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Media's AI Pivot
22OCT

ITV AI ads draw 16 TV newcomers

1 min read
16:20UTC

ITV's generative AI advertising service brought 16 advertisers to television for the first time in its debut year, The Media Leader reported.

IndustryDeveloping
Key takeaway

ITV's AI ad service brought 16 first-time television advertisers in its debut year.

ITV's generative AI advertising service drew 16 advertisers new to television in its first year, The Media Leader reported on 9 October⁠1. "New to TV" means none of the 16 had bought television advertising before. Separately, in July Sky signed to buy ITV's broadcast and streaming arm.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

ITV is the UK's biggest commercial TV channel, paid for mainly by adverts. Making a TV advert usually costs a lot, because firms hire an agency and a film crew. ITV built a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help smaller businesses make their own TV adverts. In its first year, 16 businesses that had never advertised on TV before used it, according to the trade website The Media Leader.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Television advertising has traditionally needed an agency and a production budget before a brand could buy airtime. A tool that makes the advert inside ITV's own platform removes the first barrier for small firms, which is the market the 16 newcomers come from.

The service sits inside the ITVX streaming business that Sky agreed to buy as part of the £1.6bn deal for ITV's Media and Entertainment arm, so its early results are now part of what Sky is acquiring.

What could happen next?
  • Opportunity

    If the newcomer count grows, ITV gains an advertiser base that does not depend on agency budgets.

First Reported In

Update #13 · USA Today sues OpenAI but not Microsoft

The Media Leader· 22 Oct 2026
Read original →
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Lisa Nandy
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.