. It could also concentrate a larger share of valuable sports inventory within one commercial group, strengthening Sky’s position in negotiations with operators and advertising agencies.
The transaction would not give Sky ownership of a betting operator. Sky Bet is owned by Flutter Entertainment, leaving the relevance of the deal centred on media distribution, audience data and advertising rather than direct integration between broadcasting and gambling.
