U.K.’S ITV EXPECTS WORLD CUP TO LIFT REVENUE 25%

ITV, Britain’s leading commercial broadcaster, is predicting that its coverage of the World Cup will lift its advertising revenue by 25 percent in June and July. According to the London Daily Mail, ITV executives are hoping that ad revenue will be boosted even further if England makes it into the quarter finals and beyond. ITV is splitting coverage of the world’s most-watched sporting event with the commercial-free BBC. (ITV is expected to score top ratings with its coverage of the group game between England and the USA on June 12; it will also air on ABC in the U.S. at 2:30 p.m. ET.) According to the Mail report, analysts are predicting that the ratings surge during the football-charged summer is likely to be followed by a “more challenging finish to the year.”