U.K. TV giantITVreported first-half 2024 revenue on Thursday, including a slight drop in total revenue and a 10 percent improvement inadvertisingrevenue. The latter jumped 17 percent in the second quarter, driven by the UEFA Euro 2024 soccer tournament that took place in June and July.

ITV had previously forecast advertising revenue to be up around 12 percent in the second quarter and 8 percent for the first half.

ITV Studios saw revenue fall 13 percent in the first six months of 2024 though due to the phasing of deliveries and the expected impact of the U.S. writers and actors strike. But adjusted EBITAclimbed 5 percent to 136 million ($175 million). ITV, led by CEO Carolyn McCall, on Thursday also touted growth momentum at its streaming business ITVX, which is mostly advertising-supported but also has an ad-free subscription tier. ITVXs strong performance has continued in the first half, with total streaming hours up 15 percent and monthly active users up 17 percent, ITV said. Digital revenues grew 12 percent.

But the company also noted the impact of previously guided action to simplify the paid streaming proposition, including migrating the BritBox U.K. streaming service onto ITVX Premium. This has a short-term impact on subscriptions and subscription revenue, the firm said.

ITVs total external revenue for the first half of 2024 dropped 2 percent with total revenue down 3 percent to 1.90 billion ($2.45 billion). Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA), a key profitability metric, jumped 40 percent to 213 million ($275 million) though reflecting the operational gearing of Media Entertainment, the higher margin in ITV Studios and delivery of 23 million of cost savings.

Looking ahead, compared to the same period in 2023 which included the Rugby World Cup, total advertising revenue is expected to be broadly flat in the third quarter, with continued strong growth in digital advertising revenues, ITV said.

At ITV Studios, the full year 2024 is expected to deliver record profits driven by an increase in higher- margin catalog sales and continued action to drive efficiencies, the U.K. TV giant said on Thursday.As guided, revenue will be impacted by the 2023 U.S. writers and actors strike, which will delay around 80 million ($103 million) of revenue from 2024 to 2025, and lower demand from free-to-air broadcasters in Europe in the short term.

Previous guidance was for ITV Studios annual revenue to be broadly flat. Our view of the market has not changed but we now expect revenue to be down low single digits, due to a small number of key productions being contracted as executive productions rather than co-productions, ITV said on Thursday. The change in contractual arrangement has no impact on profit but does mean we recognize less revenue this year.

A small number of contracts remain under negotiation which may have a similar outturn of lower recognized revenue but the same profit if they are contracted as executive productions, the company also warned.

ITV has been transformed over the last five years and we continue to build upon this. We are confident of delivering increased adjusted EBITA this year, following the year of peak net investment in 2023, and are on track to deliver our 2026 key performance indicators targets, said McCall. ITV Studios is performing well despite the expected market backdrop and is forecast to deliver record adjusted EBITA over the full year as a result of its scale, its diversification by product, geography and customer, its outstanding creative output and the actions we are taking to drive efficiencies.

Asked about current ad trends, McCall said the market was very firm. The Euros were a bigger boost to June than July, which featured the semifinal and final with England, she explained.

ITV on Thursday also said it was on track to deliver its targeted efficiencies from cost-savings measures, including technical and other changes, as well as job reductions. McCall said on the call that she expects about 85 percent of headcount reductions to come from voluntary redundancies.

Asked about the U.K. public broadcaster BBCs decision to promote such U.S. series as Suits during the half-time break of Euro soccer games featuring England, ITVs director of television said, it does seem peculiar, but added that this was really a question for the BBC.